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Gslisadjuncts Opposing the federal compact for higher education
by Emily Drabinski 19 Nov '25

19 Nov '25

Hi all, At last week’s meeting, the faculty senate passed the attached resolution by unanimous consent. It makes clear the Queens College faculty’s opposition to the proposed federal Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. Best, Emily -- Emily Drabinski Associate Professor and Chair Graduate School of Library and Information Studies Queens College, City University of New York 65-30 Kissena Boulevard Queens, NY 11367-1597 718-997-3629 Book time with Emily Drabinski<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/649f… >

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Gslisadjuncts FW: Panel: The AI Moment in Libraries - Nov 11, 12pm ET (Virtual)
by Emily Drabinski 10 Nov '25

10 Nov '25

Hi all, Just sharing information about a webinar tomorrow about AI and the library school classroom. Perhaps of interest to folks teaching in the program. Best, Emily Subject: Panel: The AI Moment in Libraries - Nov 11, 12pm ET (Virtual) * This email originates from a sender outside of CUNY. Verify the sender before replying or clicking on links and attachments. * [EXTERNAL] Dear colleagues, Many of us are navigating challenging questions right now: How do we prepare LIS students for a profession being reshaped by AI? What do we teach when the technology itself raises fundamental questions about equity, privacy, and epistemology? How do we address legitimate AI anxiety among students and practitioners while fostering informed, values-driven leadership? On November 11 at noon ET, Syracuse University's School of Information Studies is hosting a virtual panel that tackles these questions head-on. I'll be moderating a conversation with Sanda Erdelez (Dean, Simmons), Leo Lo (University Librarian, UVA), David Lankes (UT Austin), and Jeff Saltz (Syracuse iSchool) on "The AI Moment in Libraries: What It Means for Our Profession." This panel moves beyond tools and implementation to examine the pedagogical, ethical, and professional identity questions at the heart of our work as educators. We'll explore: * How LIS programs should prepare students for AI-integrated library work * Addressing "AI anxiety" that stems from legitimate concerns about bias, privacy, environmental impact, and epistemic justice * What skills and frameworks become essential (or obsolete) in this moment * How libraries can maintain community trust while navigating AI adoption * The ethical dimensions of whose knowledge gets encoded in library AI systems The conversation is designed for LIS educators, practitioners, and students, anyone invested in the future of our field and committed to preparing library professionals who can lead with equity and ethics intact. The AI Moment in Libraries: What It Means for Our Profession Tuesday, November 11, 2024 12:00-1:00 PM Eastern Virtual via Zoom (free registration) Register: https://events.syracuse.edu/event/the-ai-moment-in-libraries-what-it-means-…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/…> I hope you'll join us for what promises to be a critical and generative conversation about this pivotal moment in LIS education and practice. In solidarity, Dr. Beth Patin, PhD, MIS, MLIS she/her/hers Associate Professor | School of Information Studies Syracuse University Director | Master of Science in Library and Information Science Co-Founder | Library and Information Investigative Team Research Group What I'm reading: Palaces for the People by Eric Klinenberg “It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize, accept, and celebrate those differences.” —Audre Lorde ________________________________ Access the JESSE Home Page and Archives<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://lists.wayne.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=JESSE__;!…> Unsubscribe from the JESSE List<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://lists.wayne.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=JESSE…>

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Gslisadjuncts FW: Weekly digest of federal government actions and discussion thereof related to higher education
by Emily Drabinski 10 Nov '25

10 Nov '25

See below for updates on federal government interventions in higher education. Best, Emily From: Larissa Swedell <Larissa.Swedell(a)qc.cuny.edu> Date: Saturday, November 8, 2025 at 10:14 PM Subject: FW: Weekly digest of federal government actions and discussion thereof related to higher education From: UFS and FGL discussion list <UFS-FGL(a)LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> on behalf of John Verzani <John.Verzani(a)CSI.CUNY.EDU> This is a message to the UFS-FGL listserv of the University Faculty Senate of CUNY. Dear All, Please find a partial summary of some of the actions taken by the federal government as relates to Higher Education in general and CUNY in specific in the past week. You can read in formatted form at https://cunytracker.github.io/CUNYTracker/nov-7.html<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://cunytracker.github.io/CUNYTracker/nov-7…> Seemed like a light week and then Cornell went and made headlines. ## Statements * ICE detains 2 SUNY Upstate Medical Employees – UUP, CSEA, and SUNY UFS Respond https://nyscaaup.org/ice-detains-suny-upstate-employees/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://nyscaaup.org/ice-detains-suny-upstate-e…> ICE detained two SUNY Upstate Medical University employees in Syracuse on October 29. The two were attending an immigration hearing when they were detained. Their unions, United University Professions (UUP) and the Civil Service Employees Association (CSEA) have publicly denounced the detentions according to local media reports: “We condemn the actions taken by ICE today,” [UUP President] Kowal said in a UUP Facebook post, “we want our members to know that our union will stand shoulder to shoulder with them in the face of unlawful treatment.”[^1] SUNY University Faculty Senate (SUNY UFS) President Simon issued a statement[^2] in support of the two workers, denouncing the Trump administration’s actions as another attack on the U.S. Constitution and the American Dream. [^1] https://www.facebook.com/uupinfo/posts/pfbid02f66vMxKWXeqXKmMZHfFV22SnJ6a1B…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.facebook.com/uupinfo/posts/pfbid02f…> [^2] https://dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/f5f2be5e-1f4…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu/server/api/…> ## Protests > Students, Unions to Protest Trump’s Higher Ed Agenda Friday https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/11/04/students-unions-…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> > The protests are part of a progressive movement called Students Rise Up, or Project Rise Up. The Action Network website says there will be “walkouts and protests at hundreds of schools” Friday—the start of a buildup “to a mass student strike on May 1st, 2026, when we’ll join workers in the streets to disrupt business as usual.” > “We’re demanding free college, a fair wage for workers, and schools where everyone is safe to learn and protest—regardless of their gender or race or immigration status,” the website says. ## Academic freedom * ‘I Don’t Feel Safe in This Classroom'---Their teaching aimed to make white students uncomfortable. Then came the civil-rights complaint. https://www.chronicle.com/article/i-dont-feel-safe-in-this-classroom<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/i-dont-feel-s…> (This is an example of the intersection of academic freedom principles and Title VI principles with the added example of how IRB can be used to inhibit academic freedom) > In the article, which was accepted for publication by the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, Hafen and Villescas Zamzow prominently featured their experience running two social-work courses. They draw on classroom interactions and student feedback as evidence of defensiveness exhibited by white students in response to instruction about racial injustice. > When those students felt guilty, or sad, or angry, they “lashed out” to “re-establish white comfort,” Hafen and Villescas Zamzow concluded. That, in their view, is something to be embraced. “[We] want the tension, [we] want the discomfort among people who hold privilege,” Villescas Zamzow is quoted in the paper as saying. (A primary data source for the study is 10 recorded “processing sessions” between her and Hafen. Neither responded to my interview requests.) > For the two instructors, unsettling their white students’ biases is a necessary condition of an antiracist education. What they call “white emotional hegemony” must be disrupted, to support the learning of all students. But to critics and skeptics, what Hafen and Villescas Zamzow depict is not only ideologically stifling. It’s potentially discriminatory. > While teaching this content, Hafen and Villescas Zamzow used the “pedagogy of discomfort.” First conceptualized by Megan Boler, now a professor in the department of social-justice education at the University of Toronto, the methodology maintains that students and professors should challenge their previously held assumptions and self-conceptualizations and grapple with negative emotions that follow, which can be indicative of unexamined bias > Meanwhile, the paper no longer appears on the Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research’s website. It was withdrawn at the authors’ request, Todd I. Herrenkohl, the journal’s editor in chief, said in an email. > That withdrawal occurred “due to a failure to follow research protocols for human subjects,” a Colorado State spokesperson told me in an email. (The study says that Hafen and Villescas Zamzow sought approval from the university’s institutional review board and that the board determined they were not conducting human-subjects research.) * Yes, colleges face a crisis. It’s also an opportunity. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/11/06/colleges-universities-tr…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/11…> (Not sure why this was even accepted, but..) > First, universities should reevaluate the curriculum of the various divisions of knowledge, from the humanities to the social sciences to the natural sciences. > Second, universities should revise the administrative arrangements that support education and research. While retaining the ability to teach classic observations and findings (the “preservation” of knowledge, after all!), the organization of university departments should evolve. ### Anti-woke/anti-DEI is simply racism * An anti-KKK law was used to end a scholarship for Black students https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/11/04/ucsandiego-scholarship-bla…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/11/0…> > A scholarship once reserved for Black students at a California university is now available to all after a White student and a right-wing nonprofit alleged it violated a federal anti-Ku Klux Klan law. > The case’s use of the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, signed into law to protect the rights of African Americans in the South, is a novel approach that attorneys for the plaintiffs touted as a victory for equality and a possible blueprint for future challenges. > The Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit in July against UC San Diego and the San Diego Foundation, which administers the scholarship meant to bolster the slim Black student population on the campus. Black students make up about 3 percent of UC San Diego’s undergraduate student population. Most of the university’s students are from California, where Black people make up just above 5 percent of the population. > The groups settled in mid-October before a judge considered the case, and the San Diego Foundation said it would rename its decades-old Black Alumni Scholarship Fund after its founder and an alumnus. The scholarship, worth up to $2,500 a year, or $10,000 total, will now be available to all students. > Cara McClellan, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Carey Law School, said the San Diego case was “flipping the purpose of the law on its face.” > If it were taken to court, a similar case could also have wide-ranging implications for private philanthropy outside higher education, she said. > “It’s an attack on private efforts to use money to pursue what you consider a social justice purpose,” McClellan said. “And it’s through the lens of saying that because it’s race conscious, it’s illegal.” > “It’s their spin, right, that these types of scholarships are somehow fostering discrimination, when in reality, the intent is the exact opposite,” said Julie J. Park, a professor of education at the University of Maryland, College Park, who has researched race and diversity in higher education. * Auburn University requires faculty to review courses to comply with anti-DEI law - al.com https://www.al.com/news/2025/11/auburn-university-requires-faculty-to-revie…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.al.com/news/2025/11/auburn-universi…> ## Funding cuts * Trump Research Funding Plans: Penalize ‘Repeat Players,’ Reward Compact Signers https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2025…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/…> > And the compact isn’t the only way the president can make that shift. Back in August, he issued an executive order directing “senior appointees” to take charge of awarding, or denying, new grants. He also told them to apply certain principles in their award decisions, which could sap money from the top research institutions. > “Discretionary grants should be given to a broad range of recipients rather than to a select group of repeat players,” the executive order said. It also said that “to the extent institutional affiliation is considered in making discretionary awards, agencies should prioritize an institution’s commitment to rigorous, reproducible scholarship over its historical reputation or perceived prestige.” > Both he and Spreitzer expressed broader concerns about other parts of the executive order and the compact moving research funding decisions away from merit-based peer review and toward rewarding political loyalty to the administration. > “I don’t think currently the peer-review process prioritizes a certain group of institutions over other institutions,” Spreitzer said. “It’s based on the grant application. And so, again, this seems to turn the merit-based process that we have on its head.” ## Federal Agencies ### DOE/OCR * Under McMahon, ED Is Diminished but Not Dead, Experts Say https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2025/11/0…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/…> > Nine months into President Donald Trump’s second term in office, he and his education secretary Linda McMahon have essentially gutted the 45-year-old Department of Education as they work toward their “final mission” of shutting it down. > First, they cut millions in grants and terminated hundreds of contracts. Then, they eliminated nearly 2,000 employees via buyouts and layoffs, slashing the department’s staff from just over 4,000 to about 2,400. With some offices erased entirely and others just a skeleton of what they once were, the administration started to ship certain grant programs and oversight responsibilities to other agencies entirely. > All the while, some colleges started to experience funding delays, financial aid officers said no one was on the line to answer their questions and students said their civil rights complaints weren’t being processed. (Distribution of Pell Grants and federal student loans has remained largely unaffected.) Trump officials have also continued to use the agency as part of its pressure campaign on higher ed. > These events, combined with the department’s latest attempt to fire another 500 employees in October, have shown how a determined executive branch can dismantle ED without congressional approval and fueled concerns about the agency’s ultimate demise. Republicans in Congress who have repeatedly stressed that only the legislative branch can shut down the department have remained largely silent. (With quotes from SUNY Chancellor John King) ## Institutional assaults * Are Trump’s Settlements Losing Steam? https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2025/11/0…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/…> > But the latest deal raises questions about whether such agreements are losing steam: The flurry of deals reached over the summer has given way to protracted legal battles with institutions that so far seem unwilling to settle. > While some observers feared a Columbia-like agreement that would impose sweeping changes on UVA, the university appears to have emerged largely unscathed based on the initial agreement. However, critics have warned that the federal government could weaponize the process of compliance. > “I do think the ultimate goal for a lot of the activity that’s going on is to engineer change of control at major institutions, and if the federal government is successful in being able to drive out a president and control who the senior leadership of the institution is, that’s probably more important in the long run than a monetary fine,” Lake [law professor at Stetson University College of Law] said. “And I’d be very cautious about the monitoring obligations, because that could easily turn into ‘we don’t think you’re complying.’” ### Cornell * Cornell cracks https://statements.cornell.edu/2025/documents/cornell-settlement-agreement.…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://statements.cornell.edu/2025/documents/c…> (10 Million a year for 3 years plus...) (Also) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/us/cornell-deal-trump-administration.htm…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/us/cornell-d…> > He [Cornell president] got his wish: Cornell’s settlement included a provision declaring the university and the government both “affirm the importance of and their support for academic freedom.” It also said that no part of the settlement could be “construed as giving the United States authority to dictate the content of academic speech or curricula.” ### University of California System * NYTimes: Trump Pressure Risks Free Speech at University of California, Judge Warns https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/us/trump-pressure-free-speech-university…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/us/trump-pre…> > A federal judge on Thursday excoriated the Trump administration’s blitz of hardball tactics against elite universities, warning that the government’s threats and investigations were undermining academic freedom at the University of California. > Judge Rita F. Lin, of the Federal District Court in San Francisco, did not immediately order the government to curb its pressure campaign against the university system. But it was only minutes into a hearing on Thursday before Judge Lin, her voice crackling with anger, began depicting the Trump administration’s methods as potentially lawless and deeply detrimental. > The next month, the American Association of University Professors and other labor groups with ties to the university system sued, pleading with the court in San Francisco to block the Trump administration “from using the threat of legal and financial sanctions in retaliation for the exercise of free speech rights” by people associated with the University of California. > Thursday’s hearing focused on a request for Judge Lin to issue a preliminary injunction. Although the judge, an appointee of former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., said that she did not expect to rule until at least late next week, a barrage of sharp questions suggested that she was immensely skeptical of the government’s approach to schools like the University of California. > With a Justice Department lawyer, Abhishek Kambli, before her, Judge Lin asked whether the government had followed the procedures required under assorted civil rights laws to cut research funding. > Mr. Kambli acknowledged that the government had not, though he said the Trump administration had relied on other legal authorities. ### George Mason * House Republicans Say George Mason’s Leader Broke the Law. His Lawyer Sees ‘a Political Lynching.’ https://www.chronicle.com/article/house-republicans-say-george-masons-leade…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/house-republi…> ### Others * New Emails Show What Happened Before a Texas A&M Professor’s Firing https://www.chronicle.com/article/new-emails-show-what-happened-before-a-te…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/new-emails-sh…> (Lots of back and forth, and then an attempt) > Due to the president’s objection, according to McCoul, Johansen proposed reclassifying her course, which was supposed to be numbered as ENGL 361, to a higher level — retaining the same syllabus but lacking core curriculum credit. McCoul said she was told this change would sidestep a restriction on “controversial” material in the core curriculum. Texas passed a law this year that gives governing boards greater oversight of core courses, which count toward graduation requirements. > McCoul’s new course would be ENGL 394, according to the emails. Her original ENGL 361 course would be taught by a different professor and have a different syllabus. According to one administrator’s email, the directive to change the course’s instructor at the last minute came directly from the president and provost: “There was no option to not do this.” > According to the emails reviewed by The Chronicle, Welsh received praise from several of the students who reached out to him about their concerns with McCoul’s summer course. But his decision to discipline McCoul and her supervisors was seen by many scholars as a violation of academic freedom and a chilling window into the power dynamics of Texas. ... Ten days later, he resigned. * U of Austin to End Tuition ‘Forever’ With Help of $100M Gift https://www.insidehighered.com/news/business/revenue-strategies/2025/11/05/…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/business/re…> > After receiving even more support from a big conservative donor, the not-yet-accredited institution announced it will neither charge tuition nor accept government funds. Some are skeptical. > Carvalho said the university currently has 150 students in its freshman and sophomore classes, and he plans to grow total enrollment to 400 to 500 for now. “We need this first phase of growth to be small,” he said. ... “We talk about building the Navy SEALs of the mind,” he said. “The Navy SEALs are not a class of thousands and thousands.” > Hutchens [a university research professor and faculty member in the University of Kentucky’s College of Education] said New College of Florida, a public institution taken over by Gov. Ron DeSantis’s conservative board appointees, appears to be charting “a similar iconoclastic path.” He noted New College took a public stand early against what some call wokeness. > “That’s not necessarily been an easy fix for New College to just automatically thrive,” he said. He’s curious if such institutions are going after the same donors, he said, and they may eventually be competing more with one another than the institutions they’re setting themselves apart from. (Let's look at the name-brand donors and founders:) > Yass—a billionaire co-founder of financial trading firm Susquehanna International Group and a significant investor in TikTok owner ByteDance [100M + 36M] > Harlan Crow, who controversially funded trips for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, > Peter Thiel, a co-founder of Palantir and friend to Vice President JD Vance > One of the university’s founders is Bari Weiss, who also founded The Free Press and recently became editor in chief of CBS News. (Also) https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/trader-jeff-yass-is-giving-100-millio…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/trader-je…> * Florida DOGE Details Disproportionate Spending at New College https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/trustees-regents/2025/11/07/…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/…> (Spend whatever it takes to slay the "woke" dragon, it appears) > Data presented at Thursday’s Florida Board of Governors offers the clearest breakdown so far of what New College is spending per student compared to 11 other system members. NCF spent $83,207 per student in fiscal year 2024, the highest among state universities. > The University of Florida, a major research institution, was the next highest at $45,765 per student, while the lowest was the University of Central Florida at $12,172 per student, according to data compiled by the Florida Department of Government Efficiency. > New College and UF also had the highest number of administrators per 100 students. New College had 33.3 administrators per 100 students while UF had 26.9. Others in the system ranged from a low of 4.6 administrators per student at UCF to 12.6 at the University of South Florida. ## How best to describe the times we are in * NYTimes: The Old Order Is Dead. Do Not Resuscitate. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/opinion/davos-neoliberalism-trump-tariff…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/04/opinion/davo…> > Few things are more disconcerting than feeling the ground shift beneath you, as anyone who has experienced a serious earthquake knows. This is what we are living through. A way of ordering economic life — neoliberalism — that emerged in the 1980s is weakening rapidly. > Once-heretical ideas such as raising tariffs have gained influence, and believers in the old order, plus almost everyone else, have become disoriented. Where are we heading? Are we subject to the whims of a madman? For the first time in most people’s memory, our economic future seems uncertain for a new reason: The immediate past cannot tell us what comes next. (And it goes from there. For me, the most hard to believe statement is:) > Not once was the old regime resurrected. Instead, capitalism forged ahead in entirely new directions. We had better accept this about today, as well. ## Blowback > Out of Caution or Protest, Foreign Scholars Skip U.S. Conferences https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/career-development/2025/…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-iss…> > During President Donald Trump’s first term in office, David Murakami Wood didn’t cross the U.S.–Canada border once. > “I refused to go largely in solidarity with the countries who Trump targeted for visa exclusions,” said Murakami Wood, a criminology professor at the University of Ottawa. “This time … it’s even worse. It’s not specific countries [being targeted], but we’re seeing people being arbitrarily arrested and taken off the streets, deportations, people being arrested in transit.” > Several conference organizers have already canceled their U.S. meetings or moved them outside the country. For example, the International Society for Research on Aggression announced in April that it would relocate its 2026 meeting from New Jersey to St. Catharines, in Ontario, Nature reported. The Northwest Cognition & Memory conference in May was relocated from Western Washington University in Bellingham to Victoria, British Columbia. And the 2026 Cities on Volcanoes conference planned for Bend, Ore., was canceled until 2030. * Why Trump’s cuts to scientific research are a big win for China https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/11/05/china-brain-gain-united-sta…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/11/05…> > Over the last decade, there has been a rush of scholars — many with some family connection to China — moving across the Pacific, drawn by Beijing’s full-throttle drive to become a scientific superpower. > But Donald Trump’s return to the White House has turbocharged this effort. The Trump administration has cut billions in science funding, canceled grants for some of America’s most elite universities, revoked international student visas and hiked up costs for highly skilled H-1B visas. > “The U.S. is increasingly skeptical of science — whether it’s climate, health, or other areas,” said Jimmy Goodrich, an expert on Chinese science and technology at the University of California Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. “While in China, science is being embraced as a key solution to move the country forward into the future.” > The moves also provide crucial propaganda victories for the Chinese Communist Party and help leader Xi Jinping achieve his vision to turn China into a science and technology powerhouse by 2035. * October Brought Deep Cuts at Multiple Campuses https://www.insidehighered.com/news/business/cost-cutting/2025/11/07/octobe…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/business/co…> > Colleges shed hundreds of jobs last month as the sector grappled with federal research funding issues, declining enrollment, state budget cuts and other pressure points. > University of Southern California...Michigan State University...Carnegie Mellon University...University of Northern Colorado...University of Louisiana Lafayette...Eastern Illinois University...Xavier University of Louisiana...Harvard University...Siena University...Clarke University...University of Wisconsin-Madison...University of Idaho...Nebraska Wesleyan University...Rhode Island College...PennWest University ## And just because it is fun * NYTimes: Moon Duchin on the ‘Mathematical Quagmire’ of Gerrymandering https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/science/duchin-math-elections-gerrymande…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/03/science/duch…> > She frames redistricting as a partition problem: Divide an object into pieces according to given rules. In this context, the object is a state and its voters; the pieces are the allotted number of districts. Although the rules vary by state, Dr. Duchin refers to “the big six”: population balance; compactness; contiguity; respect for existing civic boundaries (counties, cities, towns); respect for communities of interest and racial fairness (per the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution). Racial fairness is the crux of the Texas case, and a Louisiana case currently before the Supreme Court; it is an element of the complaint in the recently filed New York case, and many others. > As a math problem, assembling so many tiny pieces into large districts while balancing multiple parameters quickly explodes in complexity. Even for computers, it is intractably hard to enumerate all the possible maps. ---- Again, some links are behind paywalls. The shortened wapo links are gift articles; the Chronicle links should be available through a CUNY library. I have online access to the WSJ articles through CUNY. These digests are now archived at https://cunytracker.github.io/CUNYTracker/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://cunytracker.github.io/CUNYTracker/__;!!…> *********************************************

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Gslisadjuncts Revised syllabus template
by James Lowry 05 Nov '25

05 Nov '25

Dear colleagues, The GSLIS Curriculum Committee has revised the syllabus template<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ygvk6jPVBj1X7gyuodGAIS8mZAYvp3Yf/edit?u…>. Please use this template to format your syllabi for the Spring 2026 term and onwards. The changes include a number of simplifications: * We have removed the Expanded Course Description section as redundant. Please note that the Course Description in your syllabi should match exactly the description included in the GSLIS Course Catalog<https://sites.google.com/view/qcgslis/prospective-students/gslis-course-cat…>. If you believe the course description for your class needs to be revised, please propose a change to the Curriculum Committee. * Syllabi no longer need to include the GSLIS Student Learning Outcomes, and should instead link to them as shown in the table at Section 2 of the revised template. * The Assignments, Due Dates, and Grading Plan section has been moved ahead of the Schedule section so that assignments and due dates are more prominent. * The final sections of the syllabus have been combined and shortened, pointing to policies and resources rather than detailing them. Many of these changes have been informed by recommendations made to the department by Understood.org after they reviewed our learning materials for neurodiverse accessibility. Understood.org noted that the more our department’s syllabi adhered to a standard format, the more accessibility would be improved, so we encourage all instructors to revise their syllabi in line with the template and implement its format to the extent possible for their classes. Best, James for the GSLIS Curriculum Committee Dr. James Lowry (he/him) Professor Information Studies, Queens College<https://sites.google.com/view/qcgslis> City University of New York<https://www.cuny.edu/> Ellen Libretto and Adam Conrad Endowed Chair in Information Studies, Affiliate Faculty, MA in Digital Humanities and MS in Data Analysis and Visualization, CUNY Graduate Center https://us02web.zoom.us/my/jlowrycuny

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Gslisadjuncts FW: Weekly digest of federal government actions and discussion thereof related to higher education
by Emily Drabinski 27 Oct '25

27 Oct '25

FYI. From: Larissa Swedell <Larissa.Swedell(a)qc.cuny.edu> Date: Saturday, October 25, 2025 at 12:45 PM Subject: FW: Weekly digest of federal government actions and discussion thereof related to higher education From: UFS and FGL discussion list <UFS-FGL(a)LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> on behalf of John Verzani <John.Verzani(a)CSI.CUNY.EDU> Dear All, Please find a partial summary of some of the actions taken by the federal government as relates to Higher Education in general and CUNY in specific in the past week. You can read this formatted at: https://cunytracker.github.io/CUNYTracker/oct-24.html<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://cunytracker.github.io/CUNYTracker/oct-2…> ## Statements * UFS Executive Committee statement: Not This Compact https://www1.cuny.edu/sites/cunyufs/committees/executive/executive-committe…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www1.cuny.edu/sites/cunyufs/committees/…> > We call on the Board of Trustees of CUNY and the Chancellery of the City University of New York to steadfastly resist any pressures to enter into this McMahon-Mailman compact or any similar compact which would undermine the mission and values of CUNY. * ACE: Statement by Higher Education Associations in Opposition to Trump Administration Compact https://www.acenet.edu/News-Room/Pages/Statement-Trump-Administration-Compa…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.acenet.edu/News-Room/Pages/Statemen…> > The Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education opens with the assertion that “American higher education is the envy of the world and represents a key strategic benefit for our Nation.” We wholeheartedly agree. Yet we are deeply concerned that the compact’s prescriptions threaten to undermine the very qualities that make our system exceptional. > The conditions it outlines run counter to the interests of institutions, students, scholars, and the nation itself. It would impose unprecedented litmus tests on colleges and universities as a condition for receiving ill-defined “federal benefits” related to funding and grants. > That is why our associations, which span the breadth of the American higher education community and the full spectrum of colleges and universities nationwide, are unified in our opposition to the compact. (There is a familiar immediate past chair on ACE's board) ## Academic freedom * NYTimes: All but 2 Universities Decline a Trump Offer of Preferential Funding https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/us/politics/universities-funding-compact…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/20/us/politics/…> > One of the two, Vanderbilt University, signaled it had reservations. * White House hits roadblock in effort to get top colleges to agree to deal https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/10/20/trump-administration-co…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/1…> * Many Colleges Have Turned Down Trump’s Compact. Now Some Are Willing to Talk. https://www.chronicle.com/article/many-colleges-have-turned-down-trumps-com…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/many-colleges…> > Vanderbilt University’s chancellor on Monday declined to explicitly reject or accept the compact, but pledged that his institution would “provide feedback and comments as part of an ongoing dialogue.” The University of Arizona declined to sign, but sent the administration its own statement of principles as a “contribution toward a national conversation about the future relationship between universities and the federal government.” Before ending his letter, Suresh Garimella, Arizona’s president, wrote: “I look forward to further discussion.” > The same day, Washington University in St. Louis also announced it would participate in that conversation. Though WashU wasn’t among the nine institutions to receive the compact — which has since been opened to all of academe — it did join a Friday meeting with Trump administration officials. Explaining the institution’s rationale, Andrew D. Martin, the chancellor, wrote in a letter to campus that, “It’s important for WashU to have a seat at the table for these discussions.” * Vanderbilt Didn’t Accept or Reject the Compact. The Chancellor Plans to Provide Feedback Instead. https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-trump-agenda/vanderbilt-didnt-accept-or…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-trump-agend…> > Whereas presidents for seven out of the nine original recipients of the compact explicitly stated they were declining to sign the document as written, Daniel Diermeier, Vanderbilt’s chancellor, wrote, “Despite reporting to the contrary, we have not been asked to accept or reject the draft compact. Rather, we have been asked to provide feedback and comments as part of an ongoing dialogue, and that is our intention.” > Heuser had previously sent the Faculty Senate a letter urging a full-throated rejection of the compact. “The ‘Campus Compact’ is a troubling assault on the independence of higher education,” he wrote one day after White House officials sent the compact to college presidents. “It endangers academic freedoms, politicizes institutional policies, and threatens the diversity and rigor that define our universities.” Vanderbilt’s American Association of University Professors chapter, Faculty Senate, and students and alumni later put out their own statements backing rejection, with varying vehemence. * The MAGA case for academic freedom lies in a period Trump loves https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/22/trump-academic-freedom-c…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10…> > The GI Bill sits near the top of the list of government policies that helped make America great in the mid-20th century. The 1944 law’s generous provisions for returning World War II veterans, and especially its grants of free college tuition, paved the way for the creation of a huge new middle class of productive, educated citizens. > It’s this postwar period — the late 1940s, the 1950s and the early 1960s — that President Donald Trump is generally understood to be talking about when he vows to make America great again. (Maybe it is the 1880s, but nevermind) > But there’s another reason that the GI Bill kicked off a period of American greatness. You’ll find it tucked into Title II, Chapter 4, where the law states: “No department, agency, or officer of the United States … shall exercise any supervision or control, whatsoever, over any State educational agency, or State apprenticeship agency, or any educational or training institution.” > In other words, the Congress that wrote the GI Bill and passed it unanimously made clear that its generous funding came with no strings attached. None “whatsoever.” > But that’s not what is happening. Indeed, the golden age of strong and independent higher education appears to have come to an end. Today, the president who says he wants to make America great again by reviving the spirit of the 1950s and ’60s is presenting a very different offer to the nation’s colleges and universities. > According to the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” proposed by the Education Department this month, colleges and universities will need to consent to a laundry list of federal control to receive substantial federal funding. Among those conditions: Schools would have to agree to a gag order prohibiting their faculty, staff and leaders from speaking about many political or cultural issues. They would need to enforce the Trump administration’s ideas about gender identity. Some institutions would need to offer free tuition to students who are studying the federal government’s preferred academic topics; all would be required to purge programs that the government says include incorrect thinking about political topics. The schools would be subject to price controls that are antithetical to the tradition of free markets. And all of these policies would be policed by the government, which could enact heavy financial penalties on schools it deemed out of compliance. * How the Compact Curtails Academic Freedom https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/2025/10/23/how-compact-curtail…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/views/20…> > Let’s focus on matters of free expression and academic freedom by examining the compact in three broad categories: viewpoint diversity, institutional neutrality and student expression. ... > The compact requires “a broad spectrum of viewpoints … within every field, department, school and teaching unit.” What can this mean? Must a department of immunology have vaccine skeptics? Must an economics department have Marxists? Must a sustainability school have climate skeptics? Must a political science department have democratic socialists? In ironic contrast with the compact’s demand for a “commitment to rigorous and meritocratic selection based on objective and measurable criteria in the appointment process,” selecting faculty based on their beliefs to achieve a broad spectrum of viewpoints within every field puts ideology ahead of academic merit. (and more) * Reading Between the Lines on Compact Responses https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/executive-leadership/2025/10…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/…> Resolution in opposition of the proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” ## Freedom of expression * FIRE Is Wrong. Raucous Protest Is Free Speech. https://www.chronicle.com/article/fire-is-wrong-raucous-protest-is-free-spe…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/fire-is-wrong…> > The flaw in the rankings lies in their failure to account for the central role of disruptive, nonviolent protest in the development of free-speech doctrine and a concomitant abandonment of bedrock First Amendment tenets. The history of the First Amendment reflects a long tradition of contentious political protests, including campus protests, in the United States. From labor unions’ so-called “free-speech fights” at the turn of the 20th century to the civil-rights sit-ins and antiwar demonstrations of the 1960s to the recent pro-Palestinian campus encampments, political dissent has often involved discordant and clamorous protests. They have provided the context for many of the leading First Amendment court decisions in the latter half of the 20th century. > FIRE’s model of proper protest, conversely, is more akin to a polite debating exercise. ... But political protest is rarely so limited to the solemn scenes evoked by Martinez and embraced by FIRE. It’s usually a group activity, sometimes in the form of mass demonstrations. It is often tumultuous, noisy, and disruptive. That’s the point. Disrupting ordinary routines, choreographed speakers, or other aspects of your daily programming is what protest is all about. The goal of protest is to direct your attention elsewhere, to the object of protest. * UT Austin Blocks Grad Student Assembly Political Speech https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/21/ut-austin-muzzle…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> > Officials at the University of Texas at Austin blocked the Graduate Student Assembly from considering two resolutions against Texas state laws last week, arguing that the student-run body must follow institutional neutrality policies. > Mateo Vallejo, a first-year master’s student and representative in the GSA for the School of Social Work, drafted two resolutions for the assembly to consider: one condemning Texas SB 17, which bans diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at Texas public institutions, and another against Texas SB 37, a state law that, among other changes, put faculty senates at public institutions under the control of university presidents and boards. > On Oct. 10, GSA president David Spicer submitted the two resolutions to Associate Dean for Graduate Studies Christopher J. McCarthy for approval. According to the assembly bylaws, the dean of students’ office must approve all proposed GSA legislation before it can be considered by the full assembly, effectively giving the office an opportunity to veto, Vallejo explained. Once a bill is submitted to the dean’s office, the assembly cannot make any changes to the text. Vallejo, Spicer and the GSA vice president were careful to follow the bylaws during the drafting process to give administrators as little reason as possible to shut the resolutions down. > Spicer followed up, asking why the GSA was prohibited from engaging in political speech when others have done so in their official capacity at UT Austin. He pointed to an op-ed by Provost William Inboden in the conservative magazine National Affairs and a statement from University of Texas System Board of Regents chairman Kevin P. Eltife, who said the university was “honored” to be among the institutions “selected by the Trump Administration for potential funding advantages” under Trump’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” > “Like attacks on the Faculty Council, silencing GSA through institutional neutrality is an attack on the notion of shared governance,” Spicer said in a statement to Inside Higher Ed. “GSA appoints students to university-wide committees and, previously, Faculty Council committees. GSA is the one space at UT Austin where students can voice issues impacting their graduate education.” * Amid Trump’s Assault on Free Speech, Advocates Stay Busy https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/2025/10/23/amid-trumps-assau…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/…> > ameel Jaffer, a civil rights litigator for more than 25 years, said there is no question that President Donald Trump’s assault on free speech is unprecedented in his lifetime. And while he noted there may be some rough comparisons to be made with the McCarthy era, it almost certainly has no parallel in the last 100 years. > But Jaffer, who now serves as executive director of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, admitted that he didn’t predict such a contentious climate a year ago. In fact, he said, it wasn’t until about the 100th day of Trump’s second term that it set in how different the political landscape had become. (The 100th day, what?) > Other nonprofit groups from across the political spectrum had started to recognize the same patterns, and none of them were comfortable with the direction in which things were going. Collectively, in a letter addressed to the “leaders of American institutions,” Knight and six other free speech advocacy organizations called on the country to “stand more resolutely” against Trump’s “multi-front assault on First Amendment freedoms.” > Despite the letter, Trump’s attack on First Amendment rights only escalated, as he made further funding freezes, presented more sweeping demands to institutions and proposed an unprecedented compact for higher ed that officials say would give preferential financial treatment to institutions that acquiesced to the president’s agenda. > “It’s definitely a lower point for First Amendment rights, at least in terms of people’s belief that they can exercise those rights without consequence,” said Esha Bhandari, director of the ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project. “We still have those rights. That’s the important thing … [But] while some groups may be willing to go to court to vindicate their rights, litigation has a cost. And many people might think it’s simply easier to conform their speech to what the administration wants.” > Jaffer said the last 10 months have shown the limits of litigation. The justice system is only effective if judges feel comfortable ruling against Congress or the White House, and under the Trump administration and its “campaign of intimidation,” that may not always be the case, he said. > “The truth is, like, the Knight Institute is doing just fine. It’s our democracy that I’m more worried about,” Jaffer admitted. “At this point, ordinary Americans are going to have to defend their First Amendment freedoms, and they’re going to have to defend those freedoms by asserting them in court, by exercising them through public protest and by conveying to the political leaders that these freedoms are important to them.” * Two Champions of Academic Freedom Go to War --- The AAUP and FIRE are at it. Again. https://www.chronicle.com/article/two-champions-of-academic-freedom-go-to-w…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/two-champions…> > When The Chronicle’s Emma Pettit posted a thread on X describing the “burst of debate” around the topic of viewpoint diversity, there was no reason to expect a social-media blowup. Her tweets were dry and informative, a roundup of relevant opinion coverage, in our pages and elsewhere, arguing for and against the notion that many academic disciplines would benefit from an infusion of non-left-wing faculty members. > But then the X account of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) responded: “Fascism generally doesn’t do great under peer review.” The post went on to speculate that the low number of conservatives in the academy could be a result of the fact that “the intellectual values of academia, which emphasizes critical inquiry & challenges traditional norms … may be inherently less appealing to those with a more conservative worldview.” (Who writes the AAUP’s X posts? I asked an AAUP spokesperson, who told me that a number of people have access to the account.) > The second part of the statement paraphrases a longstanding hypothesis about the dearth of conservatives in academe, although one under increasing pressure today. But the controversy that followed surely had more to do with the sloganeering about fascism, a streamlined restatement of something the AAUP’s president, Todd Wolfson, said in an interview with Pettit last month: “Fascist ideology does not do very well in a peer-reviewed process, right?” > The incontinent petulance of social-media style notwithstanding, these flare-ups reflect some real differences between the two organizations. The first has to do with the principled defense of academic freedom. Not for the first time, the AAUP — or at least its X account — has accused FIRE of mainly supporting right-wing causes, defending the token liberal here or there to keep up appearances. Lukianoff, by the same token, implied that the AAUP avoids defending conservatives. Is there any merit in either charge? > ... certainly give the impression that something like an official AAUP position is emerging. That position has two planks. First, it refuses to grant any legitimacy to the notion that some disciplines might be afflicted by a disabling degree of political homogeneity; after all, those complaining about being kept out are “fascists,” who by definition have no place. Second, it insists that if conservative ideas are underrepresented, that is only the result of good epistemic hygiene, as enforced by peer review. Ideas are not rejected for being conservative, but for being wrong. ## Funding cuts * SUNY Has Lost $32M Due to Federal Cuts https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/21/suny-has-lost-32…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> > The State University of New York system has lost about $32 million in federal grants due to the Trump administration’s cuts, system chancellor John B. King announced last week, according to Spectrum News 1. That's out of about $700 million in federal grant funding that the system receives annually. Some of those cuts were due to the administration eliminating grants for projects that it considers to be related to diversity, equity and inclusion. > “In some cases, those grants were cut precisely because of the commitment we have to diversity, equity and inclusion,” said King, a former education secretary who has been critical of the Trump administration's crackdown on anything it considers DEI. “Many are research grants, so you’re talking about research into things like cancer and innovations that will drive economic development in the state.” * In Fourth Week, Federal Shutdown Increasingly Hinders Higher Ed https://www.insidehighered.com/news/business/financial-health/2025/10/23/fo…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/business/fi…> > Just two weeks into the shutdown, the Georgia Institute of Technology said payment was delayed for federally funded research, which represents more than $100 million in monthly expenses for the institution. > Local Hawai‘i media reported that the University of Hawai‘i system, which includes 10 institutions plus community-based learning centers, is spending $20 million every two weeks out of internal funds to pay thousands of federally funded workers during the shutdown. System president Wendy F. Hensel told the Board of Regents that the challenge is “primarily cash flow.” It’s unclear what will happen if the shutdown goes past Oct. 31. (Go Wendy, 40M is a lot to cover.) > Luke Oeding, an associate professor of math and statistics at Auburn University in Alabama, said his research funded by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research is being disrupted. > “We just want to do our science and find ways to get that science funded,” Oeding said. ### DOE * With shutdown cuts, Trump moves closer to eliminating Education Department https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/10/18/trump-education-departm…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/1…> > The prolonged government shutdown is helping the Trump administration advance its goal of closing the Department of Education — a longtime conservative aim that congressional Republicans have failed to act on. > The agency had already reduced its staff by half earlier this year. Now, blaming the shutdown, the Education Department is trying to lay off another 465 people, cutting deeply into multiple offices. That includes federal officials who oversee special education programs and another round of slashing at the Office for Civil Rights. > “There’s something opportunistic about what we’re watching right now,” said Jim Blew, who served in a senior position at the Education Department during the first Trump administration. “These guys have very clear goals. When you give them an opportunity to achieve them, they go full bore.” > If allowed to go into effect, the layoffs would decimate the Office for Civil Rights, which was already cut in half earlier this year, and gut offices that oversee every major K-12 program. That includes the $15 billion Individuals with Disabilities Education Act program for students with disabilities and the $18 billion Title I program, which aids high-poverty schools. Smaller programs such as one that supports charter schools were also hit. > The people who work on grants to tribal colleges and historically Black colleges and universities were also let go, just weeks after the administration rerouted $495 million in grant funding to those schools. TRIO, a $1 billion suite of grants to support veterans and college students from low-income families, was gutted. > “The fact that Trump is gleefully using the shutdown as a pretext to hurt students is appalling,” said Sen. Patty Murray (Washington), the top Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee. “No one is forcing Donald Trump to fire the people who make sure students with disabilities can get a good education — he just wants to.” * Trump Gutted the Institute of Education Sciences. Its Renewal Is in Doubt. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2025…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/…> > Soon after Donald Trump returned to the White House, his administration gutted the federal government’s central education data collection and research funding agency, the Institute of Education Sciences. Researchers say the move jeopardized the nation’s ability to figure out how to improve K–12 and higher education and its capacity to hold publicly funded schools, colleges and universities accountable. > In the eight months since the Department of Government Efficiency and the Education Department announced the slashing of more than $1 billion in multiyear contracts administered by IES, there have been mass layoffs followed by some new job postings; litigation over canceled studies and contracts, followed by reports of some restorations; a request for public comments about how to “modernize” IES, despite the administration’s continued push to shutter the department housing it; and Education Secretary Linda McMahon’s temporary appointment of a special adviser to “re-envision” IES, who must now finish her work amid a government shutdown. > Adding to the confusion, Congress is planning to provide at least $740 million to IES for fiscal year 2026, despite the administration only requesting $261 million for the agency. > Michael J. Petrilli, president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, a conservative-leaning, education-focused think tank, said the big challenge for Amber Northern, the special adviser tasked with reforming IES, “was that DOGE came in and burned it to the ground.” ## State actions * Texas Governor Appoints Ombudsman Who Will Oversee Higher Ed https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/22/texas-governor-a…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> > The new office, which will be housed under the state Higher Education Coordinating Board, will serve as a go-between for state lawmakers and colleges and universities. It also will manage complaints and investigations related to reported violations of either the DEI ban or some provisions of Senate Bill 37, which state lawmakers passed earlier this year and that requires state institutions to make a number of changes. > Faculty and academic freedom groups have raised concerns about this new watchdog, speculating that the ombudsman could give the governor more power over universities. Under the law, the ombudsman can recommend that state lawmakers cut off a university’s ability to spend state funds until it complies. ## Institutional assaults * NYTimes: White House’s Aggressive Tactics Are Complicating Its Education Agenda https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/us/politics/white-houses-aggressive-tact…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/18/us/politics/…> > As skepticism of the compact mounted, the White House reached out to Arizona State University, the University of Kansas and Washington University in St. Louis, hoping the three schools would effectively slide into seats at the negotiating table intended for schools that had rejected initial offers. > This week, Liz Huston, a White House spokeswoman, warned that “any higher education institution unwilling to assume accountability and confront these overdue and necessary reforms will find itself without future government and taxpayers support.” > Still, the rejections from top academic institutions highlight the risks of the president’s penchant for enforcing loyalty through aggressive, punitive tactics that can alienate potential allies. Mr. Trump’s polarizing political instincts have hampered his ability to build the sort of coalitions often needed to pass significant legislative reforms, or even to end the current government shutdown. > When it comes to higher education, the White House has largely ignored the legislative process while trying to impose policy changes on college campuses, which the West Wing views as hostile to conservatives broadly and Mr. Trump, specifically. > “The debate about whether the Trump administration is negotiating in bad faith, or good faith, is resolved once you see the compact,” said Corey Brettschneider, a political science professor at Brown who has often focused on free speech. “That doesn’t look like an administration that’s really looking out for intellectual inquiry.” * The Trump administration is reaching out to more universities about its funding-advantage proposal after several early invitees rejected it https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/trump-administration-meets-with-more-…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/trump-adm…> * The sweetheart deal is over for academia https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/19/colleges-universities-vi…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10…> (Hard to get through, but conservative writer for the post does her best to spin this compact) ### Harvard * Harvard FAS Cuts Ph.D. Seats By More Than Half Across Next Two Admissions Cycles | News | The Harvard Crimson https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/10/21/fas-phd-admissions-cuts/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/10/21/f…> > The Faculty of Arts and Sciences slashed the number of Ph.D. student admissions slots for the Science division by more than 75 percent and for the Arts & Humanities division by about 60 percent for the next two years. > The scale of reductions in the Social Science division was not immediately clear, though several departments in the division experienced decreases over the coming two years ranging from 50 percent to 70 percent. > The reductions — detailed by five faculty members and in emails obtained by The Crimson — stipulate smaller Ph.D. admissions quotas across dozens of departments. Departments were allowed to choose how they would allocate their limited slots across the next two years. > The German department is currently projected to lose all its Ph.D. student seats, according to a faculty member familiar with the matter. The History department will be admitting five students each year for the next two years, down from 13 admitted students last year, according to two professors in the department. > The Sociology department has opted to enroll six new Ph.D. students for the 2026-27 academic year, but forfeit its slots for the following year, according to an email from the department’s chair. (Also) https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/22/harvard-slashes-…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> ### Dartmouth * UVA, Dartmouth Latest to Reject Trump’s Higher Ed Compact https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2025/10…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-iss…> > “As I shared on the call, I do not believe that the involvement of the government through a compact—whether it is a Republican- or Democratic-led White House—is the right way to focus America’s leading colleges and universities on their teaching and research mission,” Dartmouth president Sian Leah Beilock wrote in a message to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, which the president also shared with her community. (Also) https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-trump-agenda/u-of-virginia-rejects-comp…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-trump-agend…> ### U of Virginia * NYTimes: University of Virginia Won’t Join White House’s Compact for Colleges https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/us/university-of-virginia-white-house-co…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/us/universit…> > The University of Virginia became the fifth school to rebuff a White House proposal to give universities preferential treatment if they uphold a set of White House demands. > Paul G. Mahoney, Virginia’s interim president, said that while the university agreed with many principles outlined in the proposal, it wanted “no special treatment” in funding. > “A contractual arrangement predicating assessment on anything other than merit will undermine the integrity of the vital, sometimes lifesaving, research and further erode confidence in American higher education,” Mr. Mahoney wrote in a note to Linda McMahon, the education secretary, and two other administration officials. > Several university leaders who said they agreed with some provisions in the document seemed to be more put off by the “carrot” in the agreement — the special funding considerations. > They voiced concerns that it set up an illegal two-tiered system for doling out federal funding, allowing schools that signed on to the deal to escape merit-based consideration in federal grants. (Also) https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/10/17/uva-trump-compact-agree…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/1…> https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/executive-leadership/2025/10…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/…> * NYTimes: White House Moves Toward Settlement With First Public University https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/us/politics/trump-virginia-university.ht…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/21/us/politics/…> > The Trump administration is closing in on a deal with the University of Virginia, four months after government pressure forced the school’s previous president to resign. > A settlement would be the first time a public university has cut a far-reaching deal with the Trump administration as part of the White House’s extraordinary pressure campaign to shift the ideological tilt of the higher education system. > Among the terms reached in the past week, the University of Virginia would not pay a financial penalty nor submit to a direct monitoring arrangement, according to three people briefed on the negotiations. > The university would be required to continue to take steps to come into compliance with the administration’s expansive interpretation of a 2023 Supreme Court decision that ended explicit consideration of race in admissions to higher education, according to three people briefed on negotiations. > Higher education leaders have increasingly viewed the administration’s insistence on an outside monitor, like Columbia agreed to include in its deal in July, as a potential infringement on academic freedom. Instead of including a monitor, who would report to the government on the university’s compliance, the University of Virginia would instead agree to provide regular updates to the government on how the university was addressing the administration’s civil rights concerns, two of the people said. * NYTimes: University of Virginia Makes Deal With White House to Halt Investigations https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/us/politics/university-of-virginia-trump…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/22/us/politics/…> > The deal, which avoids the hefty fines agreed to by some private, Ivy League colleges, was viewed as something of a victory among leaders of the Charlottesville, Va.-based campus. It was signed one week after Paul Mahoney, the school’s interim president, rejected a White House offer of preferential treatment for research funding. > Under the terms of the agreement, Virginia will adhere to the administration’s interpretation of a 2023 Supreme Court decision that ended explicit consideration of race in admissions to higher education as long as that guidance is “consistent with relevant judicial decisions.” Attorney General Pam Bondi laid out in a memo in July how that ruling, along with federal civil rights law, should be applied to schools receiving federal funding. > Legal experts and higher education officials have argued that schools can still consider race as part of a holistic review of a student’s application. But the Trump administration has adopted a broader view, suggesting that race cannot be considered at all, to justify its attacks on policies and programs that promote racial diversity. (Also) https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/10/22/university-of-virginia-…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/1…> * Trump put universities in a bind. U-Va. charted a way out. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/22/university-virginia-sett…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10…> (The Washington Post editorial board has shifted its politics 180 degrees) > Universities understandably want to stop fighting with Trump, who has proven willing to choke off federal funds. Proponents of aggressive affirmative action will no doubt be dismayed by the deal, which leaves the university precious little room to balance its classes or its faculty by race. But they should take heart that the deal seems confined mostly to areas the government has traditionally overseen, rather than more sweeping intrusions on academic freedom and First Amendment rights. > The original compact proposed meddling in curricular decisions that are at the core of the university’s truth-seeking mission, such as getting rid of programs that “purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.” Agreeing to that would have undermined the university’s mission in a way that accepting scrutiny of admissions, DEI programs and the use of race in hiring does not. > Whatever your opinion of its reading of civil rights law, the Trump administration is right that campuses need more viewpoint diversity and tolerance for those challenging orthodoxies. Monocultures tend to be insular and prone to groupthink, and academics are not exempt from this tendency. Disciplines that touch on politics are worse off if more than half the political spectrum is missing from discussions. Nor will such skewed classrooms be welcoming places for conservative students, who have as much right to an education as anyone else. * What Does UVa Have to Change Under Its Deal With Trump? Here’s What We Know. https://www.chronicle.com/article/what-does-uva-have-to-change-under-its-de…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/what-does-uva…> > As part of a new deal with the Trump administration, the University of Virginia won’t have to pay money. It won’t have to write apology letters or adopt any specific policies. Several federal investigations into its diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts have been halted. > The university will have to report back regularly to the Justice Department on compliance with civil-rights law. Even there, the details are scant — a contrast with previous agreements between Trump and colleges. > The Justice Department is suspending its probe into UVa so long as the university complies with civil-rights law and follows, where applicable, the department’s July guidance on “unlawful discrimination.” The guidance states that the 2023 Supreme Court decision ending race-conscious admissions effectively bans a wide variety of DEI practices — including identity-based facilities, certain affinity groups, and criteria used as a proxy for race. ### Arizona * Arizona Rejects Compact, Others Leave Options Open https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/executive-leadership/2025/10…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/…> (Also) https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-trump-agenda/u-of-arizona-declines-to-s…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-trump-agend…> ### Others * U of Illinois System Bans Consideration of Race, Sex in Hiring, Tenure, Student Aid https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/22/ui-bans-consider…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> > The University of Illinois system is telling its institutions they can’t consider race, color, national origin or sex in hiring, tenure, promotion and student financial aid decisions—a move that’s drawn opposition from a faculty union at the University of Illinois at Chicago. > In another message Krall provided, a UIC official wrote that “faculty may no longer submit a Statement on Efforts to Promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the dossier, nor may faculty members be evaluated on norms related to” DEI. The official wrote that the system “made this decision after carefully considering the increased risk to our faculty and to the University that these criteria present in the current climate.” * Compact Live Updates: Syracuse and Wash U Say They Will Not Endorse Compact https://www.chronicle.com/article/compact-live-updates-more-colleges-weigh-…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/compact-live-…> > While we're tallying campuses, Emory University's interim provost said on Tuesday that the institution has "no plans" to sign the document, according to The Emory Wheel. https://www.emorywheel.com/article/2025/10/provost-liebeskind-says-emory-ha…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.emorywheel.com/article/2025/10/prov…> > Syracuse University Chancellor Kent Syverud told the institution's faculty senate that Syracuse will not sign the compact, The Daily Orange reports. He did say that he found some parts of the compact "sensible," including a provision that calls on colleges to expand support for members of the military and veterans. https://dailyorange.com/2025/10/syverud-declines-trump-compact-senators-pas…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://dailyorange.com/2025/10/syverud-decline…> ## The long game * Stefanik and Cotton Send Letter to Treasury Secretary Bessent Requesting Investigation into the Council on American-Islamic Relations https://stefanik.house.gov/2025/10/stefanik-and-cotton-send-letter-to-treas…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://stefanik.house.gov/2025/10/stefanik-and…> > This letter follows Chairwoman Stefanik’s July oversight of City University of New York (CUNY) Chancellor Felix Matos Rodriguez and CUNY’s decision to hire Saly Abd Alla, a former employee of CAIR. Chairwoman Stefanik called the hire, “unacceptable to New York taxpayers.” https://files.constantcontact.com/81b76c35801/4f8e2529-a69f-4745-87fa-6de32…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://files.constantcontact.com/81b76c35801/4…> ## How best to describe the times we are in * NYTimes: How Crypto Corrupted America https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/opinion/crypto-trump-libertarianism-corr…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/24/opinion/cryp…> > Cryptocurrency has found its hero in Mr. Trump. And in this unlikely moment of triumph, its most powerful proponent has laid bare the paradox at the heart of this brave new world of “new money.” Crypto was supposed to free us from the chains of government control, but now it is finally revealing what that freedom really means: removing all checks on the power of the wealthy to do what they want, discharged at last from law, supervision and civic obligation — even if the result is autocracy. Mr. Trump, with his thirst for money and power, has in one fell swoop both exposed and embraced the corruption at the heart of digital currencies — a corruption inherited from the libertarian ideals that created them. > Mr. Trump seems to have understood something that escaped generations of libertarian politicians and philosophers: Rather than dissolving the power of the state totally, he could do so selectively, to put himself and his allies above the law, while using the full force of the state to punish his adversaries; to promote crypto, while also insisting he be in charge of the Fed; to pardon allies, while having his enemies charged. ## Heroes * NYTimes: Wikipedia Volunteers Avert Tragedy by Taking Down Gunman at Conference https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/nyregion/wikipedia-conference-gunman.htm…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/nyregion/wik…> > The armed man came striding up the aisle at a conference for Wikipedia editors Friday morning in Manhattan, several witnesses said. > A man in an orange sweatshirt rushed the stage. He was not in law enforcement, but a Wikipedia contributor on the conference’s “trust and safety team”: Richard Knipel, the City University of New York’s “Wikimedian-in-residence.” He grabbed the gunman from behind. (Also) https://gothamist.com/news/gunman-storms-stage-at-wikipedia-conference-in-m…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://gothamist.com/news/gunman-storms-stage-…> ## And just because it is fun * Jury Awards $6M in CSU Harassment Case https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/23/jury-awards-6m-c…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> (There is nothing funny about this case. But a one-time CSI president---who left soon after a no-confidence vote---was on the losing end of this case.) > Anissa Rogers, a former associate dean at CSUSB's Palm Desert campus from 2019 through 2022, alleged that she and other female employees were subjected to “severe or pervasive” gender-based harassment by system officials. Rogers alleged she observed unequal treatment of female employees by university administrators, which was never investigated when she raised concerns. Instead, Rogers said, she was forced to resign after expressing concerns. (Also) https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article312595678.html<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.fresnobee.com/news/local/article312…> > David M. deRubertis, lead trial attorney for Rogers, argued in court that the gender-based mistreatment was inevitable after top university officials ignored a 2015 campus climate survey that suggested a culture of fear, intimidation, gender-based mistreatment and bullying at the university. The survey also recommended adopting an anti-bullying policy and an audit of human resources practices and policies. University president Tomas Morales testifed that neither recommendation was implemented. > The CSU board of trustees, Morales and former dean of the Palm Desert campus Jake Zhu were named as defendants in the lawsuit. ---- Again, some links are behind paywalls. The shortened wapo links are gift articles; the Chronicle links should be available through a CUNY library. I have online access to the WSJ articles through CUNY. These digests are now archived at https://cunytracker.github.io/CUNYTracker/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://cunytracker.github.io/CUNYTracker/__;!!…> *********************************************

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Gslisadjuncts FW: LIS student publishing opportunity
by Emily Drabinski 22 Oct '25

22 Oct '25

Hi all, Please share the publishing opportunity below with any interested students. Best, Emily -- Emily Drabinski Associate Professor and Chair Graduate School of Library and Information Studies Queens College, City University of New York 65-30 Kissena Boulevard Queens, NY 11367-1597 718-997-3629 Book time with Emily Drabinski <https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/649fc09718224602acdaac0cd5a0e57c…> From: Library and Information Science Educators' Information and Discussion List <JESSE(a)LISTS.WAYNE.EDU> on behalf of Matteson, Miriam <00000ccaa13734b1-dmarc-request(a)LISTS.WAYNE.EDU> Date: Tuesday, October 21, 2025 at 3:29 PM To: JESSE(a)LISTS.WAYNE.EDU <JESSE(a)LISTS.WAYNE.EDU> Subject: LIS student publishing opportunity * This email originates from a sender outside of CUNY. Verify the sender before replying or clicking on links and attachments. * [EXTERNAL] Dear Colleagues, I’d appreciate it if you would share this announcement with LIS students interested in public services (broadly defined) in academic libraries. Thanks, Miriam Matteson _________________________________________________ The journal Public Services Quarterly seeks essays from graduate students in library and information science programs for publication in the column “Future Voices in Public Services”. Essays can discuss key issues related to public services in academic librarianship, share a vision of the future for academic libraries and librarians in public service, or share research or other scholarly writing. The purpose of the column is to provide fresh perspectives from those entering the field from the US and from other countries. Essays can be submitted at any time for future publishing dates. Interested LIS students can contact me at mmattes1(a)kent.edu<mailto:mmattes1@kent.edu> for more information. Sincerely, Miriam Matteson, PhD Associate Dean College of Communication and Information 318 Library Kent State University (330) 672-2464 mmattes1(a)kent.edu<mailto:mmattes1@kent.edu> ________________________________ Access the JESSE Home Page and Archives<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/lists.wayne.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=JESSE__;!!…> Unsubscribe from the JESSE List<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/lists.wayne.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=JESSE&…>

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Gslisadjuncts FW: Weekly digest of federal government actions and discussion thereof related to higher education
by Emily Drabinski 17 Oct '25

17 Oct '25

Here is the latest update about federal government actions regarding higher ed. From: UFS and FGL discussion list <UFS-FGL(a)LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> on behalf of John Verzani <John.Verzani(a)CSI.CUNY.EDU> Dear All, Please find a partial summary of some of the actions taken by the federal government as relates to Higher Education in general and CUNY in specific in the past week. Thanks to MP and KB for sharing links this week. (Read this with formatting from https://cunytracker.github.io/CUNYTracker/oct-17.html<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://cunytracker.github.io/CUNYTracker/oct-1…>) ## Protests * No Kings https://www.nokings.org/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nokings.org/__;!!PxiZbSOawA!NJqnfYP…> > ANCHOR EVENT: NYC SAYS NO KINGS! 11AM Father Duffy Square Broadway & West 47th Street New York, NY 10036 https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/838831/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/838831/__…> > On October 18, millions of us are rising again to show the world: America has no kings, and the power belongs to the people. (On October 18th the PSC will convene at Duarte Square, 6th Avenue & Canal Street joining other NYC unions) * Faculty Plan National Day of Action to Protest Compact https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/16/faculty-plan-nat…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> > aculty and students at the nine universities first offered the Trump administration’s compact for preferential treatment will rally against it Friday in a national day of action. > All nine universities—including the University of Arizona, Brown University, Dartmouth College, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas, UVA and Vanderbilt University—will participate in the day of action, though MIT officials have already said publicly they will not sign the agreement. (Brown rejected the agreement Wednesday.) ## Op eds * Cuomo’s controversial CUNY record resurfaces as affordability concerns dominate mayor’s race https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/14/cuomos-controversial-cuny-record-r…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/14/cuomos…> (Thanks MP for sharing!) > “At this moment in our country’s history where communities of color are so much under attack and immigrant communities are so much under attack, CUNY is absolutely more important than ever,” said Barbara Bowen, former president of the Professional Staff Congress, CUNY’s faculty and staff union. “I am very concerned that having a mayor with that history of lack of support and active undermining of CUNY would be especially dangerous at this political moment.” ## Academic freedom * Trump Opens Up Compact to All of Higher Ed. Now What? https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/2025/10/15/trump-opens-compa…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/…> > On Sunday, President Trump told his 10 million followers on Truth Social that, “tragically,” higher education in this country has lost its way, and he touted his administration’s efforts to fix it. > Trump’s open invitation to colleges to sign on to the document did not come as a surprise. Several experts predicted such a development, and a White House official told Inside Higher Ed last week that other institutions had already reached out. However, the timing of Trump’s post raised some eyebrows. > “The administration is reading the writing on the wall that they wouldn’t be able to run the table on the nine and that there would be substantial pushback,” said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education. “And they didn’t want to own that, so they looked for more buyers.” > But who signs will affect how the document is viewed and the message it sends. > “Depending on the names, it might wind up looking more like Walgreens than some high-end boutique,” Hess said. * The Compact Calls for a Unified ‘F You’ https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/columns/editors-note/2025/10/16/comp…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/columns/…> > Boards of trustees—not presidents—will make the ultimate decision whether to sign the deal. At the IHE event, one president at a public institution in a “candy apple–red state” said a trustee urged them to sign the compact to gain a competitive advantage on federal research funds. That decision might make sense from a business point of view, but it doesn’t for someone concerned about institutional autonomy. Two state lawmakers in Iowa asked the Iowa Board of Regents to join the compact “as soon as possible.” Several leaders said if their board of trustees or state leadership made them sign it, they would quit. But individuals quitting in protest won’t stop boards from signing the deal—they’ll just hire new leaders who will comply. Disruption at the leadership level harms the entire institution. Meanwhile, thousands of faculty and staff without F You accounts will be stuck at institutions that have agreed to the terms. > It’s very likely that some colleges will sign the compact, and that will erode the independence of the entire sector. Higher ed should look to media companies as a model of collective resistance. > If ever there was a time for community colleges, independent nonprofits, public R-1s and the Ivy League to speak with one voice, it’s now. Trump’s compact compromises the foundations of higher education—free inquiry, academic freedom and institutional autonomy. The sector’s strength will be in a collective response, not individual presidents resigning in protest. Higher ed should pool its F You accounts and refuse the deal collectively. * NYTimes: Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Badly Needed https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/opinion/trump-compact-universities-rowan…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/opinion/trum…> (Gazillionaires just think different. For example, no one else is calling the compact this:) > By agreeing to a few common-sense policies laid out in the compact. * Universities Must Defend Their Independence by Rejecting Trump's "Compact" | Cato at Liberty Blog https://www.cato.org/blog/universities-must-defend-their-independence<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.cato.org/blog/universities-must-def…> (Lost the libertarians...) > My colleague Neal McCluskey has already outlined the basics of the scheme, and I emphatically agree with his conclusion that universities that agree to it would be “selling their souls.” * NYTimes: Universities Are Standing Up to Trump https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/us/universities-are-standing-up-to-trump…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/us/universit…> > On campuses and in Washington, professors and policymakers alike are weighing whether Mr. Trump, who has reveled in his campaign to upend higher education, has overreached. > Brown’s decision, in particular, is a case study of how the White House may have misjudged its own strength and academia’s nerve, especially once one of Mr. Trump’s top aides said that the nine schools initially chosen to consider the proposal were “good actors,” or could be. > “The compact itself just so egregiously and blatantly violated our ability to function as the institution that we are right now that it is very easy for people to get fired up about it,” said Raya Gupta, a Brown freshman who helped organize opposition to the proposal on the campus in Providence, R.I. > The demands also reach farther, with conditions that include accepting “that academic freedom is not absolute” and pledging to potentially shut down “institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle and even spark violence against conservative ideas.” > “There are many colleagues who just think there is no way any president, with the possible exception of red state, public universities, could sign this,” said Michael P. Steinberg, the president of Brown’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors. > It is not clear how the Trump administration will proceed if universities continue to reject the proposal. The White House did not respond to a request for comment for this article, though a spokeswoman, Liz Huston, warned after Penn’s announcement on Thursday that “any higher education institution unwilling to assume accountability and confront these overdue and necessary reforms will find itself without future government and taxpayers support.” * UNC Campuses Split on Whether Syllabi Are Public Documents https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2025/10…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-iss…> > After the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill refused to proffer faculty course materials in response to an open-records request, UNC Greensboro officials made the opposite decision. (CUNY syllabi have been FOILed) > In July, officials at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill determined that the documents are not automatically subject to such requests after the Oversight Project, founded by the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation, requested that the university hand over any course materials from more than 70 classes that contained one of 30 words or phrases, including “gender identity,” “intersectionality,” “queer” and “sexuality.” Officials ultimately denied the request, writing, “There are no existing or responsive University records subject to disclosure under the North Carolina Public Records Act. Course materials, including but not limited to exams, lectures, assignments and syllabi, are the intellectual property of the preparer.” > The requested materials are protected by copyright policies, a UNC Chapel Hill spokesperson told Inside Higher Ed. “The university has a longstanding practice of recognizing faculty’s intellectual property rights in course materials and does not reproduce these materials in response to public records requests without first asking for faculty consent,” they wrote in an email. > “It’s probably a matter of degree,” Stevens said. “Something that you post online for your class to read, it’s pretty hard to say those are not subject to [public records requests]. But on the other hand, the materials that you use to prepare to teach your class, but which are never published to anybody, are certainly, in my view, copyrightable and proprietary.” > The opposing interpretations of the law from two universities in the same public system have left faculty confused and worried about their safety as right-wing groups rifle through course materials for any terminology they don’t like, usually related to gender identity, sexuality or race. Faculty members at Texas A&M University, the University of Houston and George Mason University, among others, have been targeted and sometimes threatened on social media for their instruction and teaching materials. Bolton said he knows of several UNC Greensboro faculty members who have been doxed. (CUNY is not immune) * Our Politics Differ, But We Agree: Trump’s ‘Compact’ Violates Academic Freedom https://www.chronicle.com/article/our-politics-differ-but-we-agree-trumps-c…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/our-politics-…> > The compact’s demands that universities and colleges eschew foreign students with “anti-American values” and that they impose a politically determined diversity within departments and other institutional units are incompatible with the self-determination that colleges and universities must enjoy if they are to pursue their mission as truth-seeking institutions. So also is the compact’s demand that universities and colleges select their students only on the basis of “objective” and “standardized” criteria. Colleges may of course voluntarily elect exclusively to deploy objective criteria (such as standardized-test scores and high-school or college grade-point averages), but these standards should not be imposed on institutions which, operating within the law, wish to include consideration of nonquantifiable criteria in selecting students. > As recognized for over a century, faculty should be able to engage as individual citizens in extramural speech. Faculty should exercise these rights responsibly and professionally, but when they fail to do so, it is not the role of the government or the university to sanction them. Colleges that censor their faculty will quickly undermine the vibrancy and initiative so vital for teaching and research. > The power to punish extramural speech has been abused against both conservative and liberal speakers in the past. The requirement of the compact that universities and colleges censor students and faculty who voice support for “entities designated by the U.S. government as terrorist organization” imposes overly intrusive regulation of constitutionally protected speech. ## Freedom of expression * Pepperdine Closes Exhibit Featuring “Overtly Political” Art https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/13/pepperdine-close…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> > Last month Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., opened an art exhibit titled “Hold My Hand In Yours,” which was scheduled to run for six months in the on-campus Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art. But On Oct. 6, the university closed the exhibit after artists learned their work had been removed or altered for being “overtly political.” > Last week, one of the artists in the show learned her video had been turned off at the university’s request, and a sculpture had been modified to hide text that said “Save the Children” and “Abolish ICE,” Hyperallergic reported. The creators requested their pieces be removed from the museum, and several other contributors followed suit in solidarity with the affected artists and in opposition to the university. * Viewpoint Diversity Is a MAGA Plot https://www.chronicle.com/article/viewpoint-diversity-is-a-maga-plot<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/viewpoint-div…> > Intellectual diversity and its analogues have been on the right’s agenda for 60 years. As Bradford Vivian observes in his book Campus Misinformation, “viewpoint diversity performs a deft linguistic trick,” modifying an old right-wing playbook of “unscientific partisan polemics” into a seemingly new and more palatable form. As scholars have analyzed, this ideology is propped up by pseudoscience (Vivian), error-ridden studies on supposed “liberal bias” (Charlie Tyson and Naomi Oreskes), discrimination claims that cannot “withstand serious scrutiny” (Sean Kammer), and “manufactured backlash” from a coordinated network of far-right think tanks (Isaac Kamola). The fierce attacks on the humanities and social sciences have an extensive history that were never rooted in a dispassionate critique of the dangers of groupthink. Demands for viewpoint diversity are simply the form those attacks take today. * NYTimes: Dispute Over Indiana College Newspaper Draws Censorship Accusations https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/business/media/indiana-university-daily-…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/business/med…> > The administration at Indiana University Bloomington fired the adviser to the paper and barred the publication from putting out a print edition. > The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a free speech advocacy group, said in a social media post on Wednesday that the firing of Mr. Rodenbush showed “disregard for student journalists.” The foundation had previously placed the university in the bottom three in a ranking of free speech on 257 college campuses based on student surveys. (Also) https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/free-speech/2025/10/16/indiana…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/students/fr…> > The decision is the latest flare-up between student journalists and institutions. Earlier this year, Purdue University ended its partnership with the student paper, citing “institutional neutrality.” The move also echoes Texas A&M University’s unilateral decision in 2022 to end its student newspaper’s print edition. > The IDS editors first brought attention to the firing of Director of Student Media Jim Rodenbush in a Tuesday op-ed. They accused IU of ousting Rodenbush after he refused to follow directions from administrators to censor a homecoming edition of the newspaper. Administrators reportedly told Rodenbush the newspaper was only to contain information about homecoming and “no traditional front page news coverage.” But when he resisted, and editors at the Indiana Daily Student pressed Media School administrators for clarity, Rodenbush was fired. * Indiana Daily Student Homecoming eEdition - Thursday, Oct. 16, 2025 by Indiana Daily Student - idsnews - Issuu https://issuu.com/idsnews/docs/indiana_daily_student_homecoming_eedition_-_…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://issuu.com/idsnews/docs/indiana_daily_st…> ### Anti-woke/anti-DEI is simply racism * Under Anti-DEI Pressure, Ohio State Limits Conference Funds https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/academic-freedom/2025/10…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-iss…> > The Trump administration’s investigation into allegations of racial discrimination at Ohio State University has prompted the university to limit its support for faculty and student participation in academic conferences affiliated with affinity groups. > Earlier this month, the university told numerous faculty and students who were planning to attend an upcoming conference hosted by the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science, which happens to be in Columbus this year, that they could not use university funds to attend, > The university also refunded the registrations—without explanation—of a group of graduate students who were planning to attend the 2025 National Society of Black Physicists and National Society of Hispanic Physicists Joint Conference next month in San Jose, according to The Columbus Dispatch. > In March, OSU was among more than 50 colleges and universities that OCR accused of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and flouting guidance from the Education Department deeming all race-conscious programs and policies unlawful. The majority of those federal investigations—including the one at OSU—revolved around institutional involvement with the PhD Project, a nonprofit that encourages people from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue doctoral degrees in business. The department said the program “limits eligibility based on the race of participants.” > In a Sept. 23 letter to OSU president Ted Carter Jr., OCR described the PhD Project as “a blatantly discriminatory program designed to benefit certain favored students based on their race or national origin to the clear detriment of other students who did not have access to the program because of their race or national origin” and concluded the OSU’s participation violated Title VI. > However, none of the organizations hosting the conferences in question exclude anyone from participating on the basis of race, ethnicity or any other characteristic, according to statements on their official websites. ## Funding cuts * Survey: Americans Overwhelmingly Oppose Trump’s Higher Ed Cuts https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/science-research-policy/2025…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/…> > Amajority of Americans oppose the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to higher ed funding, according to summer poll results released Wednesday. And several of the president’s other moves—including targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs—aren’t popular, either. > The researchers—from Northeastern University, Rutgers University at New Brunswick, the University of Rochester and Harvard—asked survey takers whether they supported the administration’s freezing of “billions of dollars in federal research grants to universities.” The results showed that 54 percent of Americans disapproved of the funding freeze, 34 percent of them strongly. Only 22 percent approved or strongly approved. > The White House was the institution in which the highest share of Americans—over a third—expressed no trust. Another quarter said they have “not too much” trust in it. * CSU Campuses Reel From Blow to HSI Funding https://www.insidehighered.com/news/institutions/minority-serving-instituti…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/institution…> (Thanks MB for sharing this) > Similar stories are playing out across the California State University system. Hispanic students account for almost half of the system’s more than 450,000 students. Out of the CSU’s 22 campuses, 21 are Hispanic-serving institutions, meaning they enroll at least 25 percent Hispanic students and at least half low-income students. In addition, 11 are AANAPISIs, which have the same low-income student threshold and enroll at least 10 percent Asian and Pacific Islander students. CSU officials estimate ED’s axing of the grant programs leaves the system $43 million short on funds it expected for the 2025–26 fiscal year. > “This action will have an immediate impact and irreparable harm to our entire community,” García [CSU chancellor] said in a statement. “Without this funding, students will lose the critical support they need to succeed in the classroom, complete their degrees on time, and achieve social mobility for themselves and their families.” (We will need to see how CUNY is impacted) * Community colleges are losing millions in funding under Trump https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/10/14/trump-cuts-community-colle…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/10/1…> > But for now, the Trump administration’s policy on cutting discretionary grants to programs that serve diverse student populations is disrupting the very type of college education that the administration says is critical for the nation’s workforce. > Cuts to higher education this year have been spread across a variety of federal programs, but policy experts say community colleges can least afford to absorb the losses. Schools such as Pima Community College in Arizona, Green River College in Washington and Chemeketa Community College in Oregon have lost millions in discretionary grants that they say cannot be easily replaced. > “This is an assault on our students, it’s an assault on our democracy because those students will not have the same opportunities for success as they would have just a couple of years ago,” said Mike Gavin, founder of Education for All, a grassroots group of community college administrators. > Take the move to end $350 million in discretionary grant funding that Congress allocated for minority-serving institutions — colleges that educate a disproportionate number of students from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. Roughly 40 percent of grant recipients are community colleges, according to the most recent data from the Education Department. > Within days of the announcement, the Trump administration said it would reroute the money to charter schools, civics programs, tribal colleges and historically Black colleges and universities. Schools learned of the abrupt funding cut weeks before the end of the fiscal year, leaving them scrambling to keep services going. ### NIH * Six surgeons general: It’s our duty to warn the nation about RFK Jr. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/07/surgeons-general-rfk-jr-…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10…> > Yet Kennedy continues to ignore science and the public’s wishes. Most recently, HHS proposed new warning labels on products containing acetaminophen (Tylenol), citing a supposed link between prenatal use and autism. This move has been widely condemned by the scientific and medical communities, who have pointed out that the available research is inconclusive and insufficient to justify such a warning. In an extraordinary and unprecedented response, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and other leading health organizations issued public guidance urging physicians and patients to disregard HHS’s recommendation. Instead of helping pregnant women make informed decisions during a critical period in their lives, Kennedy’s decisions risk causing confusion, fear and harm. > It’s worth reminding ourselves what Kennedy puts at risk. The FDA approves lifesaving drugs and holds pharmaceutical companies to high standards of safety and effectiveness. NIH pursues and funds cutting-edge research. CDC leads in emergencies from pandemics to opioids to natural disasters. Agencies at HHS spearhead efforts to address issues regarding mental health, substance-use disorders, primary care shortages and health insurance coverage for millions of seniors, disabled individuals, and low-income Americans. Mismanaging HHS endangers America’s health, undermines national security and damages our economic resilience and international credibility. > Secretary Kennedy is entitled to his views. But he is not entitled to put people’s health at risk. He has rejected science, misled the public and compromised the health of Americans. * How to navigate the impact of manipulation and removal of federal data: Expert advice, reporting tips and resources https://journalistsresource.org/home/how-to-navigate-the-impact-of-manipula…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://journalistsresource.org/home/how-to-nav…> (Thanks KB!) > Federal datasets have been manipulated and removed since the beginning of the Trump administration and continue to be under threat. Shortly after President Trump took office for the second time, his administration took down several health websites that included Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives and data, although some have since been restored. Researchers have also found undocumented changes to some federal health datasets. And there are many more examples. > This loss has several critical consequences, affecting national infrastructure, accountability, data quality and public trust, explained Plyer and co-panelists Denice Ross, the U.S. chief data scientist and the deputy U.S. chief technology officer during the Biden Administration, and Erica Groshen, senior economic advisor at the Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations, and the 14th commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics from 2013 to 2017. > “In the information age, our federal statistical system is as important an infrastructure as roads and bridges,” Groshen said. > Disaster response leaders use the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey data to determine how many people are likely affected by a disaster and then measure the recovery in the years afterward, > Companies like Zillow use the Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection to help homebuyers determine which schools have the best disability resources. > And data from the Environmental Protection Agency’s Safe Drinking Water Information System helps states deploy federal funds to improve drinking water quality where it’s needed most. > Without performance criteria established and applied, it is unclear how decisions about the performance of statistical agencies and units would be made objectively and transparently. > “This administration has fired all of the inspectors general and has now announced that they are eliminating the Council of Inspectors General across the government, which establishes performance criteria and coordinates the work of the inspector generals,” Groshen said. > Eliminating the Council of Inspectors General eliminates the people who were enforcing a powerful statistical policy regulation in the federal government, “and is a threat to our statistical system as well,” Groshen said. (Ending with large list of resources) ## Federal Agencies ### DOE/OCR * Trump Fires More Education Dept. Employees https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/student-aid-policy/2025/10/1…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/…> > A department spokesperson then confirmed in an email to Inside Higher Ed that “ED employees will be impacted by the RIF.” The spokesperson did not clarify how many employees will be affected or in which offices. Other sources say no one who works in the Office of Federal Student Aid will be laid off. * Trump’s Layoffs Gut Office of Postsecondary Ed https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/student-aid-policy/2025/10/1…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/…> > Education Secretary Linda McMahon has essentially gutted the postsecondary student services division of her department, leaving TRIO grant recipients and leaders of other college preparation programs with no one to turn to. > The consequence, college-access advocates say, is that institutions might not be able to offer the same level of support to thousands of low-income and first-generation prospective students. > The layoffs are another blow to the federal TRIO programs, which help underrepresented and low-income students get to and through college. President Trump unsuccessfully proposed defunding the programs earlier this year, and the administration has canceled dozens of TRIO grants. Now, those that did get funding likely will have a difficult time connecting with the department for guidance. > At the beginning of the year, OPE included five offices but now is down to the Office of Policy, Planning and Innovation, which includes oversight of accreditation, and the group working to update new policies and regulations. > Cottrell said the layoffs at OPE will leave grantees who relied on these officers for guidance without a clear point of contact at the department. Further, he said there won’t be nonpartisan staffers to oversee how taxpayer dollars are spent. * White House Guts Education Department With More Layoffs https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/us/politics/trump-education-department-f…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/us/politics/…> > The department’s Office of Special Education Programs was decimated by the cuts, which the Trump administration issued on Friday in its latest reduction of the federal work force. The special education office has been the principal government arm overseeing billions of dollars that support about 10 percent of the nation’s school-aged children, but will have fewer than a half-dozen employees, a reduction of about 95 percent since the start of the year. > The Office for Civil Rights in the department was also slashed. After starting the year with 12 regional sites, the civil rights office was cut in half in March and may go down to a site or two when the layoffs take effect in 60 days, according to data compiled by the union representing education workers. Over 22,600 discrimination complaints in schools were filed with the department last year, more than double the number from five years earlier. ## State actions * We have an obligation to do more with less, and by showing true leadership and fiscal discipline, we can further support the Governor’s vision to meet the needs of the people we serve. https://www.budget.ny.gov/guide/brm/fy27-call-letter.pdf<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.budget.ny.gov/guide/brm/fy27-call-l…> (Thanks MB for sharing the State Budget Director's call letter) > As we enter the upcoming budget cycle, we face new challenges as we continue to fulfill Governor Hochul’s promise to make New York more affordable and safer. Unfortunately, federal assistance crucial for programs supporting New York’s most vulnerable have been curtailed, foisting new costs upon New York State. Due to imprudent federal policies, economic headwinds remain as labor markets are cooling and inflation remains elevated. Affordability continues to be a key concern for New Yorkers in every region of our state, creating pressures on the cost of food, healthcare, housing and energy. While revenues remain strong over the first half of the fiscal year, the forecasted growth will not be adequate to address structural gaps exacerbated by H.R. 1. > Responding to federal funding cuts, Governor Hochul has already charged State agencies to exercise fiscal discipline by preparing comprehensive strategies to limit potential long-term damage to vital programs. Moving forward, agency budget requests for State Fiscal Year (SFY) 2027 should not exceed the total SFY 2026 Enacted Budget agency funding levels, excluding one-time investments. (CUNY is entering that time of year where a budget request is formulated) ## Institutional assaults * Trump Welcomes ‘Any Institution’ to Sign Compact Outlining His Priorities https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-trump-agenda/trump-welcomes-any-institu…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-trump-agend…> > A source at the Department of Education confirmed Tuesday that a Truth Social post from President Trump was intended to be an invitation to higher ed. “We welcome any institution that wants to adopt these principles to sign the compact,” wrote the source, who declined to go on the record. > Trump’s post said: “Those Institutions that want to quickly return to the pursuit of Truth and Achievement, they are invited to enter into a forward looking Agreement with the Federal Government to help bring about the Golden Age of Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” ### Harvard * Majority of Harvard’s Research Funding Has Been Restored https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/15/majority-harvard…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> > As of Tuesday, Harvard University had recouped most of the federal research funding it lost when the Trump administration froze its access to grants earlier this year, multiple local news organizations reported. > The taxpayer dollars first started to flow last month after a federal judge ruled that the restrictions Trump had placed on grant access were unconstitutional. It remains unclear exactly how much funding has been distributed and what remains frozen, but in an email obtained by The Boston Globe, Harvard’s CFO and vice president for finance confirmed that the university has “received reinstatements of the majority of our direct federal awards.” > “Despite this encouraging news, uncertainty about the continuation of scientific funding remains,” Andrea Baccarelli, dean of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, wrote in an email to staff members Friday, according to the Globe. > As a result, the public health school has instructed researchers to cap their spending at 80 percent of the total grant value, at least for now. ### Princeton * Princeton Will Require Standardized Test Scores Again https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/traditional-age/2025/10/13/p…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/admissions/…> > According to a university webpage about the new testing requirement, the decision was based on data collected over the past five years of test-optional admissions showing “that academic performance at Princeton was stronger for students who chose to submit test scores than for students who did not.” Like other institutions that have switched back to requiring test scores in recent years, the university said the test scores would be considered among other admissions materials and that there was no specific minimum score needed to be admitted to Princeton. Active military applicants will be exempt from submitting test scores. ### MIT * M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment - The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/us/mit-rejects-white-house-compact.html<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/10/us/mit-rejec…> > In a letter on Friday to the Trump administration, M.I.T.’s president, Sally Kornbluth, wrote that the university has already freely met or exceeded many of the standards outlined in the proposal, but that she disagrees with other requirements it demands, including those that would restrict free expression. > “Fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone,” Dr. Kornbluth wrote. (Also) https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/10/10/mit-rejects-trump-compa…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/1…> https://www.wsj.com/opinion/trump-merit-and-mit-aaf4ac58?st=NT2Nso&reflink=…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.wsj.com/opinion/trump-merit-and-mit…> ### Brown * Brown U.'s President Declines Trump’s Compact, Saying It Would ‘Undermine’ the Institution https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-trump-agenda/brown-u-s-president-declin…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-trump-agend…> > Brown University on Wednesday rejected the Trump administration’s offer to join the proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” — the second of nine prominent institutions initially approached with the wide-ranging agreement to release a formal response. > The Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s president, Sally Kornbluth, was the first to respond to the offer; she said last week she “cannot support” the current version of the compact. > Brown, meanwhile, had previously struck a deal with the federal government to restore millions of dollars in research funding paused in the spring and resolve several inquiries into its compliance with civil-rights law. That agreement, announced in July, required the university to commit $50 million over 10 years to work-force development in Rhode Island. * Brown Joins MIT, Rejects Compact https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/executive-leadership/2025/10…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/…> > of the original nine invitees, there are no takers so far, though officials at the University of Texas system have indicated they view the proposal favorably. The system’s flagship in Austin was part of the nine. (Also) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/us/brown-university-trump-compact-fundin…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/us/brown-uni…> ### U Penn * NYTimes: Penn and U.S.C. Become Latest Universities to Reject White House Deal https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/us/university-of-pennsylvania-rejects-wh…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/us/universit…> > Penn’s president, J. Larry Jameson, informed the university community in a message on Thursday that he had notified Linda McMahon, the education secretary, of Penn’s decision not to sign the agreement. The announcement followed pushback, from both members of Penn’s faculty and state elected officials. Two of the officials went so far as to propose legislation opposing the deal. > Just hours later, a similar notice went out from Beong-Soo Kim, the interim president of the University of Southern California, advising the university community that he, too, had notified Ms. McMahon his institution would not agree to participate. > But, he [Kim] added, “We are concerned that even though the compact would be voluntary, tying research benefits to it would, over time, undermine the same values of free inquiry and academic excellence that the compact seeks to promote.” > The University of Texas at Austin, one of the schools invited to join the compact, had indicated an early willingness to entertain the proposal, developed in part by Marc Rowan, a billionaire private equity financier. > Mr. Rowan, a Penn alumnus who helped drive out Dr. Jameson’s predecessor from office in 2023, was among the proposal’s leading champions and worked on drafts of the document months before the White House circulated it to schools. (Also) https://www.thedp.com/article/2025/10/penn-rejects-white-house-compact<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.thedp.com/article/2025/10/penn-reje…> > The proposed agreement — which legal experts and civil rights groups have characterized as “blatantly unconstitutional” — faced immediate criticism following its announcement earlier this month. Over the past two weeks, nearly 2,000 members of the Penn community signed a petition urging the University to reject the proposal. > At a Wednesday meeting, Penn’s Faculty Senate overwhelmingly passed a resolution urging the University to reject the agreement. > “The ‘Compact’ erodes the foundation on which higher education in the United States is built,” the Oct. 15 resolution read. “The University of Pennsylvania Faculty Senate urges President Jameson and the Board of Trustees to reject it and any other proposal that similarly threatens our mission and values.” ### USC * USC rejects Trump's compact - Daily Trojan https://dailytrojan.com/2025/10/17/usc-rejects-trumps-compact/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://dailytrojan.com/2025/10/17/usc-rejects-…> > In his email, Kim [USC President] cited a dedication to including diverse political opinions and fear of external influences degrading academic independence as reasons for rejecting the compact. > “Without an environment where students and faculty can freely debate a broad range of ideas and viewpoints, we could not produce outstanding research, teach our students to think critically, or instill the civic values needed for our democracy to flourish,” Kim wrote in the letter. ### U of Virginia * The Trump Agenda: How the U. of Virginia Is Weighing Its Response to Trump’s Proposed Compact https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-trump-agenda/how-the-u-of-virginia-is-w…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-trump-agend…> > The University of Virginia on Monday sent an online form to the campus community, asking survey takers whether there were aspects of the proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” that they supported or opposed, and to explain their feelings. That input — due October 20, the deadline for UVa to provide feedback to the Trump administration — will be shared with the working group, responsible for examining “the financial and legal aspects of the proposal and its implications for the university’s mission and values.” > UVa’s interim president, Paul G. Mahoney, has acknowledged publicly that certain provisions in the document would be difficult for the university to endorse. > The Chronicle obtained the list of people advising Mahoney on the implications of the compact. The working group is co-chaired by UVa.’s interim provost and its chief operating officer and also includes the vice presidents for research, enrollment, and global affairs; the vice president and chief student-affairs officer; the vice president and chief financial officer; the executive directors for state and federal government relations; the dean of the public-policy school; the secretary to the board; and the university counsel. > While there is no faculty or student representative to the working group, Jeri K. Seidman, an associate professor of commerce and chair of the Faculty Senate, said she hoped there would be other ways to provide input beyond just the survey. “We have a lot of surveys going on right now,” she noted, as the university searches for both a permanent president and provost. > “Once you start saying some things are good and some things are not good, you’re conceding the principle that the federal government is allowed to tell university faculty and university students what they should think and teach,” said William I. Hitchcock, a UVa history professor and co-chair of the steering committee in the College and Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. “And if you’ve made that concession, then it’s too late.” ### Dartmouth * Dartmouth’s President Balks at Trump Compact, Sources Say, as Feds Expand Offer to ‘Any Institution' https://www.chronicle.com/article/dartmouths-president-balks-at-trump-compa…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/dartmouths-pr…> > The president of Dartmouth College, an initial recipient of the Trump administration’s much-debated “compact” for higher education, has told faculty members that she will not endorse the current version of the agreement, two sources told The Chronicle. > “She was very firm and clear on that, but it also had that very clear ‘as written’ part attached to it,” said that faculty member. > The administration has offered scant details about the benefits and how they might be conveyed to colleges that sign the compact, leaving institutional leaders to debate whether the document is an offer or a threat. Christopher F. Rufo, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, called Kornbluth’s rejection of the current compact “preposterous” in a Tuesday essay in City Journal, and encouraged the administration to “incrementally increase both the rewards for entering into the compact and the punishments for refusing.” > Hanlon, [Past president and faculty] at Dartmouth, said the fact that the agreement is now open to all colleges shouldn’t change any individual institution’s response. “It’s up to every campus to figure out where their red lines are and how they want to approach this compact,” he said. ### George Mason * GMU’s Gregory Washington: ‘I’m the Most Scrutinized President’ at ‘the Most Scrutinized Campus in the Country’ https://www.chronicle.com/article/gmus-gregory-washington-im-the-most-scrut…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/gmus-gregory-…> > “I don’t have to tell you that we’re probably the most scrutinized campus in the country,” Washington told faculty at a town hall. “And you don’t have to tell me that I’m the most scrutinized president.” > During the town hall, Washington maintained that he nor the university has discriminated against anyone. “It’s something that I disagree with, and we’re going through the process of mitigating that now,” Washington said. “I don’t believe in discrimination.” > Washington said the university in the past year has made several changes to comply with federal antidiscrimination laws, including renaming its Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, ending the Anti-Racism and Inclusive Excellence task force, and closing its Center for Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation. > George Mason University’s faculty have also come under fire from the federal government. In July, the Justice Department accused the Faculty Senate of praising Washington for discriminatory hiring practices after it passed a resolution defending the president. > The Justice Department has since requested all communication between the Faculty Senate and Washington. ### Others * Judge Halts UT’s Comprehensive Ban on Student Speech https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/16/judge-halts-uts-…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> > A Texas district court judge on Tuesday ordered the University of Texas system to hold off on enforcing new, sweeping limits on student expression that would prohibit any “expressive activity” protected by the First Amendment between 10 p.m. and 8 a.m. > “The First Amendment does not have a bedtime of 10 p.m.,” wrote U.S. district court judge David Alan Ezra in his order granting the plaintiff’s request for a preliminary injunction. “Giving administrators discretion to decide what is prohibited ‘disruptive’ speech gives the school the ability to weaponize the policy against speech it disagrees with. As an example, the Overnight Expression Ban would, by its terms, prohibit a sunrise Easter service. While the university may not find this disruptive, the story may change if it’s a Muslim or Jewish sunrise ceremony. The songs and prayer of the Muslim and Jewish ceremonies, while entirely harmless, may be considered ‘disruptive’ by some.” > ... in addition to prohibiting expression overnight, also sought to ban campus public speakers, the use of drums and amplified noise during the last two weeks of the semester. The restrictive policies align with Texas Senate Bill 2972, called the Campus Protection Act, which requires public universities to adopt restrictions on student speech and expression. The bill took effect on Sept. 1. > “Texas’ law is so overbroad that any public university student chatting in the dorms past 10 p.m. would have been in violation,” said Adam Steinbaugh, a senior attorney at the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, in a press release. “We’re thankful that the court stepped in and halted a speech ban that inevitably would’ve been weaponized to censor speech that administrators disagreed with.” ## Court cases * LEAH GARRETT v CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.633652/gov.uscour…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.usc…> (Motion to dismiss by CUNY is denied) ## Blowback * 2 Nobel Prize–Winning Economists Leave U.S. for Zurich https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/15/2-nobel-prize-wi…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> > Nobel Prize–winning economists Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo—a married team—will leave their positions at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the University of Zurich in the next academic year, The Bulwark reported. > The pair, who won the Nobel in 2019, have not publicly shared why they are leaving MIT at this time, but a source told The Bulwark that they are moving due to the Trump administration’s attacks on academic freedom and university research. ---- Again, some links are behind paywalls. The shortened wapo links are gift articles; the Chronicle links should be available through a CUNY library. I have online access to the WSJ articles through CUNY. These digests are now archived at https://cunytracker.github.io/CUNYTracker/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://cunytracker.github.io/CUNYTracker/__;!!…> *********************************************

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Gslisadjuncts FW: Response to EVC Alvero's Statement on Academic Freedom of September 26, 2025
by Emily Drabinski 16 Oct '25

16 Oct '25

Hi all, Sharing a statement issued by CADHE in response to recent messaging around intellectual freedom from the Executive Vice Chancellor Alvero. Best, Emily -- Emily Drabinski Associate Professor and Chair Graduate School of Library and Information Studies Queens College, City University of New York 65-30 Kissena Boulevard Queens, NY 11367-1597 718-997-3629 Book time with Emily Drabinski <https://outlook.office.com/bookwithme/user/649fc09718224602acdaac0cd5a0e57c…> From: Larissa Swedell <Larissa.Swedell(a)qc.cuny.edu> Date: Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 8:46 AM Subject: Response to EVC Alvero's Statement on Academic Freedom of September 26, 2025 Good morning all, Below please find a statement from CADHE in response to EVC Alvero’s message of 9/26 – which, as noted in my email on 10/3, seems to have not been received by most QC faculty. Please feel free to disseminate – thank you. Larissa From: UFS and FGL discussion list <UFS-FGL(a)LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> on behalf of Ernest Ialongo <EIALONGO(a)HOSTOS.CUNY.EDU> Date: Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 7:49 AM Good Morning Colleagues, The CUNY Alliance to Defend Higher Education (CADHE<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://cadhe.commons.gc.cuny.edu/__;!!PxiZbSOa…>) sent our response to EVC Alvero’s Statement on Academic Freedom this morning to the Chancellery, BOT, UFS Chair, SUNY UFS Chair, and the leaders of the PSC and the AAUP. The full message is below. Sincerely, Ernest Ialongo, on behalf of CADHE Academic Freedom at CUNY: The Latest Challenge A Response to EVC Alvero’s Statement on Academic Freedom by the CUNY Alliance to Defend Higher Education October 16, 2025 Academic freedom at the City University of New York (CUNY) is again under pressure. A recent statement<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/q6hl3bzbw0qdbe1i…> on academic freedom by Interim Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost Alicia Alvero on September 26 (p. 7 of the statement) states that “Academic freedom is not absolute. In this context, faculty are expected to have classroom discussions that are both relevant to the course subject matter and do not have the effect of being discriminatory or creating a hostile environment for students” (emphasis added). The CUNY Alliance to Defend Higher Education<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://cadhe.commons.gc.cuny.edu/__;!!PxiZbSOa…> (CADHE) views EVC Alvero’s statement as a dangerous challenge to academic freedom, in that it places an emphasis on the response to academic instruction versus the right of academics to teach their discipline. It distorts the very meaning of academic freedom, as defined by the AAUP<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.aaup.org/reports-publications/aaup-…> and CUNY’s own Manual of General Policy<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://policy.cuny.edu/general-policy/article-…>, by recasting academic freedom as negotiable whenever a student, colleague, political actor, or community member feels offended or upset by legitimate course content as defined by its discipline. EVC Alvero’s statement on academic freedom further stands in direct opposition to the rights and protections of faculty as established by court cases involving constitutional law, such as Keyishian v. Board of Regents<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/385…>, 385 U.S. 589 (1967) and Sweezy v. New Hampshire<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/354…>, 354 U.S. 234 (1957). These cases established “the four essential freedoms” of a university: to determine for itself on academic grounds who may teach, what may be taught, how it shall be taught, and who may be admitted to study. We are further concerned with another aspect of EVC Alvero’s statement: its emphasis that “academic freedom is not absolute” (emphasis added). Project 2025<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_Ma…>, a conservative playbook for the remaking of American society, also calls for school policies to “recognize that academic freedom is not absolute.” And, as the New York Times reports<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/us/billionai…>, advisors to the federal government on higher education are now “the backbone of a potentially far-reaching administration effort to tie campus policies to Mr. Trump’s agenda and the federal government’s financial might.” The resulting “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/u…>” makes the offer of substantial federal grants to higher education institutions in return for, among other things, adopting policies recognizing that “academic freedom is not absolute.” With the recent statement by EVC Alvero on academic freedom, we fear that CUNY is capitulating in advance to the conservative attack on higher education. Other statements refuting EVC Alvero’s statement on academic freedom have also been released by the Professional Staff Congress of CUNY<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://psc-cuny.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10…> and Borough of Manhattan Community College<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/y4nspn0889umlui2…> academic freedom committees. We strongly endorse these responses. Given the current political climate, representatives of the faculty must resist the politicization and curbing of academic freedom. Academic freedom is at risk around the world<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.scholarsatrisk.org/free-to-think-re…>, and we call on CUNY to respect and actively protect these freedoms, not curtail them. CADHE Organizing Committee Cristina Bruns, LaGuardia Community College Sarah E. Chinn, Hunter College Jonathan Cornick, Queensborough Community College Beth Evans, Brooklyn College Paul Fess, LaGuardia Community College Jean Halley, College of Staten Island Ernest Ialongo, Hostos Community College Karen Kaplowitz, John Jay College of Criminal Justice Joel Kuszai, Queensborough Community College Douglas A. Medina, Guttman Community College Hillary Miller, Queens College Mojubaolu Olufunke Okome, Brooklyn College Philip A. Pecorino, Queensborough Community College Larissa Swedell, Queens College Emily Sohmer Tai, Queensborough Community College Karen Weingarten, Queens College Michael W. Yarbrough, John Jay College of Criminal Justice _____________________________________ Dr. Ernest Ialongo Chair, and Professor of History, Department of Behavioral & Social Sciences; Chair, Hostos College-Wide Senate, Hostos Community College The City University of New York 500 Grand Concourse, A-218 Bronx, NY 10451 718-319-7933 https://cuny.academia.edu/ErnestIalongo<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://cuny.academia.edu/ErnestIalongo__;!!Pxi…> "Ma la vita a New York è estremamente dispendiosa ed ardua. Occorrono nervi d'acciaio, dosi di pazienza all'infinito e MOLTI DOLLARI." Fortunato Depero in New York to F.T. Marinetti, 31 October 1929. *********************************************

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Gslisadjuncts Town Hall updates
by Emily Drabinski 13 Oct '25

13 Oct '25

Hi all, Thanks to those who could join for Friday’s Town Hall meeting for part time faculty. I failed to hit the record button—my apologies—so will summarize below. 1. The spring semester has been set. If you have not heard from me, this means that I don’t have a class to offer you next semester. Going forward, I will be clearer in my communications about scheduling processes. 1. The department will begin scheduling summer courses in the next few weeks. If you are interested in teaching in the summer sessions, please email me directly with your availability and course interests. 1. Queens College is facing significant budgetary challenges. This means a focus on course enrollments. All courses must meet an 85% threshold in order to run. The department will be keeping a close eye on those numbers. I’m sharing this as context as it may affect our ability to offer courses taught by part-time faculty. Thank you again for your contributions to our students and to our program. If you would like to discuss anything, please reach out to me and we can find a time to talk. Thank you, Emily -- Emily Drabinski Associate Professor and Chair Graduate School of Library and Information Studies Queens College, CUNY 65-30 Kissena Boulevard Queens, NY 11367-1597 718-997-3629

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Gslisadjuncts Re: Weekly digest of federal government actions and discussion thereof related to higher education
by Emily Drabinski 12 Oct '25

12 Oct '25

From: Larissa Swedell <Larissa.Swedell(a)qc.cuny.edu> Date: Friday, October 10, 2025 at 7:58 AM Subject: FW: Weekly digest of federal government actions and discussion thereof related to higher education From: UFS and FGL discussion list <UFS-FGL(a)LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> on behalf of John Verzani <John.Verzani(a)CSI.CUNY.EDU> Dear All, Please find a partial summary of some of the actions taken by the federal government as relates to Higher Education in general and CUNY in specific in the past week. Thanks DM, KB for providing links this week. Mostly all about the "compact" this week. ## How best to describe the times we are in * NYTimes: Trump Is Not Afraid of Civil War. Neither Is Stephen Miller. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/opinion/trump-miller-kirk-aftermath.html…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/07/opinion/trum…> > Trump’s assault on the left combines the use of the available tools of violent conflict — the military, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE in particular — with the prosecution of critics (and people he just doesn’t like), cuts of essential funds for liberal institutions, the use of regulation to threaten businesses with bankruptcy, the criminalization of free speech and the blackmailing of corporate America into obedience. > The assault has become increasingly brutal as Trump and his allies intensify their demonization of all things left of center, by which they often seem to mean anything to the left of the hard right. > Trump and his allies seized upon Kirk’s assassination to justify a sharp acceleration of their attacks on the left, which, along with a number of other commentators, I was worried about from the start. Now it’s getting worse. > Theda Skocpol, a professor of government and sociology at Harvard who has been closely tracking movements on both the left and the right, showed no hesitation in declaring that Trump and his allies “are trying to provoke protests and demonstrations that they can call ‘violent’ even if there are fewer destructive elements than after the usual big football victory or loss.” > Everyone I contacted for this column described what Trump is doing as a clear violation of democratic rules and guidelines governing peacetime activities. > “Polarization feels almost quaint relative to the profound stress the Trump administration is imposing on our democracy,” Sean Westwood, a political scientist at Dartmouth, wrote by email. ## Academic freedom * Trump makes colleges an offer they can refuse https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10/03/higher-education-compact…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/10…> (Can't quote, too milquetoasty from the WaPo editorial board) * Response to the ‘Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education’ | Office of the President https://president.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/10/response-compact-academic-exce…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://president.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/10/re…> > You have often heard me say that higher education is not perfect and that we can do better. At the same time, we will never compromise our academic freedom and our ability to govern ourselves. * AAC&U Statement on the Trump Administration’s “Compact for… | AAC&U https://www.aacu.org/newsroom/aac-u-statement-on-the-trump-administrations-…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.aacu.org/newsroom/aac-u-statement-o…> > Regrettably, the administration has continued to seek ways to impose its own ideologically driven vision for higher education through unilateral executive action and the coercive use of public funding. On October 1, it invited a first cohort of university leaders to sign a “compact” that would commit their institutions to the vigorous pursuit of the administration’s priorities. The compact is, in effect, an ultimatum: sign and receive “multiple positive benefits,” including “substantial and meaningful federal grants,” or retain the freedom to “develop models and values other than those” of the administration, and “forgo federal funding.” > This is not constructive engagement. > In renewing the call for constructive engagement, AAC&U also strongly opposes any alternative that would erode or eviscerate essential freedoms and promote instability by making America’s colleges and universities subject not to the law and the principles that have served us so well for centuries, but to the changing priorities of successive administrations. * Higher Ed Sounds Off on Proposed Compact https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/trustees-regents/2025/10/06/…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/…> (ACE, AAC&U, Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges, AAUP, College Presidents, members of Heritage (!), AEI, Cato Institute, ...) * Opinion | The Trump Administration’s ‘Compact’ Is a Trap https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-trump-administrations-compact-is-a-tr…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-trump-adm…> > This is not a policy framework. It is a political tool meant to reshape governance at these nine institutions and, if successful, to serve as a model for the rest of higher education. It also comes at a time when dozens of universities already are under investigation by the Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Justice, turning what is labeled “voluntary” into something much closer to coercion. > What is being proposed here is entirely different. It is not a bargain among equals but a one-sided set of conditions imposed by the federal government. Calling it a compact is deliberately misleading. > In truth, this document looks more like a consent decree — the kind of settlement imposed by a court when an institution violates federal law. Consent decrees typically follow litigation, require judicial approval, and are tailored to remedy specific violations. Here, courts have been bypassed entirely. This compact dictates broad rules on admissions, hiring, free speech, international students, and tuition. For the nine universities, signing would be a preemptive surrender clothed as voluntary compliance. It has the binding force of a consent decree but lacks all of the necessary safeguards. > The risks are enormous. The compact requires annual certifications from presidents, provosts, and admissions directors, effectively embedding the Departments of Justice, Education, and Homeland Security in the routine decisions of universities. Even unintentional noncompliance could require repayment of all federal funds received in a year and the return of private gifts if donors demand it. For a research university, a single disputed admissions decision or a protest deemed to violate loosely defined standards of political loyalty or “incitement” could trigger financial catastrophe. > The chilling effect on academic freedom would be significant. The compact authorizes the reorganization or closure of academic units that are considered to privilege certain viewpoints. Vague references to “anti-American values” and “incitement” could easily interfere with protected activities like scholarship, debate, or protest. Combined with the threat of severe financial penalties, this would lead to systemic self-censorship. Tenure would become worthless if entire departments could be shut down for ideological reasons. > Governing boards also must remember that fiduciary duty is not measured by compliance with Washington but by safeguarding institutional mission, integrity, and long-term viability. Signing this agreement would not only be reckless — it could be seen as a breach of the duty of care and loyalty, exposing trustees to challenges from faculty, donors, accreditors, and others. > And to every other institution watching: do not mistake this compact as someone else’s problem. If it succeeds with the nine, you will be next. * The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal https://balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-art-of-replacing-law-with-deal.html<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-art-of-…> (This is an excellent analysis of the "compact". Thanks DM) > The effect of the agreement is to hang a sword of Damocles over any compact-signing university that is not there today. The “benefits of this agreement,” quoted above, consist almost entirely of things that the administration does not have the power to arbitrarily withdraw under federal law. > Universities’ only proper response to this “compact”—and to May Mailman’s dangerous invitation to negotiate further, by way of providing “feedback” on the initial draft—is to offer absolutely nothing. * NYTimes: You Beat Trumpism by Banding Together. It’s as Hard and as Simple as That. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/opinion/trump-universities-compact-civil…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/opinion/trum…> > But Mr. Trump will fail in remaking American politics if people and institutions coordinate against him, which is why his administration is targeting businesses, nonprofits and the rest of civil society, proposing corrupting bargains to those who acquiesce and punishing holdouts to terrify the rest into submission. > It wanted to signal strength. Instead, it’s revealing its weakness. The administration’s need to break the academy is forcing it to make a desperately risky gamble. > As political theorists like Russell Hardin have explained, power is a “coordination game,” in which everything depends on what the public believes and does together. Even the most brutal tyrant does not have enough soldiers and police officers to compel everyone to obey at gunpoint. Authoritarian regimes need civil society — the realm of people and organizations outside government control — to acquiesce to their rule. East Germany’s dictatorship collapsed when multitudes began to march and organize against it, collapsing the illusion that everyone accepted tyranny. > The struggle over regime change is about whether the aspiring authoritarians can subdue civil society. Their strategy is to play divide and conquer, rewarding friends and brutally punishing opponents. They win when society cracks, creating a self-enforcing set of expectations, in which everyone shuts up and complies because everyone expects everyone else to shut up and comply, too. > Universities have taken note. Although the Trump administration forced Columbia into humiliating subjection and has won some concessions from other universities, it hasn’t succeeded in creating the general sense of self-reinforcing hopelessness in the academy that it wanted to. Some institutions are negotiating, but few seem on the verge of folding to the same degree. > But that depends on fear of a credible threat. The administration would have played its cards differently if it had a stronger hand. ... That this didn’t happen suggests that the administration’s threats aren’t enough on their own to compel submission. * Reject the Compact’ petition urges USC not to sign Trump’s contract – Annenberg Media https://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2025/10/06/reject-the-compact-petition-ur…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.uscannenbergmedia.com/2025/10/06/re…> > Following the Trump administration’s Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education invitation on Wednesday, the USC American Association of University Professors sent a petition rallying for USC to reject the compact. > The petition currently has over 500 signatures from various faculty, students and alumni. The petition states that academic excellence comes from upholding USC’s current values in changing times. > The petition states, “When an invitation is accompanied by consequences for not accepting it, it is in fact a threat, not an invitation.” * When Viewpoint Diversity Means Conformity https://www.chronicle.com/article/when-viewpoint-diversity-means-conformity<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/when-viewpoin…> > On October 1, the Trump administration sent letters to nine universities asking them to sign a Compact for Academic Excellence with the federal government. This compact contains demands that are a direct attack on university autonomy and academic freedom. Beyond this, it crystallizes a problem with both the administration’s claim that there is insufficient “viewpoint diversity” in the universities and with the steps they demand be taken to address it. > It is worth dwelling on the framing of viewpoint diversity within the document. In general, writing by the Trump administration does not repay close reading. But its inexactness and ambiguity is sometimes part of the point; the scope of what is being demanded is deliberately unclear or directly contradictory. > My point is somewhat different. “Viewpoint diversity” is reifying. It reduces scholars to static ideological viewpoints. It imagines that individuals occupy identifiable political positions aligned with stable and explicit beliefs that do not change over time. > Despite the misleading openness of the term “broad spectrum,” this directive asks the university to categorize its faculty, staff, and students in the manner that a naturalist classifies flora and fauna. It is then expected to publish (presumably anonymized) results, and then actively hire or admit individuals so as to broaden or complete the spectrum. > This investment in the empirical ideological classification of the living members of an academic community is incoherent, even bizarre. The whole point of an academic community is to engage in forms of inquiry that are open and unfolding, mutable and contestable. This is the whole point of being human, too. The idea that an academic has to register their political affiliation, in the manner one might register one’s political party, is anathema to the vocation of learning, teaching, and research. > What can be made to matter at present for academic freedom and for civic life is the conscious and active cultivation of habits that we are particularly well suited to protect and extend: a habit of ongoing inquiry; habits of direct argument and disagreement; habits of noninstrumental questioning and study. And in that context not everything has to be a litmus test about the flashpoints this administration has decided to impose on us. As Hannah Arendt said of thinking itself, cultivating habits of thinking may be decisive in those moments when the chips are down. Our very mode of conduct as academics is counter-authoritarian. Authoritarians want fixity, and they project it onto their opponents, but we remain open to change, self-critique, and revision. This is why we are seen as a problem — and we can take strength from this fact in each moment of our practice. * Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down | The New Republic https://newrepublic.com/article/201376/trump-compact-academic-excellence-un…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://newrepublic.com/article/201376/trump-co…> > If the University of Virginia agrees to the terms dictated by a memo sent last Wednesday by Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, then this essay you are reading could cost the university all of its federal support—research funds, financial aid, everything. > “Signatories commit themselves to revising governance structures as necessary to create such an environment, including but not limited to transforming or abolishing institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas,” states the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” > I am purposefully “belittling” a “conservative idea.” Or maybe I am not. I’m not really sure what the legal threshold of “belittling” is, and while I have a pretty good idea which ideas should be considered “conservative” (I studied American conservatism in graduate school with one of the premier historians of the subject), I am pretty sure McMahon does not. > It’s important to note that this intervention into higher education is unlike the previous mob-like extortion moves on Columbia, Harvard, the University of California, and (again) my own University of Virginia. In those, the Trump administration told these universities they had to make specific changes in how they do their work or who runs the university under the threat of losing substantial research funding—regardless of the public value of that research. > This “compact” is more like an invitation to borrow money from the mob, with substantial control and future penalties assured. If any university agrees to this proposal, it will be under federal control and subject to some unpredictable, arbitrary, extreme penalties. > Now, those who work at the Department of Education should probably know that every major, nonreligious, and state college and university in the United States has had policies protecting academic freedom since the 1950s, when state and federal leaders frequently purged faculties of professors who studied or proclaimed positions that ran counter to the mainstream values of the time. Academic freedom policies came from faculties, not the government. Governments are the enemies of academic freedom, not their protectors. This current administration is the greatest threat to academic freedom and scientific research since the ebb of McCarthyism. And this compact is just more evidence that it wants to dictate what we teach, what we research, what drugs we develop, and how we express ourselves. * The White House Sent Its Compact to 9 Universities. Here’s What Their Administrators and Faculty Are Saying. https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-white-house-sent-its-compact-to-9-uni…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-white-hou…> (E.g. for Brown) > What administrators have said: The university has not publicly confirmed receipt of compact. “I won’t say that much about the compact here,” President Christina Paxson said at a faculty meeting, “only to thank people who have already written to me to express their views and concerns.” | Source: The Brown Daily Herald > What faculty have said: A professor at Brown, who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity for fear of professional repercussions, said that at multiple faculty meetings, professors “have been expressing significant concern” about the compact. While there are “a lot of different voices,” the professor said, the “overwhelming message” is that faculty are urging leadership to reject it based on “the way it would compromise academic freedom” and the “role of higher education and its independence from politicization.” | Source: Chronicle reporting * How Trump’s Compact Threatens Higher Ed Funding, Freedom https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/executive-leadership/2025/10…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/…> > A White House official told Inside Higher Ed in an email that “other schools have affirmatively reached out and may be given the opportunity to be part of the initial tranche.” The New York Times cited May Mailman, a White House adviser, as saying the compact could be extended to all institutions. (Yeah, right) > “If one by one institutions give in and sign, hoping to mitigate the damage later, it will set a truly problematic precedent,” Connolly said. “Some of the most powerful and wealthy institutions on the planet will have agreed to subject their faculty and research and teaching to state approval, and academia will be visibly divided into an insider group and an outsider group.” * NYTimes: Rutgers Expert on Antifa Flees to Spain After Death Threats https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/nyregion/rutgers-professor-threats-antif…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/nyregion/rut…> (There is a possible similar case at CUNY's GC right now gaining some momentum) > A Rutgers University expert on antifa fled the United States with his family on Thursday night in the wake of death threats that followed President Trump’s push to characterize the left-wing antifascist movement as a domestic terrorist organization. > Dr. Bray, a historian who published the 2017 book “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook,” had taught courses on anti-fascism and terrorism at Rutgers in New Jersey in relative obscurity until a few weeks ago. > On Wednesday night, the expert, Mark Bray, was turned back from the gate at Newark Liberty International Airport, after getting the family’s boarding passes, checking their bags and going though security and was told his reservation had been canceled. But his flight was rescheduled and took off Thursday evening, he wrote in a post on Bluesky. ## Freedom of expression * Asst. professor sues Clemson over Charlie Kirk post firing | The State https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article312369947.html<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-governme…> > One of the assistant professors who was fired from Clemson University for a post he shared in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination is now suing the school. Joshua Bregy, who was an assistant professor in Clemson’s Department of Environmental Engineering and Earth Sciences since January 2023 when he was fired, filed the suit in federal court Friday along with the American Civil Liberties Union of South Carolina. * UNC Professor Accused of Advocating Political Violence Reinstated https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/03/unc-professor-ac…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> > “The Carolina Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management Team consulted with the UNC System security office and with local law enforcement, undertaking a robust, swift and efficient review of all the evidence. We have found no basis to conclude that he poses a threat to University students, staff, and faculty, or has engaged in conduct that violates University policy,” Stoyer said in a statement. “As a result, the University is reinstating Professor Dixon to his faculty responsibilities, effective immediately.” > Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA, called for Dixon to be fired in an X post because of these affiliations. * Opinion | Who Will Clemson Censor Next? https://www.chronicle.com/article/who-will-clemson-censor-next<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/who-will-clem…> https://www.chronicle.com/article/who-will-clemson-censor-next<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.chronicle.com/article/who-will-clem…> > The result of this shifting, amorphous justification for the terminations has been devastating to Clemson’s academic environment. Faculty, staff, and students no longer know what types of speech will be tolerated or punished. The larger upshot is a classic chilling effect — when people hold back from speaking because the boundaries of acceptable expression are unclear and the risks of reprisal too high. Reliance on elastic terms like “inappropriate” or “disruptive” leaves the community guessing what might cost them their jobs or their professional reputations. The result is self-censoring and silence. > But it’s not just that our colleagues tell us that they are now much more cautious about what they say in class. They are also surreptitiously recording their lectures — insurance, they tell us, in case they get accused of saying something they didn’t say or their words are taken out of context. “I’m scared and I’m a tenured professor.” It goes the other way too: Faculty have learned that their lectures are being recorded without their permission and, understandably, think that students are “out to get us.” > Across these cases, universities appear less guided by consistent standards than by external outrage. Terms like “disruption,” “misalignment,” or “institutional values” function as catch-alls, invoked only after political actors or social-media campaigns generate pressure. The result is a chilling effect in which speech protections hinge not on content but on who objects and how loudly. This dynamic illustrates the broader breach in the academic social contract, where institutions increasingly forfeit public trust by applying principles inconsistently and privileging short-term reputational management over enduring commitments to truth and civic responsibility. ## Visas * International Student Arrivals Drop 19% https://www.insidehighered.com/news/global/international-students-us/2025/1…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/global/inte…> (CUNY reported flat numbers here) > That figure is in line with international enrollment predictions but appears to contradict Department of Homeland Security data released last month. > “If we take the entry data as reliable, then I would say it’s not a surprise to anyone in the field that we saw a reduced number of I-94 entries this August. It very much tracks with what we expected based on the unprecedented and, in the view of many in the field, entirely unnecessary freeze on visa interviews that happened during the peak time for visa interview globally,” said Clay Harmon, executive director of the Association of International Enrollment Management. * AAUP, Other Unions Sue Trump Admin Over H-1B Fee https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/08/aaup-other-union…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> > The plaintiffs, which include the American Association of University Professors, UAW International and UAW Local 481, allege in the lawsuit that numerous researchers and academics will lose their jobs as a result of their institutions not being able to afford the new fee. (An H-1B visa previously cost $2,000 to $5,000.) Universities, along with national labs and nonprofit research institutions, were also exempt from the annual cap on the number of new visas, and it’s unclear whether the new fee will apply to higher ed ## Funding cuts ### NIH * Trump slashed funding for universities that helped create these vital drugs https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/interactive/2025/trump-university-…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/intera…> > Pharmaceutical companies are essential to developing new drugs, but the early chapters of many medicines’ origin stories are based in academia, backed by federal funding. A key reason is the 1980 Bayh-Dole Act, which allows research institutions to patent inventions made with federal funding, creating an incentive to turn basic research into drugs. Numerous studies show how critical taxpayer-funded research has become. > The story of how any given drug came to be is often a complex and serendipitous tale, pushed forward by a team effort that spans academia and companies over decades. The federal government is now targeting the roots of the system that has helped fill the world’s medicine cabinet with innovative drugs, although some of its efforts have come under court challenge. > The Washington Post examined the history of six important drugs invented over the past few decades. In each case, crucial steps in the development of the medication came from taxpayer-funded research at universities now at risk of losing federal support. (Keytruda, Lyrica, Viagra, Truvada, Ozempic, Sovaldi) ## Federal Agencies ### DOE/OCR * Trump Officials Reportedly Discussing Selling Off Student Loans https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/08/trump-officials-…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> > Politico noted that the law does allow the Education Department to sell the loans [a $1.6 trillion portfolio], “but only if the transaction would not cost taxpayers money.” Selling off the loans raises a number of questions and issues for borrowers, in part because private loans don’t have the same protections or benefits as federal loans. More than 45 million Americans have federal student loans. ### Government shutdown * Federal Government Shutdown: Impact on Psychology and What You Need to Know https://updates.apaservices.org/shutdown<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://updates.apaservices.org/shutdown__;!!Px…> (Thanks KB) > APA and APA Services, Inc. are monitoring the immediate and cascading effects of the shutdown on psychological science, practice, and workforce development. Our assessment identifies several key areas of concern: ... Disruption to research continuity; Effects on educational and training programs; Operational challenges in practice settings; Behavioral health workforce implications ## Institutional assaults ### Accreditation * Western Accreditor Officially Drops DEI Standards https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/08/western-accredit…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> > The Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior College and University Commission has formally adopted updated accreditation standards that eliminate all mention of diversity, equity and inclusion. > For instance, the first standard, “Defining Institutional Mission and Acting with Integrity,” used to say an institution “promotes the success of all students and makes explicit its commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.” In the updated version, it simply “promotes institutional excellence and success for all students.” > Accrediting agencies have been under pressure since Trump issued an executive order in April directing them to end DEI requirements for colleges. Others—including the American Bar Association and the New England Commission of Higher Education—have also suspended or are considering dropping their DEI standards. ### Harvard * NYTimes: Billionaire Trump Ally Emerges as Key Broker in Harvard Fight https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/us/politics/schwarzman-harvard-trump.htm…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/us/politics/…> > During calls with administration officials this week, Mr. Schwarzman [a billionaire Harvard alumnus who is close to President Trump] has been the lead voice for Harvard. One conversation on Wednesday involved Linda McMahon, Mr. Trump’s secretary of education, who led the discussion for the administration, according to people familiar with the matter. > Mr. Schwarzman’s sudden involvement, which came at the request of Harvard and was encouraged by Mr. Trump, is the latest development in the monthslong battle between the university and the Trump administration. It comes amid a growing divide inside the administration between hard-liners, who want concessions from Harvard, and Mr. Trump, who is eager to announce a deal. > The White House has used a whole-of-government approach — including investigations and funding cuts — as a cudgel to try to compel Harvard and other elite colleges to adopt more conservative values, including stricter definitions of gender, deeper government access to student admissions data and more rigorous codes for student conduct. * NYTimes: A Harvard Professor Is Placed on Leave After Firing a Pellet Gun https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/us/harvard-professor-pellet-gun-synagogu…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/us/harvard-p…> (He was trying to shoo away rats...) * NYTimes: The Harvard ‘Die-in’ That Set Off a Debate Over Protest and Punishment https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/us/harvard-palestinian-protest-die-in-la…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/us/harvard-p…> > An Israeli American student said he was assaulted during a protest. Two years later, Republicans continue to raise the episode in their campaign to force schools to punish the student protesters. > Mr. Tettey-Tamaklo said he inadvertently touched Mr. Segev’s backpack, but insisted he committed no crime. “There was no assault that happened here. I saw the headlines, and I couldn’t believe they were talking about me,” he said. * NYTimes: Harvard Seeks Assurances as Talks Restart in Washington https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/us/politics/harvard-trump-research-money…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/09/us/politics/…> (Another article by the trio of Bender, Schmidt, and Blinder hinting at things to come once again) > Harvard officials have since discussed internally the possibility of seeking additional assurances from the administration that the university will not be subject to further demands once an agreement has been signed, according to two people briefed on the matter. > Administration officials have said the letters to campuses were attempts to solicit feedback, not ultimatums. Still, the requests concerned Harvard leaders because three of the schools had either agreed to deals with the administration or were in negotiations. > Why spend the extraordinary amount of time, money and political capital required for an agreement with Mr. Trump, some have asked, if his administration will return months later seeking more? > “There are some people you don’t want to write a contract with, and I think businesses know that very well,” Oliver Hart, an economics professor at Harvard who won a Nobel Prize for his work on contract theory, ### UVA * Democratic Lawmakers Amplify Pressure on UVA https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/trustees-regents/2025/10/10/…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/governance/…> > Months after Jim Ryan stepped down as University of Virginia president, state Sen. Creigh Deeds is still waiting for answers on whether political interference and external pressure played a role. > But so far, university lawyers have largely refused to answer the state lawmaker’s questions, citing ongoing investigations. Faculty members have also said they can’t get straight answers from the university or face time with the board. > Jeri Seidman, UVA Faculty Senate chair, said the board has declined to answer faculty questions about Ryan’s resignation and DOJ investigations. She added that the board has been less responsive since the Faculty Senate voted no confidence in the Board of Visitors in July. > Recent Faculty Senate resolutions include demands for an explanation on Ryan’s resignation, the no-confidence vote and calls for UVA leadership and the board to reject the proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” > Virginia Democrats have also opposed the compact and threatened to restrict funding to the university if it signs on. That threat comes as lawmakers are ratcheting up pressure on UVA and waging a legal battle to block Republican governor Glenn Youngkin’s board appointments. > Surovell warned that “the General Assembly will not stand by while the University surrenders its independence through this compact” and that there would be “significant consequences in future Virginia budget cycles” for UVA should the Board of Visitors agree to the arrangement. ## Blowback * College Degree Aspirations on the Decline https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2025/10/10/college-degree-a…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes…> > Between 2002 and 2022, the percentage of students surveyed who said they expected to earn a bachelor’s degree or higher fell from 72 percent to 44 percent, according to a research brief the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Education published Tuesday. > “The decline in college aspirations among first-generation students is deeply concerning,” Kimberly Jones, president of the Council for Opportunity in Education, which oversees the Pell Institute, said in a news release. “These students have long faced systemic barriers to higher education, and this data underscores the urgent need for renewed investment in outreach, support, and affordability—including through programs like TRIO and the Pell Grant.” > But in his quest to shrink the size of the federal government, President Donald Trump has proposed cutting funding for TRIO—a set of federally funded programs that support low-income, first-generation college students and students with disabilities as they navigate academic life. ## And just because it is fun * Teaching Climate Justice and Solutions https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-success/life-after-college/2025…<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.insidehighered.com/news/student-suc…> > Faculty from the City University of New York system discuss ways to empower and educate students on climate, sustainability and green careers. > Hands-on work: CUNY has a variety of experiential learning partnerships in New York City that help translate climate research into insights for students and community members and make them aware of the issues impacting their city. > One example is the New York City Climate Justice Hub, which invites community members to set research agendas that would best serve their neighborhoods, such as investigating urban heat or improving sustainable transportation options, said Michael Menser, an associate professor of philosophy and urban sustainability at Brooklyn College. > The system also offers training for community members to engage in climate action themselves. Kingsborough Community College conducts free training programs in renewable energy and sustainable technology for environmental justice and disadvantaged communities, said Robert Zandi, associate director of renewable energy programs at KCC. Students enrolled in these programs receive wraparound supports, career navigation support and Metro cards to boost their success, Zandi said. ---- Again, some links are behind paywalls. The shortened wapo links are gift articles; the Chronicle links should be available through a CUNY library. I have online access to the WSJ articles through CUNY. These digests are now archived at https://cunytracker.github.io/CUNYTracker/<https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://cunytracker.github.io/CUNYTracker/__;!!…> *********************************************

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