The latest #DefendResearch updates can be found in last week's newsletter. Read below 👇 and sign up for updates in your inbox: app.keila.io/forms/nfrm_7... app.keila.io/archive/nmc_... #research #censorship

IN ONE WEEK, how can scholars resist in emerging autocracies? #DefendResearch and @vkempe.bsky.social share lessons from research behind the Iron Curtain. 📅 Wednesday, August 12th @ 11 AM EST 📍 Register for Zoom at tinyurl.com/defendresear... #censorship #EduSky #SciSky #research

Comments on the #NSF proposed regulation changes are due 8/24. #DefendResearch held Action Hours to support commenting on the #OMB reg changes. Let us know if that would that be helpful again!

If you're as outraged about this as I am then @everylibrary.bsky.social has made it easy to contact your senators & representatives to ask them to resist #censorship civicmail.org/about-campai...

Don't Ban Books in the United States

Across the country, politicians are trying to decide what Americans are allowed to read. Books are being pulled from school shelves, challenged in public libraries, and targeted for removal not becaus

civicmail.org

Mark@ferl67.bsky.social · 2d ago

Federal court allows Arkansas to start enforcing its book ban, ending 3-year injunction www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/08/fede... #Books #BookBan #Arkansas #USA

#NIH further undercuts researchers from "disadvantaged backgrounds" and further constrains research into health disparities and contraception: grants.nih.gov/news-events/... These restrictions are methods of #censorship. #DefendResearch See how you can fight back! defendresearch.org

BOOM. The AAUP is suing Texas A&M University System over their censorship policy that prohibits faculty from discussing topics & viewpoints related to race, sexual orientation, & gender. www.aclutx.org/app/uploads/... 1

Many thanks to @lschiff.bsky.social Anna Culbertson of @27unihted.bsky.social Eric Rubin of @nejm.org & @gazelleindminor.bsky.social for sharing their thoughts on what next re #OMB proposed rule change in today's @scholarlykitchen.bsky.social scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/08/03/a...

Ask the Community: What’s Next for the OMB Rule Change? - The Scholarly Kitchen

Today, we asked the community: What key message(s) do you want policymakers to take from the responses submitted to the OMB?

scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org

"There's an extreme, radical, right-wing agenda coming out of the federal government targeting higher education. The AAUP won’t exist in an ivory tower and wait for politics to be done to its members. That’s not the AAUP of 2026." – Todd Wolfson, AAUP President

AAUP Embraces Political Role With Candidate Endorsements

The group says the move is a first in its over-100-year existence, and part of countering government threats. Critics say AAUP has lost its neutrality.

insidehighered.com

Next month, #DefendResearch & @vkempe.bsky.social discuss lessons from censored scholarship behind the Iron Curtain, with takeaways for today's researchers. Join us on August 12 on Zoom at tinyurl.com/defendresearch-aug26 #censorship #EduSky #SciSky #research

If you want an example of why having political appointees deeply involved in grantmaking... www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...

Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him (Gift Article)

Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.

nytimes.com

This is one of the dumbest & most bizarre Executive Orders we have ever read. This EO is a clear political overreach, driven by an ideological agenda to rewrite American history. Our Smithsonian institutions do not belong to the President, but to the American people & so does our nation’s history.

Restoring Trust in the Smithsonian Institution

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.  Policy. On

whitehouse.gov

@dereklowe.bsky.social lets loose again (and I am still here for it). www.science.org/content/blog... 1/2

The Assault On Science Funding Continues

science.org

ICYMI The recording for July’s #DefendResearch webinar, “Th Authoritarian Playbook” with @lewan.uk is available to watch now at www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QBB... #research #DefendResearch #censorship #SciSky #EduSky

The Authoritarian Playbook: Risk, Reality, & Opportunities to Resist Democratic Backsliding

YouTube video by DefendResearch

youtube.com

Remember your #OMB comment? Now it's time to mobilize and submit comments opposing a similar proposal from #NSF. www.regulations.gov/docket/NSF-2... Thanks to @standupforscience.net for sounding the alarm on this! #DefendResearch #Resist

Love everything about this! Are you an @aaup.org advocacy chapter or at-large member? Then you are part of @local6741.bsky.social. Want to know the incredible stuff we did at the @aft.org convention last week? Check out this recap 🧵

United Academics@local6741.bsky.social · 2w ago

We rolled deep at the @aft.org convention this year. We got our resolution on pre-contract unionism passed unanimously. We built relationships with our amazing union siblings. And now we more ready than ever to go back to our campuses and communities and build power through organizing! 🧵

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... 🧵

OUT TODAY, the AAUP just released the first comprehensive account of how the Trump administration has taken the same playbook it's used on law firms & foreign governments & turned it on American universities. US higher ed has, in effect, become a target of a massive extortion racket. 🧵

New Report on Extorted Compliance Charges “Massive Extortion Racket” Against Higher Ed

A new AAUP report, "Extorted Compliance: A Threat to Institutional Autonomy, Academic Freedom, and Shared Governance," exposes how the Trump administration has extended its pay-to-play approach to gov...

aaup.org

New podcast at JAMA with my colleague Derek Angus Latest episode at jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

The White House didn’t weigh scientific merit or alleged noncompliance of grant terms when they cut billions in life-saving research, they just looked for words they didn’t like. Blue states were specifically targeted for defunding.

Sarah T Roberts, PhD@ubiquity75.xyz · 2w ago

A reminder that UC _faculty_ and Faculty Associations — not the universities themselves nor their administrators — are waging this battle in court, demonstrating great bravery and moral clarity.

Coming up this Saturday, July 25: An online deep-dive workshop, "Grievance Procedures, Anti-Discrimination Protections & Organizing Strategy in Higher Education." Bargaining team members and organizers can register here: us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

"What I found most encouraging in the ruling was the rejection of Florida’s claim that paying faculty members’ salaries gave the state the right to control their classroom speech. The opposite decision would have fundamentally changed public higher education."

How the Stop WOKE Act Ruling Strengthened Academic Freedom

A conversation with Tim Cain, an academic freedom expert and professor of higher education at the University of Georgia.

insidehighered.com

Eliminate the CDC vaccine schedule! Kennedy wanted and still hopes to make MMR, polio, and other vaccines less accessible. He's just lying about it (again). sciencebasedmedicine.org/rfk-jr-is-de... via @sciencebasedmed.bsky.social @gorskon.bsky.social

RFK Jr. is definitely coming for your vaccines (part 11): Eliminate the CDC vaccine schedule!

A Reuters news story last week reports that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has been trying to go way farther than previously suspected in his quest to eliminate vaccines.

sciencebasedmedicine.org

Fantastic discussion - thank you @vkempe.bsky.social @lewan.uk and @defendresearch.bsky.social friends! Visit defendresearch.org to register for Aug 12 with Vera for part 2!

Home

Sign the Declaration to #DefendResearch.

defendresearch.org

#DefendResearch@defendresearch.bsky.social · 3w ago

Missed our webinar with researcher @lewan.uk & #DefendResearch co-founder @rouhiroo.bsky.social on "The Authoritarian Playbook: Risk, Reality, and Opportunities to Resist Democratic Backsliding in Higher Ed"? The recording is now available! youtu.be/8QBB8JfG_7c?... #resist #authoritarianism

It's been amazing to see the response to our #DefendResearch webinar series -- attendance keeps on growing thanks to our excellent speakers & great moderation by @rouhiroo.bsky.social. The fact that registration is FREE probably helps too 😂🥰 Hope to see you at this next one!

#DefendResearch@defendresearch.bsky.social · 2w ago

What can today’s researchers learn from those who have worked under authoritarian rule? Join #DefendResearch & @vkempe.bsky.social on Aug 12 for a conversation about lessons from scholarship behind the Iron Curtain. Register tinyurl.com/defendresearch-aug26 #censorship #EduSky #SciSky #research

What can today’s researchers learn from those who have worked under authoritarian rule? Join #DefendResearch & @vkempe.bsky.social on Aug 12 for a conversation about lessons from scholarship behind the Iron Curtain. Register tinyurl.com/defendresearch-aug26 #censorship #EduSky #SciSky #research

Today, the AAUP & Texas AAUP-AFT filed a motion for a preliminary injunction asking the court to immediately halt enforcement of unconstitutional Texas Tech policies that restrict teaching on topics related to race, gender identity, & sexual orientation. @texasaaup.bsky.social @texasaft.org 👊🏽👊🏻👊🏾

Missed our webinar with researcher @lewan.uk & #DefendResearch co-founder @rouhiroo.bsky.social on "The Authoritarian Playbook: Risk, Reality, and Opportunities to Resist Democratic Backsliding in Higher Ed"? The recording is now available! youtu.be/8QBB8JfG_7c?... #resist #authoritarianism

The Authoritarian Playbook: Risk, Reality, & Opportunities to Resist Democratic Backsliding

YouTube video by DefendResearch

youtu.be

RFK Jr. made Cyclospora tracking optional, gutting a CDC program used to detect outbreaks. Now cyclosporiasis has hit 31 states. That's what happens when you dismantle the systems designed to keep us safe. www.npr.org/2026/07/12/n...

What to know about cyclosporiasis, the intestinal illness hitting the U.S.

A surge of cases of the intestinal illness that causes diarrhea and fatigue has been detected in 34 states. Here's how what to do if you suspect you have it and how to avoid infection.

npr.org

The WH is objectively pro-cancer for black kids

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w ago

TINA SMITH: Researchers in MN made a breakthrough in childhood cancer in Black kids with a grant. But it seems that according to your proposed rule, this type of research wouldn't allowed bc it's 'DEI.' VOUGHT: We are against DEI policies. We have intended to rid of them whenever we possibly can.

For those that want to keep their heads down bc they'r not affected are sliding into acceptance/political support. @vkempe.bsky.social Anti-autocracy handbook visual #DefendResearch #academicsky