“If we aren't free to pursue research and teaching based on wherever the knowledge leads us, we are not truly working in the service of the public.” — Rana Jaleel, associate professor at UC Davis & Chair of the AAUP’s Committee A on Academic Freedom & Tenure

Really unis, how hard is this? “Fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief."

Breaking: MIT just became the first university to reject an agreement that would trade support for the Trump admin's higher education agenda in exchange for favorable treatment. "Fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief." www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/u...

A big thanks to @mit.edu. Their saying NO to the compact will hopefully make it easier for smaller schools to say no as well. This is a collective action problem & MIT is signalling they're choosing cooperation over self interest. Too bad @columbiauniversity.bsky.social didn't do this earlier

Thank you @nytopinion.nytimes.com for publishing this rot. Marc Rowan has run hundreds of companies into the dust to extract profits from their failure and bankruptcies. Now he wants to do the same to American higher education. Do not believe a word this man says. 1/ www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/o...

The Rutgers teachers’ unions are standing in solidarity with History Professor Mark Bray, who has been targeted by Turning Point USA. The group has falsely claimed that Bray, the author of Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook is “a prominent leader of the antifa movement,” and should be fired.

The “compact” for higher ed is an unserious document written by unserious people from a position of spectacular ignorance. No one should take it seriously. Sadly, my bosses are taking it seriously. newrepublic.com/article/2013...

- put down the damn AI.

Penn historian Ben Nathans with an op-ed in our campus newspaper: "No self-respecting university that values its autonomy and the integrity of its teaching and research should sign the compact."

A Compact for Control: No self-respecting institution of higher education should accept the Trump administration’s unconstitutional terms, Robert Post and Tom Ginsburg write. @yalelawschool-yls.bsky.social @uchicagolaw.bsky.social www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

My new op-ed with @lkfazio.bsky.social: Trump sent a 'compact' to our universities. They should reject this devil's bargain. Any institution that yields to these broad and intrusive demands would forever be subservient to the whims of the government. www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

But I thought if you smeared someone and they were then the victim of violence, that meant you had to be fired from your job. Or does Fox News only think that applies to teachers?

Good action from U VA faculty senate www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025... 1/2

UVA Faculty Senate with a clear statement of values: facultysenate.virginia.edu/resolution-o...

"[A]ll universities have to do now is do nothing—no accepting the compact, no counter-offers, nothing—and the government will be left with no more power to coerce and control the First Amendment-protected activities of major American universities than it has today."

The only real use of AI I see at a moment is as yet another tool of oligarchic state control It is used to control knowledge, destroy education (in its emancipatory understanding) and ultimately curtail democratic imagination at a time when authoritarian measures become the norm

For those Venezuelans out there, some of whom have now been working and living legally in the United States for over 4 years, I am sorry. This shouldn't be happening to you. Venezuela is still not safe for you. Yet you have been abandoned by your former allies. You deserve better.

Universities considering capitulating to the Trump “conditions” should use this real world example to understand they will simply be destroying their own institution. bsky.app/profile/nich...

This isn't "signing on to Trump's plan"--it is straight up extortion--and "the benefits" are akin to Mafia protection. Nice university ya got there, shame if something should happen to it. Just. Say. No. www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

Chris Rufo's disastrous takeover of New College in Florida shows what universities would become if they sign the Trump regime's extortionary "compact." New College was supposed to model the anti-woke conservative higher-ed Americans crave. Instead, it showed the opposite, and serves as a warning.

Of course it’s a trap. “They would reward campuses that toe the party line and punish those that cherish their independence,” a statement from AAUP and AFT says. “In doing so, it would commit the very viewpoint discrimination it claims to redress.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

That's the only way to play this. The only form of resistance that can work to this kind of authoritarian power-grab is resistance where universities all refuse to voluntarily give up autonomy over what they teach, write, and allow their students and faculty to say. Then fight in court, one by one.

IF ANY CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY SIGNS THIS RADICAL AGREEMENT, THEY'LL LOSE BILLIONS IN STATE FUNDING — INCLUDING CAL GRANTS — INSTANTLY. CALIFORNIA WILL NOT BANKROLL SCHOOLS THAT SELL OUT THEIR STUDENTS, PROFESSORS, RESEARCHERS, AND SURRENDER ACADEMIC FREEDOM.

The Trump admin’s offer to give preferential treatment to institutions that toe the party line reeks of bribery in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda. This is corruption. Adherence to ‘loyalty oaths’ would usher in a new era of thought policing in American higher education.

Shocked!

“I would advise universities to resist the urge for efficiency that AI tools promise. Because in-depth reflection and thinking takes time, and we should take that time despite all the promises of efficiency emanating from AI."

If they capitulate, they should be boycotted. archive.is/ycQrr

Fucking disgusting variety.com/2025/tv/news...

@aaup.org is doing the good work right now, on campus and beyond. Congrats on this victory.

If any other president in all of history said the military should use American cities as a training ground he would be removed from office that same day. The hardest thing to tolerate in all this is how relatively silent elected democrats are. It’s ridiculous.

[COMMENTARY] The harms to marginalized communities caused by AI are palpable, yet they don’t always resonate with everyday people, thanks in part to messaging that paints it as useful and necessary. https://bit.ly/4gOmM9W

This case … squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us.” “The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally ‘yes, they do’. — Judge William G. Young #AAUPvRubio

Fix this @apnews.com.

quick while the government is shut down let’s all switch to metric

HEY CORPORATE MEDIA, Say it with me. Your headline is REPUBLICAN CONGRESS FAILS TO FUND GOVERNMENT: SHUTDOWN IMMINENT Let me know if you need any help with this

Once again, it is *faculty*—not administrators—who brought this case and won. Including UC Faculty Association chapters of the AAUP.

The number of people who go bankrupt every year because of medical bills. Norway - 0 UK - 0 France - 0 Spain - 0 Portugal - 0 Denmark - 0 Australia - 0 Iceland - 0 Italy - 0 Finland - 0 Ireland - 0 Germany - 0 Netherlands - 0 Sweden - 0 Japan - 0 Canada - 0 United States - 643k

"We are asking the Department of War to deploy to our cities" should be a statement that ends any Governor's political career.

We've had evidence of this for ages, right? Frankly this feels like those endless UBI studies where they all demonstrate UBI works but that's not the answer the people in charge want to hear so nothing changes.

In any other country, if federal agents fired upon journalists when unprovoked — what would we call it? If federal agents marched down streets demanding papers — what would we say? Authoritarianism — let’s not pretend it’s something else when it happens in our American cities.

Appeasing Trump doesn’t work

Pritzker: "In any other country, if federal agents fired upon journalists & protesters when unprovoked what would we call it? If officials marched down streets harassing civilians & demanding their papers, what would we say? I don't think we'd have trouble calling it what it is: authoritarianism"

Hey @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social and @schumer.senate.gov - this is what a leader sounds like in these perilous times

So far today, Chuck Schumer has said his strategy for preventing Trump sending troops into blue cities is to win over Republican senators (!) while Hakeem Jeffries praised Eric Adams's courage and authenticity (!!) while refusing to endorse Mamdani. Again. These two gotta go.

we must abolish ICE

This cause is close to my heart - please sign: sign.moveon.org/petitions/co...

Some critical context about Trump's troops to "war-ravaged Portland" that most folks don't know: Any conflicts there between protesters and ICE agents are happening because ICE agents ARE PROVOKING THEM (From that "radical left-wing group," the Portland Police Department) bsky.app/profile/mock...

Dems need to denounce and fight this Portland insanity very, very hard. Our unacceptable hesitancy when Trump invaded DC encouraged further escalation. We should be demanding Congress return to deal with this "emergency" - briefings, hearings, debate. We have to fight. bsky.app/profile/jonw...