@prorogers.bsky.social on James Baldwin making a similar point:

Get it!!!

Wow. Harvard nuking its PhD programs - Science PhD admissions reduced by more than 75% - Arts & Humanities reduced by about 60% - Social Sciences by 50–70% - History by 60% - Biology by 75% - The German department will lose all PhD seats - Sociology from six PhD students to zero

Was asked about “viewpoint diversity.” It may sound like pluralism, but it means auditing faculty for ideological balance—confusing scholarship with partisan accounting. Pluralism rests on rigorous debate and critique, not political mandates, and rarely welcomes every opinion under the sun.

My contribution to this is to say as often as possible “nothing worth studying at a university level has (only) two sides”

What I'm working on these days.

This is now out. I love working on this series.

"If you campaign to move university faculty to the right in the name of institutional pluralism, why not—with the same vociferousness—call for greater economic and ideological diversity among university trustees, university presidents, corporate boardrooms...?" www.commondreams.org/opinion/univ...

Two new book reviews are out in Political Theory: Nick Brommell reviews The Darkened Light of Faith: Race, Democracy, and African American Political Thought, by @prorogers.bsky.social

@prorogers.bsky.social's The Darkened Light of Faith is a powerful new account of what a group of 19th- and 20th-century African American activists, intellectuals, and artists can teach us about democracy. 🎧📘 Save 50% on this #audiobook with code BLOOM50: press.princeton.edu/books/audio/...

"the prospect of successful opposition to authoritarianism lies primarily in civil society. Many more businesses, law firms, and media organizations will need to step up in opposition, together with many more colleges." www.chronicle.com/article/we-h...

I am late in seeing this!!

When things seem dark, I say paint. It will put a smile on your face. Here are some of my pieces. Enjoy 😀

Reminded of @prorogers.bsky.social on Baldwin:

"Objections brought against liberalism ignore that the only alternatives to dependence upon intelligence are either drift and casual improvisation, or the use of coercive force stimulated by unintelligent emotion and fanatical dogmatism--the latter being intolerant by its very constitution." J.Dewey

Freedom isn't a passive inheritance, but a struggle to live responsibly with one another. That is hard work when it seems to be our inescapable nature to construct myths and ideologies of inequality and exclusion. I love this essay on Baldwin by @prorogers.bsky.social.

James Baldwin is a figure many of us have turned to in recent years. I am no exception. In my latest piece for @liberalcurrents.com I offer my thoughts on what Baldwin offers us and why we ought to heed his words. Have a read and let me know what you think.

Unidentified men grabbing someone off the street and putting her in a car because she wrote an op-Ed. This as flatly authoritarian as anything we’ve seen in this country in a very long time.

Excellent excellent excellent from Princeton president and constitutional/ political theorist Chris Eisgruber. There's been far too little of this kind of thing; here's hoping others follow his good example. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Leadership! www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Support @liberalcurrents.com: -Get our essays in your inbox www.liberalcurrents.com#/portal/signup -Become a patron www.patreon.com/c/liberalcur... -Make a donation www.liberalcurrents.com#/portal/supp... pitch us: [email protected] Follow our writers and patrons: go.bsky.app/QC76CyV

I enjoyed this conversation a few weeks back with Timothy McCarty at the University of San Diego. www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tkh...

The final tally to advance the CR is 62-38. The Democrats who voted for cloture, giving Donald Trump everything he wants: Cortez Masto (NV) Durbin (IL) Fetterman (PA) Gillibrand (NY) Hassan (NH) Peters (MI) Schatz (HI) Schumer (NY) Shaheen (NH)

Given the Trump Administration's recent demands on Columbia, universities need to have courage and stand up. www.browndailyherald.com/article/2025...

1/2 The students and I finished reading Niebuhr yesterday—Moral Man and Immoral Society, Children of Light and the Children of Darkness, and The Nature and Destiny of Man, vol. 1, cover to cover.

This is so upsetting: “Johns Hopkins University, one of the country’s leading centers of scientific research, said on Thursday that it would eliminate more than 2,000 workers in the United States and abroad because of the Trump administration’s steep cuts, primarily to international aid programs.”

Universities must respond www.aei.org/op-eds/a-com...

Judge temporarily blocks effort to deport Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia student protests

From Nature: ‘Scientists will not be silenced’: thousands protest Trump research cuts www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Sabbatical 2025-2026, here I come.

In light of the criticisms of Zelenskyy's outfit, I want to remind folks:

Very excited to publish @prorogers.bsky.social today!

Melvin Rogers @prorogers.bsky.social at @liberalcurrents.com , on Niebuhr. Doesn't get more self-recommending than that. www.liberalcurrents.com/if-reinhold-...

@prorogers.bsky.social's The Darkened Light of Faith, read by Diontae Black, gives a powerful account of what a group of 19th- and 20th-century African American activists, intellectuals, and artists can teach us about democracy. 🎧 Listen to a sample chapter: press.princeton.edu/ideas/listen...

In which I rant about how the Left better keep away from zombie Rawlsianism & other assorted moralisms damagemag.com/2025/02/25/s...

Trump’s agenda-setting exemplifies an unsettling use of power that not only ignores but actively seeks to sabotage the founders’ hopes that they might create a republic of equals unprecedented in human history, @prorogers.bsky.social writes, in a new PS op-ed. publicseminar.org/2025/02/trum...

Have a read of my latest reflection on Trump. Let me know what you think. @democracyprof.bsky.social @bonniehonig.bsky.social @liberalcurrents.com @libankerdc.bsky.social publicseminar.org/2025/02/trum...

"...standard tactics – and the kind of consultant advice that ...worked for Clinton in the 90s – have a real drawback: they communicate that...things are still pretty normal. Citizens take cues from elites. If elites act normally, why should everyone else be that concerned?" Guardian column:

Good that the Times is tracking his deeds and words like this. www.nytimes.com/interactive/... Next level would be to organize all the known steps in democracy's replacement by authoritarian governance, and report it as news when he reaches them, so that we know where we are— and what remains.

A terrific collaboration, two very smart perspectives on this new government. @johnfugelsang.bsky.social and @democracyprof.bsky.social offer a great balance of irreverence, intelligence and inspiration.

This is a very important article. Educators and administrators can learn a great deal from this. But also, the philosophy informing this is that we are stronger when we stand together.

The Opposition needs to get its own house in order. Milquetoast patricians must cede congressional leadership to Warnock, Warren, Whitehouse, Murphy, Schatz, AOC and Raskin. Frame every issue in the Preamble's terms. The same strong voices every day. Coordinated messages. Constitutional Patriots.

"What does it mean to issue dire warnings about the death of democracy, only to go quiet when those warnings seem to be coming true?" —In an urgent op-ed, @prorogers.bsky.social asks why a candidate who insisted that the stakes were too high to ignore has quietly retreated from the fight.

Yesterday Hakeem Jeffries said on MSNBC Dems are planning for the midterms which they can win just like Pelosi did during the first term of this guy. I wonder if THIS STORY will persuade anyone that we are no longer in a 2017 context…

In the piece I reflect on the silence of the former Vice President. Have a read and let me know what you think publicseminar.org/2025/02/an-o... @esglaude.bsky.social @democracyprof.bsky.social @bonniehonig.bsky.social @brockter.bsky.social

I am reposting this because I think every word these days counts. But also thinking about this:

This is corruption on a scale unseen before in American history. www.dropsitenews.com/p/elon-musk-...

Tomorrow (Feb. 13) at 4 pm EST: The Program in African American Studies at @wakeforest.bsky.social is pleased to host a book talk and conversation with @prorogers.bsky.social, author of The Darkened Light of Faith. A reception and book signing will follow. Learn more: events.wfu.edu/event/book-t...