Senior Advisor @aacu.org. Advocate for liberal education. Personal account.
7,715 followers 10,267 following 348 posts
view profile on Bluesky
NEW: two recent polls show an uptick in popularity for higher ed. That says more about the "thermostatic effect" in politics than it does about colleges, I explain in @aacu.org's Liberal Education Online -- but it does give us an opening to make our case. www.aacu.org/liberaleduca...
Dreamed that Clint Hurdle added me to the Pittsburgh Pirates' roster even though I can't play baseball, because he valued my ideas and charisma. Team activities consisted of him calling the players together and imparting life lessons about equality and social justice, and he wanted my contributions
Scholars push back against Trump’s Smithsonian review. #HigherEd #AcademicSky www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
This is not an accurate description either of how science works or of how it is viewed by the administration. It's as if RFK Jr. doesn't exist. This every-man-for-himself panic just sets us further back. We must all hang together, or we will surely all hang separately.
In my first piece for @aacu.org's Liberal Education Online, I discuss an alarming feature of the DOJ's recent anti-DEI memo: targeting thought crimes like "proxies," "perceptions," and "intent," even when they don't involve actual differential treatment of students by identity group.
This is a spectacular piece by Ian Simmons on why business and industry should be all in for academic freedom. www.forbes.com/sites/iansim...
the US profoundly needs a children's rights movement. children are not property... they deserve opportunity and learning and autonomy and security.... and our country just does not acknowledge this
More of this, please. Protect Science and American Innovation Day of Action happening today. www.protectscienceandinnovation.org
Interesting-looking November conference on higher ed and democracy, organized by my friend @jpygold.bsky.social at @bulaw.bsky.social! www.bu.edu/law/engageme...
I enjoyed speaking with @masslive.bsky.social's Juliet Schulman-Hall about the impact of the BBB on higher ed. Spoiler alert, it's not good, but not as bad as it could have been. www.masslive.com/news/2025/07...
I'm on the board at @responsiblehs.bsky.social, and we're searching for our next Executive Director -- Someone w/skills in fundraising, strategic planning, policy, & management. Relevant lived experience a plus. Happy to answer qs (I'm not on the committee). responsiblehomeschooling.org/employment/
Rallying our community to stand up for our rights. Creating life-changing resources for survivors. Training professionals to support at-risk children. Your gift of any amount today directly supports our one-of-a-kind work. #HomeschoolChat
I'm on the board of directors at @responsiblehs.bsky.social, the only organization in the US advocating for responsible oversight of homeschooling to protect kids from abuse. This org is my passion, and I'd be grateful if you'd consider a one-time or recurring donation to their summer fundraiser.
We're suing the government to overturn the massive cuts to NSF funding, including to our own program building STEM education pipelines for students from minority and underserved populations. Proud to be part of @aacu.org and to have the support of @democracyforward.org in this fight.
I'm sure I'll take shit for saying this, but this passage from Glenn Loury's Chronicle interview perfectly captures for me the civilizational necessity of a relatively autonomous academic sphere. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
"A successful college education is measured not by what its graduates believe but by what they can conceive." Important piece by Lynn Pasquerella on @aacu.org's Call for Constructive Engagement statement and higher ed leaders' response to the present crisis. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
Really enjoyed this conversation with Michelle Deutchman @ucfreespeech.bsky.social, which touched on the @aacu.org presidents' statement (approaching 600 signatories!) and other things. freespeechcenter.universityofcalifornia.edu/speechmatter...
Ask him what he thinks about Socialists for Pritzker.
A worthy statement by PEN America's Champions of Higher Education, with over a hundred signatures from former college presidents. Worth reading in full.
Good for @historians.org for redoing this important survey, last completed a decade ago. If you're contingent faculty, please consider filling it out.
More than 150 leaders of America's colleges, universities, and scholarly societies issued "A Call for Constructive Engagement" in response to the ongoing government intrusion into #highered. Read the full statement: www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-c...
Excited about this statement by current college presidents released by @aacu.org, which is now up to over 200 signers and counting. As the statement notes, higher ed institutions "speaking with one voice" is vitally needed right now. www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-c...
Much overlap indeed! Looking forward to it as well!
“The termination of your grant represents an urgent priority for this administration” My NEH grant has been terminated Incredible when the funding for your book about the educational culture wars is cut as a result of the educational culture wars You can’t say history isn’t relevant
Thrilled to announce that I'm joining @aacu.org as Senior Advisor for Strategic Initiatives, working with President Lynn Pasquerella and across the organization on a variety of projects regarding AAC&U's mission of liberal education. www.aacu.org/newsroom/aac...
I’d love to talk with you about how I can be helpful to your organization. Please feel free to reach out. Please also consider sharing this thread to your networks – thank you!
Membership: During the pandemic, I recruited 1,300 new and returning individual members for an academic association.
Communications and research: I’ve been quoted in over 300 media stories, authored over 30 published op-eds, given over 100 speeches and public presentations, and co-authored three major reports on government censorship of higher education. I’ve also served as a nonprofit communications manager.
Fundraising: I’ve raised $3.5 million for programs and organizations, including securing more than a dozen grants and carrying out several small- and medium-dollar fundraising campaigns.
People management: I’ve hired and supervised 20 staff members across four organizations, building effective team cultures and focusing on mentorship, excellence, and professional development.
Coalition-building: I’ve built and led several coalitions of higher education leaders, including a group of 30 association executives and another of 300 former college presidents.
Program design and leadership: I’ve built and managed a $1 million nonprofit program. I’ve also served as a successful interim executive director and an executive coach.
Cross-state advocacy: I’ve created a successful cross-state advocacy program that tracked, analyzed, and advocated for legislation in all 50 states.
Higher ed leadership: I’m a nationally recognized authority on the defense of intellectual freedom and university autonomy from government censorship. In my academic career, I was a tenure-track faculty member, ran a university Institute of Politics, and published a book with Cambridge U. Press.
Hello all: I am seeking a new professional opportunity. I’m a dynamic and experienced nonprofit professional with a unique ability to assemble coalitions and build and execute programs in the higher education, state advocacy, and democracy spaces. Here are a few of the things I’ve done: 🧵
talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/obser...
"Efforts to build inclusive and diverse campus communities are neither discriminatory nor illegal." Bravo to @aceducation.bsky.social and 68 higher ed associations for this muscular, powerful, unified response to the Ed Dept "Dear Colleague" letter. www.acenet.edu/Documents/Le...
@jeremycyoung.bsky.social, director of state and higher education policy at the free expression group PEN America, said senator Ted Cruz's database of “questionable” university research projects creates “a hit list” for higher education research. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...
NEW: “For higher education to survive the current onslaught, it must fight,” writes PEN America’s @jeremycyoung.bsky.social. “Nothing on a college campus is more worth fighting for than the freedom of ideas from government control.” Read more @chronicle.com: www.chronicle.com/article/hand...
For @chronicle.com, I take stock of the moment in which higher ed finds itself -- under attack from forces in the government and in civil society -- and what we should do about it. www.chronicle.com/article/hand...
I think @jeremycyoung.bsky.social makes an important point in this piece, this is a problem where a collective resistance is necessary and likely to be more effective. All schools are under the same threat. Banding together signals strength. www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...
Thanks to @byjoshmoody.bsky.social @insidehighered.com for opportunity to clarify my thoughts. It's been a sector-level failure to defend higher ed against gov't censorship, not the fault of single associations/presidents. If that's changing, it's great news. www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...
This is going to do irreparable damage to the strong ties that the NPS has forged with academic historians. 🗃️ kevinmlevin.substack.com/p/the-war-on...
Not in your focus areas, but I'd be happy to do an AMA on state DEI bans, CRT bans, and state-level restrictions on all things higher ed, complete with lots of legislative analysis and data!
A new story by @nathangreenfield1.bsky.social at @uniworldnews.bsky.social highlights @penamerica.bsky.social's concerns about a new North Dakota bill, which would create post-tenure review committees of administrators and potentially of private citizens. www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?sto...
An incredible piece by @garceslm.bsky.social @chronicle.com on the unconstitutionality of the Department of Ed's Dear Colleague letter on DEI. Worth a close read. www.chronicle.com/article/hitt...
From @penamerica.bsky.social Champion of Higher Education Marjorie Hass: "If we are to truly serve our students regardless of race...watch out. Campuses have much work to do, [much of it] not to the liking of those who believe [the problem] is DEI programs." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
From @penamerica.bsky.social Champion of Higher Education Elaine Maimon: "We are dealing with a direct and blatant threat to the First Amendment. ... we must do something before it’s too late." thephiladelphiacitizen.org/were-under-a...
From @penamerica.bsky.social Champion of Higher Education @holdenthorp.bsky.social: "These cuts should be a rallying cry for higher education to come together to make the case for the American system of research and teaching." www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
“This declaration has no basis in law.” I really wish more institutions would respond to all of these executive orders this way before complying in advance.
PEN America Condemns Education Department’s Threat to Defund Colleges and Universities Over DEI Programs pen.org/press-releas...
Please note that the "Dear Colleague" letter includes a notice inviting comment,emailed to OCR@ed.gov. We will be submitting comment as suggested in the notice, and encourage other interested organizations and individuals to follow suit.
Here's @penamerica.bsky.social's statement condemning last night's "Dear Colleague" letter from the Department of Education, threatening to withhold federal funds from educational institutions that engage in DEI programming, training, or other activities. pen.org/press-releas...
A great piece by my @penamerica.bsky.social colleague Clare Carter on how the Manhattan Institute is using "return on investment" as a smokescreen to ban academic programs they don't like and limit student educational choice. pen.org/cuts-to-acad...
NEW: North Dakota HB 1437 "makes a mockery of the tenure system," says @penamerica.bsky.social's Amy Reid. The bill bans most faculty from serving on post-tenure review committees, while allowing the president to appoint any members they want, including Chris Rufo. pen.org/press-releas...
Otherwise, universities cease to exist as places of free intellectual inquiry, and become mouthpieces of the government, where only one set of ideas can exist. To prevent that, we must say: hands off. Hands. Off. Higher. Ed.
This is the principle of ideological autonomy for the higher education sector. The government helps fund higher ed, which gives it authority over many aspects of the partnership. But it should have no role in deciding what ideas can be present on a college campus.
Instead of "don't cut our funding," our message should be: hands off higher ed. You want to restrict what professors can say in the classroom? Hands off. You want to ban diversity offices? Hands off. You want to cut our research funding? Hands off. Hands. Off. Higher. Ed.
In the past five years, higher ed has demonstrated that it's a soft target for right-wing culture war attacks. Too many are willing to sacrifice part of the sector to protect the rest, as parochial interests dictate. That shows weakness and guarantees a loss for the whole sector.
Some higher ed organizations who are loudly circling the wagons against federal funding cuts were oddly silent or circumspect about the earlier attacks on CRT and DEI. I wish there was a better understanding that these attacks are coming because we failed to repel those.
OHIOANS: Please complete this action alert to send your state lawmakers a letter about OH SB 1, a bill that would gut free expression at all public higher education institutions in your state. Initial vote is tomorrow, don't delay!
For those in Ohio, @penamerica.bsky.social @jeremycyoung.bsky.social have created helpful resources for fighting back against SB 1/HB 6--aka the full-frontal attack on higher education. Here's the tool kit pen.org/dont-censor-...
Straight 🔥🔥🔥from Wesleyan president Michael Roth on the need for college presidents to reject anticipatory obedience and speak out in defense of their sector. slate.com/life/2025/02...
I've lived democratic backsliding & authoritarianism across multiple countries. I've watched repression creep across staff planning sessions & editorial rooms, from both the left & right. The #1 way it happens? Self-censorship. Before your opponents ever censor you, self-professed allies do.
True, but it depends on how you define the university. To me the university is the mission and the students it serves, not its sometimes-craven leadership.
In the higher ed sector, colleges and universities are the institutions, doing the good work; our method of advocacy is the norm. It's time to abandon decorousness, deference, and pedantry and fight like hell, using all the tools at our disposal to defend the freedom to learn.
The mistake we made was conflating norms with institutions. Notms too often hobble democracy; institutions are its lifeblood, doing its good work for the benefit of its citizens. We should be willing to break norms with impunity in service of protecting our institutions.
Outstanding news as the AHA enters a new chapter under the leadership of a dear friend. I just renewed my membership.
Great piece by Holden Thorp, one of @penamerica.bsky.social's Champions of Higher Education, on the need for "wartime" college presidents in higher ed's current emergency. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
I did a joint interview with Dr. Harry Keyishian, legendary plaintiff in the SCOTUS case that established academic freedom as "a special consideration of the 1st Amendment," for @nathangreenfield1.bsky.social @uniworldnews.bsky.social. Read our convo here. www.universityworldnews.com/post-mobile....
“DEI is not a threat. It’s a gift.” Alicia Keys
When voters are asked if they support "diversity, equity, and inclusion" without details, they say they do. I do wonder if Rs are so bubbled in Rufoland that they are forgetting to sell this.
My colleague Amy Reid bringing the 🔥🔥 against two extreme higher ed censorship bills in Indiana, including one that would not only enact the nation's most extreme DEI ban, but also restrict curricula in health education programs. pen.org/press-releas...
Does not apply to student financial aid. Definitely does apply to all faculty research funding.
PEN America's @jeremycyoung.bsky.social spoke to Higher Ed Dive after President Trump signed an executive order Tuesday targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs at colleges and other “influential institutions of American society." Read more at: www.highereddive.com/news/trump-e...
“One administration employee who received the email urging employees to report their colleagues said it made them feel as though they were being recruited into the Gestapo. Another employee told The Times that the directive to report colleagues made him feel as if he was living in the Soviet Union.”
Devastating for scientists and their research, and everyone who benefits from that research. I’m not sure if everyone outside academia is aware that a delay or “pause” in grant funding often means the researchers themselves are lost from the field, along with their expertise.
“Scientific discovery, cultural creation, critical thinking, democratic pluralism...are only possible if colleges and universities remain places where all ideas are open for debate.” Read more from PEN America’s @jeremycyoung.bsky.social at Inside Higher Ed: www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...
Get up to speed on Trump's plans for higher ed in this 20-minute podcast episode, featuring PEN America's eloquent and incisive @jeremycyoung.bsky.social. cc: @aaup.bsky.social, @brianleiter.bsky.social, @hankreichman.bsky.social, @brsoucek.bsky.social banished.substack.com/p/trouble-ah...
Blast from the past: I was on a panel for the BBC World Service, talking about my book from 2017 on the history of charisma. No idea who the handsome gentleman in the stock image is, though. www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...
The latest episode of Banished -- a conversation with @penamerica.bsky.social's @jeremycyoung.bsky.social just dropped. Not to be missed:
This is not true about Texas's DEI ban; it doesn't restrict conference travel or student recruitment. That didn't stop Gov. Abbott from threatening to fire TAMU's president, who responded that he'd now honor the "intent" and "spirit" of the law rather than what it actually says.
U. of Iowa combined 6 small women's/ethnic studies programs in a new division. State lawmakers sent a threatening letter demanding the regents veto the proposal on ideological grounds. That's jawboning and it's wrong, @penamerica.bsky.social's Amy Reid explains. pen.org/press-releas...
Great @apnews.com article by Heather Hollingsworth, with quote from me, on how state DEI restrictions will be a blueprint for the new federal administration. apnews.com/article/coll...
My full comment to @insidehighered.com on this excellent, important @aacu.org -led survey on academic freedom. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
Enjoyed this conversation on educational censorship with Katie Day and Chelsea Adams at the 16:1 podcast! sixteentoone.com/2025/01/09/e...
Really enjoyed this conversation about academic freedom with Drumm McNaughton! changinghighered.com/censorship-i...
Proud to say that we'll be defending Selzer from Trump's latest SLAPP. www.thefire.org/news/fire-de...
ICYMI: "Colleges and universities are entering an extraordinarily difficult period.” From PEN America’s Jeffrey Adam Sachs and @jeremycyoung.bsky.social, here’s what might come next in federal higher ed censorship in 2025 pen.org/for-federal-...
To be fair to the Chronicle, they published us recently too... www.chronicle.com/article/flor...
🚨A vital forecast of the ways the attack on #HigherEd will likely grow in 2025. Just as important, the authors remind us we are not powerless, but we must organize now to fight back against government and administrative attacks on #academic freedom! 👊
Hello #aha25! I'm on two panels this weekend, a listening session on "anti-woke" legislation on Sunday (#204), and as a late addition to a career diversity panel on Saturday (#112). If you're here, stop on by and say hi!
PEN America's @jeremycyoung.bsky.social talks to Dr. Harry Keyishian, lead plaintiff in Keyishian v. Board of Regents, the landmark case that established academic freedom as a “special consideration” affording professors at least as much freedom of speech as other citizens: pen.org/the-plaintif...
Interesting and insightful piece by my colleague @jeremycyoung.bsky.social, drawing some important historical thrulines between attacks on academic freedom today and similar attacks during the "Red Scare". #academicfreedom
This one is special. "Academic freedom is...a special concern of the First Amendment." -- Justice William J. Brennan, Keyishian v. Board of Regents (1967). Lead plaintiff Harry Keyishian got fired over a loyalty oath. I got to interview him about it. pen.org/the-plaintif...
NEW: What might the new administration do to censor higher ed in 2025? Jeffrey Adam Sachs and I break it down for @penamerica.bsky.social. Lots of scary stuff coming -- and more reason than ever for higher ed to defend and promote itself effectively, we argue at the end. pen.org/for-federal-...
Had a great time talking with Michael Baranowski on the Politics Guys podcast about @penamerica.bsky.social's America's Censored Classrooms 2024 report. You can listen here: politicsguys.com/americas-cen...
So incredibly proud of my @penamerica.bsky.social colleague Amy Reid, who was named one of Ms. Magazine's top 25 feminists of 2024, alongside Kamala Harris, AOC, Caitlin Clark, Simone Biles, Roxane Gay, Dolly Parton, Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, and many more. msmagazine.com/2024/12/28/m...
I'm on the board of @responsiblehs.bsky.social. We are currently hiring for a part-time (5 hour/week) advocacy consultant to advance our agenda in state legislatures. This is a great team and a desperately important mission. Learn more and apply here: responsiblehomeschooling.org/employment/
Many lessons here for the road ahead. Voters, including Trump voters, don't like it when culture war attacks threaten the existence of public higher ed. Accreditation matters. And if higher ed can figure out how to break through to voters, there's nowhere in the country too red to win.