When I started a comparative ethnographic study of two Equity Engines in 2019, I had no idea that the COVID-19 pandemic was around the corner... This article tells one story from that extraordinary year. It's open access and available here: www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Loved seeing two SEA members/presenters featured in the most recent issues of @asanews.bsky.social journals! Congrats to Hannah D'Apice and Caleb Dawson, love seeing your work travel far beyond Asilomar :)

The work being done by these observers of ICE to document, illuminate, and share what is being done in Minneapolis, in below freezing temperatures, given all that has transpired is so remarkably courageous. They are being killed for that courage, as ICE further reveals their cruelty and cowardice.

ICE attacked an observer after they tailed a group of clergy on a spiritual pilgrimage. Our digital producer @sam.vp just so happened to be with the clergy on their journey. He spoke with the observer who was attacked and others who witnessed the assault.

ED is requesting public comments on the direction that they should take the Institute of Education Sciences. Feedback is due October 15. public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-18608.pdf

"New York, New Jersey, California, and Illinois stand out as states that not only achieve high rates of access but also high proximity. This indicates that these states not only have a high proportion of Pell students enrolled in EEs, but their EEs are also within reach of communities"

Important new study on “spatial injustice” finds that low-income and minority students living in the South are more likely to live in “education deserts” without access to college. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

My newest research project applies a spatial lens to college graduation gaps, exploring the uneven distribution of institutions that are consistently accessible to and effective at serving low-income students, or what I call "Equity Engines." Video summary here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftyy...

Today in @aeraedresearch.bsky.social comms, coverage of a new study by an amazing scholar (& good friend) @bbassett2.bsky.social about spatial injustice & universities that support low-income students! Open access article: www.doi.org/10.1177/2332... Video summary: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftyy...

Every cut that the government makes to social services is effectively a tax on women. Because they're the ones who will be expected to fill in the gaps.

I was at HGSE when Jim Ryan was Dean and admired his leadership and pride in being a first-gen student. This transparent and pathetic attempt to oust him for not kowtowing to Trump’s nonsensical demands is a huge threat to institutional autonomy. Glad he’s a lawyer. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/u...

You can't call immigrants lazy moochers looking for government handouts and then round them up at Home Depots where you know they are looking for work. You can't say immigrants don't follow the rules and then round them up in courthouses where they are following the rules. Get your lies straight.

We're at the point where higher education cannot count on any international students being present in the fall. One of America's biggest export industries is quickly being demolished.

If you’re going to #AERA2025 make sure to check out our Div J symposium Friday morning!! It’s been five years since the COVID-19 pandemic hit college campuses and we’ve too easily forgotten some of the most important lessons we learned in that era… @tichavakunda.bsky.social @katscho.bsky.social

My friend @sarahbruhn.bsky.social wrote a terrific op-ed about why sanctuary cities are an imperfect but necessary solution to promote community wellbeing, justice, and human rights amidst mass deportations and the revival of cruel family-separation policies. Read it: progressive.org/op-eds/sanct...

Listen, Broligarchy is not some cute synonym for oligarchy. It's genuinely different & WAY more dangerous. I'm a sociologist who's been studying the ultra-rich globally for 17 yrs, entering their world as an offshore wealth mgr. Published 2 books abt them. 🧵Broligarchs are distinct in 3 ways:

"I'm gonna have to check back on whether we shut down 11% of the federal budget and health insurance for poor families" is next level incompetence www.statnews.com/2025/01/28/f...

Can’t wait to gather with the wonderful sociology of education community to think about how we can leverage our work and insights for productive change. Join us next month!

Currently building my syllabus for a new Research Methods in HE course- excited to read this and bring it into conversation with Small’s “How Many Cases” piece.

This is the GOP long game at work. By hamstringing budgets, they've prevented Dems from keeping promises to help people and eroded the effectiveness of many existing public programs. This fuels resentment toward Democrats, since they're the ones claiming government is good. 1/

STOKED to share that my first book--Keeping the Promise: How a Remarkable Group of Universities are driving Equity in America is under contract with the University of Chicago Press!! This project has been years in the making and I can't wait to share it with you all.

We read an essay from @tressiemcphd.bsky.social’s Thick this week in my Diversity in HE class and I’ve been thinking about how if you change the word “beautiful” to “country” in that last sentence-the political aims of Cowboy Carter become clear. Check out her column! www.nytimes.com/2024/04/04/o...

In Defense of Imagination

Thrilled to have @tichavakunda.bsky.social join my Diversity in Higher Ed class this week to discuss his excellent book - Black Campus Life! Pick it up ASAP: sunypress.edu/Books/B/Blac... Also: the light beams in this pic are hard evidence of his glowing aura.

Some good legal news: The conservative 11th Cir. unanimously struck down Florida’s Stop WOKE Act as violative of the 1st Amendment. The state cannot forbid private employers from having training programs on race and diversity, as the Act required. Sorry, DeSantis. It’s a hard no.

"Our history .... it's almost like it was just wiped away, a clean slate. Nobody talked about us. Nobody heard about us and knew about us," says Willis. "The university needs to reckon with the fact that we were there.” www.npr.org/2024/02/28/1...

Everyone working in higher education--faculty, staff and administrators--could really use a crash course in higher ed finance. Seeing the light bulbs turn on when I teach my more in-depth version is awesome.

🥳🥳🥳 yes yes my friend!! @mememedianmode.bsky.social

Last night Dr. Karida Brown exemplified the power of storytelling in explaining how unequal worlds are built and how they can be dismantled-can’t wait to preorder her new book, The Battle for the Black Mind!! Thanks to @tichavakunda.bsky.social for putting together a phenom SEA conference program 🔥

With a brilliant first session of papers exploring what happens after college exit & graduation, a masterclass keynote by Profe Daniel Solórzano and these views… this year’s Sociology of Education Association conference is off to a firesome start.

Fun day at work today :) I appreciate that my grad students teach me where all the cool things are happening at our university…

IMO the most exciting sporting event happening today isn’t the Super Bowl LVII but the final of the Africa Cup of Nations. Rooting hard for Côte d’Ivoire as they take on Nigeria. Allez les Éléphants!!!

So many highlights from Kiley Reid’s talk at Fayetteville Public Library tonight!! 1) her genuine affection for Fayetteville’s gems; 2) her mini-talk-inside-a-talk demystifying the hidden curriculum of publishing; 3) citing Paying for the Party as inspiration for the dorm setting…

I wish this had been the whole mood of the Barbie movie. m.youtube.com/watch?v=f8J4...

“Last month, he told me that his efforts to rehabilitate Richard Nixon’s legacy are part of broader ploy to exonerate former President Donald Trump.”

Beyond any “smart” sociological critique of Gay’s resignation, this has all made me sad and disheartened. As a Black political scientist who knows how few Claudine Gays there are, this has been hard to take in. And it’s sad—and admittedly a bit frightening—to know that any one of us could be next.

“I think it’s the clearest message you could have possibly received from an anti-abortion state that they never meant the medical exemption to mean anything at all.” www.nytimes.com/2023/12/11/o...

Awesome to see my research about how faculty, staff, and admin can reduce the disadvantages that LIFG students face in acquiring resources on college dynamics featured in @insidehighered.bsky.social this morning! Check it out: www.insidehighered.com/news/student...

I'm presenting some v new and v exciting work at #ASHE23 next week! Using geospatial analysis, I examine how the unequal distribution of universities that effectively serve Pell-Grant students exacerbates barriers to social mobility in particular states. Come through! Saturday @ 2pm!

Fellow Sociology of Education researchers! This is the last week to submit a proposal for the 2024 SEA Conference, so don’t delay… the conference theme is inspiring and expansive thanks to our rad program chair @tichavakunda.bsky.social — check it out here: seassoc.wordpress.com/2024-confere...

Had a great class this week drawing on Lower Ed by @tressiemcphd.bsky.social to analyze the explicit and implicit messages embedded in for-profit college marketing ads related to class mobility, higher education, motherhood, and the education gospel-- like this one: youtube.com/watch?v=cpprlfnSxEw

Just joined Bluesky so taking a moment to say, hey! I'm an Assistant Professor of Higher Education at the University of Arkansas. I study how universities can change their programs, policies, and power structures to enable the success of low-income, first-gen students.