The Education Department seeks to stifle the freedom to teach, learn, and research through a process not often paid attention to: accreditation rule changes. As CEO and president Mike Gavin told @insidehighered.com: “defining academic freedom is a role the government should not take." Read more:

3 Key Changes in Trump’s New Accreditation Rule

The administration accused accreditors of neglecting their “positions of public trust.”

insidehighered.com

The Education Department proposed changes to the accreditation system. Read the proposed rule and ask yourself: who really benefits when academic freedom is in the hands of political partisanship? Make your voice heard before the public comment period closes on Sept. 21:

Sec. McMahon’s letter reads like a request. A closer look shows it’s Compact 2.0. The Call for Unity is how we resist an agenda that places ideological compliance ahead of students. Read more:

Higher Ed Advocates Push Back on McMahon’s “Call to Action”

As university leaders announce plans to consult faculty on how to respond to the education secretary’s questions, two groups call for unity and resistance.

insidehighered.com

"Rebuilding public trust in higher ed goes beyond saying more positive things more frequently to more audiences" says Alliance President @michaelhgavin.bsky.social. We have to also reject the false narrative that access and inclusion are bugs, instead of assets. www.theeduledger.com/institutions...

Americans’ Confidence in Colleges Continues Long-Term Slide

A new Gallup-Lumina survey shows faith in higher education has dropped sharply since 2015, especially among Republicans and, more recently, Democrats.

theeduledger.com

Affinity housing is legal. Student success initiatives are legal. Ensuring students are able to vote is legal. The Education Dept. exceeding its authority to further define professional degrees and limit access to education is not.

Mike Gavin@michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 2mo ago

As usual, higher education leaders shouldn't change operations. The rhetoric in this letter is meant to incite fear based on false accusations. If only there was a place in America where deep study of race and institutions would reveal best practices. 🙃 www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

As usual, higher education leaders shouldn't change operations. The rhetoric in this letter is meant to incite fear based on false accusations. If only there was a place in America where deep study of race and institutions would reveal best practices. 🙃 www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

Dear Colleague Letter Asks Colleges to End Affinity Housing

The Trump administration alleges that housing that caters to minority students violates the Fair Housing Act. Experts say the guidance is unlikely to withstand legal challenges.

insidehighered.com

This is what the politicization of research, and access to it, looks like. OMB's proposal to require political appointee approval of any federal grant award will codify this practice. To submit public comment: fight2win.standupforscience.net/campaign/omb... hechingerreport.org/proof-points...

HHS removes nearly one-fifth of sessions from early childhood research conference

Researchers fear political screening after abrupt cancellations

hechingerreport.org

Federal accreditation policies are being re-written and some professional program accreditors have removed reqs that encourage teaching about structural inequities in their fields. Join us and a panel of experts to discuss these changes and their consequences. 📅 7/13/26, 4 PM ET 🔗 bit.ly/43KAAwD

Want to submit your public comment about the OMB Grant Proposal but not sure how? Join TOMORROW at 2 PM ET for advice on how to submit a public comment! Register at the link in our bio, or go here: zurl.co/soKX3 #StandUpForScience #OMB #Vought #SaveScience #Science

The @washingtonpost.com covers The Trust Agenda at length, in a great piece by @susansvrluga.bsky.social. Word is getting around! www.washingtonpost.com/education/20...

Colleges know public trust has plummeted, and leaders are seeking a fix

After a year of intense political pressure, higher education heads are speaking openly about rising concerns.

washingtonpost.com

On the Future Trends Forum, @edufuturist.bsky.social and @michaelhgavin.bsky.social discussed the new OMB proposal: "It's bad for the country. It's bad for knowledge. It's bad for democracy." Join us and @standupforscience.net to submit pub comment: fight2win.standupforscience.net/campaign/omb...

"...the answer is not simply a matter of courage or cowardice. The answer is shaped by politics: specifically, which institutional interests higher education leaders advance as legitimate, and which they frame as expendable, ideological, and risky." www.theeduledger.com/opinion/arti...

Will Universities Pledge Allegiance or Draw a Line?

Universities clearly know how to fight when they decide to, but how institutions frame the fight determines whether resistance can take hold.

theeduledger.com

OMB's latest rule proposal replaces peer review with political authority. Public comment is open now! Please join us and @standupforscience.net to stop the weaponization of federal funds to control knowledge and the freedom to teach, learn, and research. bit.ly/4uxLAbA

Stand up for Science

Stand up for Science

fight2win.standupforscience.net

"Compliance ceases to be a fixed legal threshold and becomes an ever-narrowing set of assumptions about political risk," write @jackiepedota.bsky.social (@umassboston.bsky.social), @garceslm.bsky.social (@alliancehighered.bsky.social), and Eliza Epstein in @insidehighered.com:

How Universities Expand the Reach of Anti-DEI Laws (opinion)

Colleges and universities amplify the impacts of anti-DEI laws through the processes they use to (over-)comply with them.

insidehighered.com

There are no workarounds to higher education's contemporary authoritarian challenges nor the sector's shortcomings. The only way out is through. By building coalitions in defense of and in the advancement of knowledge, democracy, and the freedom to teach, learn, and research.

Dominique Baker@bakerdphd.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Wrote a little about the work the U.S. put into helping academics escape fascism during WWII and why we can't rely on that for our future www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

"The proposed budget by this administration eliminates access to programs like TRIO, GEAR UP, child care for college students funding for MSIs, Medicaid, federal work student grants... and research funding focused on DEI. The hardest part of college should be in the classroom, not outside of it."

Mike Gavin@michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Too much of higher ed is focused on gatekeeping rather than net building. We need to bring more students in and find ways to fund them. The current federal budget proposals are threatening to keep students out. The @alliancehighered.bsky.social has tools to advocate for all.

On the Future Trends Forum just now @michaelhgavin.bsky.social says we should expect a major conservative push on general education this fall. @alliancehighered.bsky.social

There are no workarounds against the multi-decade, multi-billion-dollar movement to dismantle higher education. The harm is indeed to democracy and our students. For example, the state-level assaults on higher education began prior to the current substack: substack.com/home/post/p-...

There are No Work-arounds to Authoritarianism

Institutions that seek to keep their head down have not found success; our work needs to be recast

substack.com

New research shows how institutional preemptive and over-compliance with anti-DEI laws allow policies to surpass their original goals, amplifying a chilling effect that harms students, faculty, and the freedom to teach, learn and research. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

How Universities Expand the Reach of Anti-DEI Laws (opinion)

Colleges and universities amplify the impacts of anti-DEI laws through the processes they use to (over-)comply with them.

insidehighered.com

📣Leave public comment ☎️Contact Congress 🚨Register for the @standupforscience.net Emergency Science Meeting tomorrow at 4pm et ONE STOP SHOP: fight2win.standupforscience.net

Stand up for Science

Stand up for Science

fight2win.standupforscience.net

Scott Rich, Ph.D.@richcompneuro.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Top story on the @nytimes.com app. A big sign that this all-important story is breaking into mainstream consciousness.

I spoke with Edwin Eisendrath on his show "It's the Democracy Stupid" @heartlandsignal.bsky.social about Iowa's (Orwellian) Center for Intellectual Freedom, attacks on higher education, and critical race theory. @alliancehighered.bsky.social

WCPT 820 Interview: Victor Ray - It's the Democracy, Stupid with Edwin Eisendrath (formerly The Big Picture)

Edwin Eisendrath is joined by Victor Ray, University of Iowa associate professor in the Departments of Sociology & Criminology and African American Studies and vice president of The American Sociologi...

omny.fm

Looking forward to this on Thursday!

Bryan Alexander@edufuturist.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Can the Alliance for Higher Education help defend colleges and universities under attack? Join us Thursday as we meet the group's president, Michael Gavin, to discuss. georgetown.zoom.us/meeting/regi... @alliancehighered.bsky.social @michaelhgavin.bsky.social

This new OMB directive continues to weaponize federal funds. People, and especially underserved communities, will suffer without the benefits of new knowledge, cures, and treatments produced. @standupforscience.net continues to lead in opposition to the politicization of science. bit.ly/4uIosYR

White House proposes new rules giving political appointees final say on research grants

These proposed Office of Management and Budget regulations would render the federal research grant review process opaque

scientificamerican.com

"So let me say it as clearly as I can: Without basic scientific research, supported by the kind of farsighted public investment that allows large-scale, undirected, curiosity-driven inquiry, the scientific pipeline will run dry." www.statnews.com/2026/05/27/s...

MIT president: Why so many optimistic scientists are losing heart

“This erosion of our strength is a loss for the nation,” writes MIT President Sally Kornbluth.

statnews.com

"'The fragility of academic freedom is the distance between our soaring rhetoric and the harsh realities of trying to put them into practice,' said panelist Dominique Baker, associate professor of education and public policy." I gotta transcribe my portion of this talk www.udel.edu/udaily/2026/...

Shining a light on academic freedom | UDaily

Constitutional scholar and UD experts discuss principles, protections and responsibilities

udel.edu

"Higher education is a public good. And if we are serious about restoring trust, we must be equally serious about strengthening and transforming the system so that it serves students, workers and communities alike."

Randi Weingarten 🖇️📚✊🇺🇸@rweingarten.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Our universities are among the most powerful engines we have for research, innovation & economic growth.They foundational to our democracy. We must strengthen these institutions for generations to come. My op-ed with @aaup.org President @proftwolf.bsky.social. www.highereddive.com/news/higher-...

Our universities are among the most powerful engines we have for research, innovation & economic growth.They foundational to our democracy. We must strengthen these institutions for generations to come. My op-ed with @aaup.org President @proftwolf.bsky.social. www.highereddive.com/news/higher-...

Higher education must be rebuilt to restore public trust. Here’s how.

The heads of the American Association of University Professors and the American Federation of Teachers lay out their vision for overhauling the sector.

highereddive.com

Following the conclusion of the AIM Committee and Dept. of Education negotiated rulemaking meetings, Alliance President and CEO @michaelhgavin.bsky.social issued the statement below:

The AIM Committee and Education Department are considering proposals to limit the freedom to teach, learn, and research. We asked experts about the potential impact. Spoiler alert: long-term prosperity, intellectual diversity, democracy, and access to knowledge are at risk.

Insightful commentary from Alliance Knowledge for Democracy Collective member @cantb.bsky.social on the future of our public research universities, which serve as essential economic and civic engines for the nation

Brendan Cantwell@cantb.bsky.social · 4mo ago

What are public research universities up to? I argue that the sector is splitting into partisan blocs, that universities are investing betting on campus as athletics-entertainment district, and that research emphasis will ease. A sort of de-institutionalization. www.chronicle.com/article/the-...