On my very long and dread-filled drive back to Texas—where Gilead is a preferred model of governance—I am inspired by colleagues at TAMU who refuse to bend the knee www.aclutx.org/press-releas...

ACLU of Texas, Professors Sue Texas A&M System Over Censorship Policy, Detail Violations of Academic Freedom - ACLU of Texas

Faculty have been instructed to remove educational materials — like the film “Moonlight” and writings by Plato — from syllabi following policy banning race, gender, and sexual orientation related topi...

aclutx.org

Being a strong advocate of institutional neutrality and also advocating for using political ideology as a key criterion for hiring are not logically consistent positions.

Liam Knox@liamknox.bsky.social · 2d ago

Scoop: The Trump administration is sending a letter to college presidents asking them to pledge a series of policy changes by the end of the year. Unlike last year's Compact, this effort was devised with input from higher ed leaders. Free link to my exclusive: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

Today’s document: the AG's July 23 Federal Law Protections for Religious Liberty memo. What is the constitutional vision it constructs, and what are its assumptions about government, institutions, and individual rights embedded in its language?

There’s lots more to read at padlet.com/lalubean/lei..., and here’s my most recent appearance from the Netherlands. youtu.be/jNDwyc-hMwU

Leila Green Little, et al., v. Llano County, et al.

News coverage

padlet.com

The Fifth Circuit’s recent opinion (Debrow) (along with Hemani) has me thinking about a question that is and isn't about guns.

Probably the truest lesson from Appiah’s "report," and advice that he should take: “But without input from those trained in a discipline, concepts and claims can easily float free of a proper understanding.” higheredstatementofprinciples.com/state-of-sch...

Literary Studies

Kwame Anthony Appiah1 Academic literary scholarship in the United States covers a vast range of languages and genres. A large number of scholars write and teach about literature written in English around the world, many focusing especially on British and North American writing. But you can also study: literature in many other European languages, from […]

higheredstatementofprinciples.com

⭐️⭐️An incredible syllabus on the Right wing takeover of higher education using UT Austin as a case study. ⬇️ open.substack.com/pub/highered...

Syllabus: The Right-Wing University Takeover

The Higher Ed Advocate is dedicated to two goals: 1) documenting and analyzing attacks on higher education in Texas and beyond, and 2) defending students’ right to learn and professors’ right to teach...

open.substack.com

For a bit more on student complaints as the measure of protected speech varnerd.substack.com/p/student-co...

Student Complaints Are Not a Heckler’s Veto

What Reges v. Cauce Says about Academic Freedom, Complaints, and the Public University

varnerd.substack.com

Deena Varner@deena-varner.bsky.social · 3w ago

1/15 Live-reading Reges v. Cauce, the Ninth Circuit’s December 2025 academic freedom ruling, as a companion to the Eleventh Circuit's Stop WOKE ruling. The case asks whether UW could discipline a professor for including a parody land acknowledgment in his syllabus.

1/15 Live-reading Reges v. Cauce, the Ninth Circuit’s December 2025 academic freedom ruling, as a companion to the Eleventh Circuit's Stop WOKE ruling. The case asks whether UW could discipline a professor for including a parody land acknowledgment in his syllabus.

Beautiful, and surely well-timed, lawsuit filed against the Texas Tech University System for censorship of the kind the Eleventh Circuit just ruled against. lambdalegal.org/case/america...

American Association of University Professors, et al. v. Creighton, et al.

Lambda Legal, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), and Davis Wright Tremaine LLP filed a federal lawsuit challenging censorship policies imposed across the Texas Tech University S...

lambdalegal.org

This is the academic freedom jurisprudence we've been waiting 100 years for law.justia.com/cases/federa...

Pernell v. Commissioner of the FL State Board of Education, No. 23-10616 (11th Cir. 2026)

Florida enacted a law prohibiting public university professors from endorsing or promoting certain ideas related to race, color, sex, and national origin in classroom instruction. The law, known as th...

law.justia.com

The AHA has released a statement opposing the new Texas Tech University Course Content Guidelines, which prohibit content related to sexual orientation & gender identity in undergraduate courses, without defining these terms. Students deserve full and accurate histories. Read the statement:

AHA Opposes Restrictions on Teaching and Learning at Texas Tech University - AHA

The AHA has released a statement strongly opposing the new Texas Tech University Course Content Guidelines. The guidelines impose a “strict prohibition” on content related to “Sexual Orientation and G...

historians.org

Excellent new film review by @deena-varner.bsky.social on Surveillance & Society’s blog, Blink. medium.com/surveillance...

Deputized by Design: Ambient Surveillance and Neoliberal Rescue in ‘Dangerous Animals’

In this post, Deena Varner reviews Dangerous Animals (2025), Directed by Sean Byrne. US: IFC Films. Available to stream on Shudder.

medium.com

1. In a draconian new policy, Texas Tech is banning writing about LGBTQ+ topics. The ban is the first don't say gay or trans policy to apply to students themselves. It applies to any thesis/dissertation moving forward. They are using AI to scan everything. Subscribe to support our journalism.

Texas Tech Issues Ban On Students Writing On LGBTQ+ Topics

The ban applies to theses and dissertations, and is expected to begin going into effect on a rolling basis.

erininthemorning.com

Texas Tech University System’s censorship of all content related to gender and sexuality is in contravention to Regents' Rules, e.g., 04.04.03: faculty must encourage "free inquiry in the classroom...and maintain a climate of mutual respect which will enhance the free interplay of ideas.”

It's been radio silence since this memo, excepting a message from the Provost to follow the chain of command (read: don't contact the Provost's office). This is far beyond what we were told to expect in the wake of the previous memo—when we were informed that we had to follow the "law" re: gender.

I am completely bereft. This has been going on for months, with varying degrees of guidance, but this one takes it. I am terrified of what's happening, for myself, my students, my colleagues, the public I serve. www.texastech.edu/downloads/25...

Our first post is an invitation! Join is to explore creative methods in carceral geography with these amazing people. Register here: events.humanitix.com/cgwg-worksho...

It was lovely working with @virvere.bsky.social on this wonderful review of Carceral Worlds: Legacies, Textures, and Futures, which foregrounds "how people feel and experience [a multiplicity of] carceralities."

Book Review: Carceral worlds: Legacies, textures and futures

Stuit, H, Turner, J, & Weegels, J. (Eds.). (2024). Carceral worlds: Legacies, textures and futures. Bloomsbury. Reviewed by Virve Repo, Tampere University, Finland    Carceral Worlds is an edit…

carceralgeographies.co.uk

This conversation among recent political prisoners captures so many subtleties and contradictions of social life in prison—and a plug for their new book, City Time

City Time: A Discussion with David Campbell and Jarrod Shanahan

David Campbell and Jarrod Shanahan’s new book City Time: On Being Sentenced to Rikers Island (NYU Press, 2025) offers an insightful look into the daily life of one of the most notorious carceral…

hardcrackers.com

How we did it: Texas Won’t Study How Its Abortion Ban Impacts Women, So We Did

Texas Won’t Study How Its Abortion Ban Impacts Women, So We Did

Since Texas banned abortion, no one has studied the statewide effects on pregnant women experiencing complications. Here’s how we sifted through data on millions of pregnancy hospitalizations and anal...

propublica.org

Ahed’s Knee seems to be about the nationalist/racist/bureaucratic/authoritarian state, but the film within the film (the critique within the critique)—the *sympathy* and *admiration* for Ahed Tamimi—is a brilliant take on the structural relationship between liberalism and state violence.

Ahed's Knee – Official U.S. Trailer

YouTube video by Kino Lorber

youtube.com

For the last time: The illegal / legal immigrant distinction is a manufactured crisis designed to mask deeper anxieties about white supremacy and generate support for nativist policies.

Employees of Texas universities are no longer permitted to travel to China for teaching, research, or any other professional purposes. Greg Abbott has unilaterally crippled ties between American and Chinese academics. gov.texas.gov/uploads/file...

This Black Friday, you'll probably notice the effects of inflation on price tags. What might not be so obvious though is its effect on the criminal legal system. Each year, inflation makes the system more punitive – and that's not a good deal. www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2020/06...

How inflation makes your state’s criminal justice system harsher today than it was yesterday

The case for increasing the monetary level for felony theft.

prisonpolicy.org

Jailbots are like every recent #AI #surveillance horror movie squared. I wonder if someone watched Megan and said, let's do that in prisons! one.npr.org/i/nx-s1-5178...

🔊 Listen Now: A look at a pilot program in Georgia that uses 'jailbots' to track inmates

Morning Edition on NPR One | 3:13

one.npr.org

I’m prepping a class about “literature of the fantastic” through the lens of political systems and social control. As the semester winds down, I was able to spend an entire Saturday doing little else but rereading Octavia Butler’s Kindred.

Since the 1990s, scholar-activists with lived experience in the criminal legal system have built a global movement. Tietjen Grant explores its history, impact, and future promise. www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/s...

System-affected academics are building a movement — and transforming the academy

Scholarship is a powerful tool for changing how people think, plan, and govern. By giving voice to bright minds and bold ideas, we seek to foster understanding and drive progressive change.

ucpress.edu