Alliance For Higher Education
@alliancehighered.bsky.social
The Alliance unites higher education to protect: the freedom to teach, think, and learn; the ability to self-govern without partisan influence; and a sector where all students have a fair opportunity to learn and thrive.
The ABA and APA have both removed their diversity and inclusion requirements for schools. This is another effort by the current administration to more narrowly define who belongs in higher ed. We must resist these blatant attempts to undermine higher education and our democracy.
ABA revokes diversity standards in accreditation
Tuesday's vote follows more than a year of attacks by the Trump administration on the legal organization and its diversity work.
highereddive.com
The public comment period for the Department of Education's proposed accreditation rule closes today, September 21, at 11:59 p.m. EDT. Submit a comment to protect higher education before the period closes. We at the Alliance have created guidance on how to effectively submit public comment:
Public Comment Regarding the Education Department's Proposed Rules for Accreditation
allianceforhighered.org
How can we advance public trust in our nation's community colleges and other institutions of higher education? Alliance President and CEO Mike Gavin recently sat down with @spotlightonccs.bsky.social to discuss just that. Listen below. spotlightonccs.podbean.com/e/ep-19-adva...
Ep 19: Advancing Public Trust | Spotlight on Community Colleges
Simply put, America's confidence in higher education is considerably declining, with a recent Gallup poll finding that only 38% of U.S. adults only “had a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in...
spotlightonccs.podbean.com
The Education Department’s efforts to change accreditation standards are blatant attempts to weaponize financial aid and embed the administration’s political priorities into higher education. Submit public comment before Sept. 21. This is our chance to make our voices heard.
Public Comment Regarding the Education Department's Proposed Rules for Accreditation
allianceforhighered.org
In its piece on the IRS's new proposed rule, Politico features quotes from Alliance Board Member Todd Wolfson and CEO Mike Gavin. Around 750,000 students who qualify for scholarships tied to race, ethnicity, or national identity could be impacted by the rule. www.politico.com/news/2026/09...
New IRS proposal threatens universities' tax-exempt status over diversity programs
The proposed regulations could affect up to 18,000 high schools, universities and trade schools, the agency said.
politico.com
Alliance CEO Mike Gavin was quoted in this Associated Press story on the administration’s proposed rules threatening the tax-exempt status of private schools and colleges if they provide targeted help to students based on their race. Read the full piece here: apnews.com/article/tax-...
Trump administration pushes to remove tax exemption for private colleges with DEI policies
The Trump administration is proposing a rule that would strip private schools and colleges of their tax-exempt status if they provide targeted help to students based on their race.
apnews.com
The administration’s new rules threaten the tax exempt status of schools that aid minority students. It’s the latest effort to keep working class Americans and people of color from college and a better life. Read: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/b...
Trump Moves to Strip Tax Exemption From Schools That Aid Minority Students
The Treasury Department released rules that would prevent schools with race-based programs from qualifying for tax-exempt status, a threat to both higher education and other private schools.
nytimes.com
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:
Regulations.gov
regulations.gov
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 · 4mo agoAs 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 · 4mo agoWrote 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 · 4mo agoToo 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 · 4mo agoTop 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 · 4mo agoCan 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