“A bureaucratic restructuring that leads to the selective elimination of faculty members really puts academic freedom in jeopardy… particularly for professors who have displeased admin, trustees or donors.” — Mark Criley, Senior Officer in the AAUP Dept of Academic Freedom, Tenure & Governance.

He Had Tenure. The New School Laid Him Off Anyway.

The professor, a longtime critic of the university, was among 19 educators who lost their positions as the institution navigated financial woes.

nytimes.com

“A bureaucratic restructuring that leads to the selective elimination of faculty members really puts academic freedom in jeopardy,” said Mark Criley, a senior program officer in the @aaup.org association’s Department of Academic Freedom, Tenure and Governance. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/05/n...

He Had Tenure. The New School Laid Him Off Anyway.

The professor, a longtime critic of the university, was among 19 educators who lost their positions as the institution navigated financial woes.

nytimes.com

Today, the AAUP & Texas AAUP sued Texas Tech Chancellor Brandon Creighton over directives he gave that mandated the censorship & thought policing of thousands of faculty & students leading to the suppression of academic freedom & the pursuit of knowledge. More Here: www.aaup.org/news/aaup-te... 🧵

Judith Friedlander, author of a book about the New School for Social Research + the University in Exile, says: "The New School has pulled itself back from the brink just in time on many previous occasions. This time, I fear, it will be different."

The New School AAUP@newschoolaaup.bsky.social · 2mo ago

“Even though the New School’s management argues that the institution would no longer exist without these cuts, its critics counter that in saving the university, it is sacrificing the very thing to which it owes its global reputation.” www.fr.de/kultur/gesel... @aaup.org

Last week, one of New York's most iconic universities, The New School, laid off 19 full-time faculty and 68 staff members. Along with coerced "voluntary" separations and early retirements since December 2025, these mass firings constitute a major gutting of The New School's full-time faculty.

“Cautionary Tale”: NYC’s The New School Guts Faculty & Staff as Colleges Intensify Austerity

The Trump administration is continuing its assault on higher education, but in a departure from its earlier high-profile fights with individual institutions like Harvard, it is now rewriting the feder...

democracynow.org

Again, I'm sorry if I sound sentimental about this, but the New School is (or was) a special place. A distinct intellectual environment worth saving, if the management believed in it.

The New School AAUP@newschoolaaup.bsky.social · 2mo ago

“Even though the New School’s management argues that the institution would no longer exist without these cuts, its critics counter that in saving the university, it is sacrificing the very thing to which it owes its global reputation.” www.fr.de/kultur/gesel... @aaup.org

“Even though the New School’s management argues that the institution would no longer exist without these cuts, its critics counter that in saving the university, it is sacrificing the very thing to which it owes its global reputation.” www.fr.de/kultur/gesel... @aaup.org

A Light in the Darkness

Arendt, Habermas and Lévi-Strauss taught here; now the New School for Social Research faces the threat of drastic cuts. By Michael Hesse

fr.de

Infuriating that we don’t know the criteria for firing FT faculty at #thenewschool.

UMD fired 84 people today, largely staff. In addition to the (many more) vacancies that are being closed. Guys with 25+ years of service. Moms who gave birth last week. The amazing woman who puts in 18 hour days to make our college commencement happen. In the richest state in the union, per capita.

« La métamorphose de la New School for Social Research est une terrible allégorie de ce que subissent les universités dans les temps sombres où nous vivons » www.lemonde.fr/idees/articl...

« La métamorphose de la New School for Social Research est une terrible allégorie de ce que subissent les universités dans les temps sombres où nous vivons »

TRIBUNE. Dans une tribune au « Monde », un collectif d’universitaires américains et français s’inquiète des graves attaques que subit ce haut lieu de l’antifascisme intellectuel.

lemonde.fr

Join AFT and the Albert Shanker Institute tomorrow to hear from student activists who are mobilizing youth movements today while recalling the legacy of those who stood up against South Africa's restrictive education policies throughout the apartheid regime. www.shankerinstitute.org/event/defend...

Defending Democracy: South Africa: The Legacy of Youth Activism in the Fight for Global Democracy

Join us on June 16 at Noon EDT for this important discussion.

shankerinstitute.org

“We have shown that when the government tries to turn fear into policy, the AAUP will answer with law, with organizing, with solidarity, & with the oldest commitment we have: the defense of academic freedom for the common good.” 💥💥💥

Veena Dubal@veenadubal.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Here are the notes from my @aaup.org Legal Update, delivered by the incredible @sbagen.bsky.social at the Biennial this last week! academeblog.org/2026/06/15/a...

Reinstate Laid-Off Faculty at The New School. Sign our petition here 👉 forms.gle/NB9DCgVoonAg... @aaup.org

Reinstate Laid-Off Faculty at The New School

On June 1, 2026, the New School announced the mass firing of 19 Full-Time Faculty and 68 staff members. These firings, along with coerced “voluntary” separations, early retirements, and step-downs sin...

forms.gle

“If this kind of austerity can happen at The News School, it can happen everywhere. Faculty all over the country need to be on guard. We need strong labor unions.” — Jeremy Varon, New School AAUP President on @democracynow.org today. 👊🏾👊🏿👊🏼 @newschoolaaup.bsky.social @higheredlabor.bsky.social

The AAUP chapter called for laid-off faculty to be reinstated or offered a phased retirement. Rather than saving money, the layoffs “will instead destroy lives and fundamental structures of the academic institution that have been built over years.“ www.highereddive.com/news/the-new...

The New School AAUP slams faculty layoffs

The faculty group disputed what administrators describe as a need to shrink and restructure the institution to meet a new enrollment reality.

highereddive.com

The 19 laid-off faculty all teach at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts and the New School for Social Research. The AAUP TNS condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the layoffs, many of which appear politically motivated and retaliatory.” www.newschoolfreepress.com/2026/06/03/t...

Reinstate Laid-Off Faculty at The New School. Sign our petition here 👉 forms.gle/NB9DCgVoonAg... @aaup.org

Reinstate Laid-Off Faculty at The New School

On June 1, 2026, the New School announced the mass firing of 19 Full-Time Faculty and 68 staff members. These firings, along with coerced “voluntary” separations, early retirements, and step-downs sin...

forms.gle

Powerful plenary to start day 2 of the #AAUP2026 Higher Ed Summit on who controls the future: democratic institutions & workers or authoritarians & corporate power? 💥💥💥 w/ @democracynow.org’s Juan Gonzalez, Mohsen Mahdawi, @hellobrittparis.bsky.social, & @ncaaup.bsky.social’s @belleboggs.bsky.social

The 19 laid-off faculty all teach at Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts and the New School for Social Research. The AAUP TNS condemned “in the strongest possible terms” the layoffs, many of which appear politically motivated and retaliatory.” www.newschoolfreepress.com/2026/06/03/t...

The AAUP chapter called for laid-off faculty to be reinstated or offered a phased retirement. Rather than saving money, the layoffs “will instead destroy lives and fundamental structures of the academic institution that have been built over years.“ www.highereddive.com/news/the-new...

The New School AAUP slams faculty layoffs

The faculty group disputed what administrators describe as a need to shrink and restructure the institution to meet a new enrollment reality.

highereddive.com

This letter to the New School details the crisis for full-time faculty and our demands, which include reinstatement or “step-down” (a phased retirement process); and that the criteria for termination, institutional need, & financial impact be made publicly available docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Requests for Laid-Off Faculty at The New School

June 9, 2026 To the Board of Trustees, President, Provost, the Executive Vice President of Budget and Operations, Executive Deans, and the Vice President of Human Resources, We write to you with pro...

docs.google.com

“These forced separations are a profound betrayal of the institution’s founding legacy as a sanctuary for critical social thought for scholars fleeing fascism,” Todd Wolfson said. @aaup.org @hyperallergic.com hyperallergic.com/new-school-l...

New School Lays Off Nearly 90 People, Dealing Blow to Humanities

The Manhattan institution cut 19 faculty members and 68 staffers amid mounting financial deficits and declining enrollment.

hyperallergic.com

AAUP President Todd Wolfson: “We stand in solidarity with New School workers amid corporate takeover of the University.“

AAUP Stands in Solidarity with New School Workers Amid Corporate Takeover of the University.

The AAUP condemns the catastrophic faculty and staff layoffs enacted at the New School.

aaup.org

AAUP-TNS condemns in the strongest possible terms the recent firings of full-time faculty and staff across the university. To be clear, they were not let go on the basis of job performance. Read our full statement here 👇 docs.google.com/document/u/1... @aaup.org

Condemnation of Mass Firings

June 1, 2026 Condemnation of Mass Firings AAUP-TNS condemns in the strongest possible terms the recent firings of full-time faculty, as well as unclear numbers of staff, across the university. These...

docs.google.com

Especially sad given the founding of this school as a refuge for persecuted academics in the rise of fascism in Europe. 😔

The AAUP unequivocally condemns the catastrophic faculty & staff layoffs at The New School. The $48 million deficit is the direct result of years of corporate overreach & administrative mismanagement. It should not be weaponized to impose brutal austerity on the backs of dedicated workers.

Megan Zahneis@mzahneis.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Tough times at The New School, which just handed layoff notices to about 15% of its employees to address a $48 million deficit — on top of a 7% workforce reduction via buyouts. It's also restructuring four colleges into two in a major reorg. #HigherEd #AcademicSky www.chronicle.com/article/its-...

many of the faculty that have been fired were critics of the administration - a chilling and shameful episode we should be following, especially those of us in higher ed

The New School AAUP@newschoolaaup.bsky.social · 2mo ago

The New School chapter of the American Association of University Professors condemned what it described as “a major gutting of our full-time faculty body”… saying that no explanation had been provided for why certain jobs were cut. www.chronicle.com/article/its-...

“TNS, a private institution known for its progressive history, is also consolidating its 4 colleges to 2 [+] discontinuing > a dozen academic programs; it paused most PhD admissions last fall… The undergrad pgm in history… is being ‘indefinitely discontinued’; of its 7 FT faculty,“ only 2 remain.

“19 full-time faculty members, 10 of them tenured, were told… that they’d been laid off… Dozens more have taken early-retirement or buyout offers… Among those laid off Monday was Sanjay G. Reddy, a professor of economics + prominent critic of the university’s financial management.”

‘It’s Just Been Agony’: Facing a Big Deficit, the New School Begins Layoffs

One of New York’s most prominent universities has handed layoff notices to about 15 percent of its employees, marking its latest measure to rectify a $48-million budget deficit.

chronicle.com

The New School chapter of the American Association of University Professors condemned what it described as “a major gutting of our full-time faculty body”… saying that no explanation had been provided for why certain jobs were cut. www.chronicle.com/article/its-...

‘It’s Just Been Agony’: Facing a Big Deficit, the New School Begins Layoffs

One of New York’s most prominent universities has handed layoff notices to about 15 percent of its employees, marking its latest measure to rectify a $48-million budget deficit.

chronicle.com