Hank Reichman
@hankreichman.bsky.social
Former AAUP Vice-President; Former Chair AAUP Committee A; Author, The Future of Academic Freedom (Johns Hopkins U. P., 2019); Understanding Academic Freedom (JHUP, 2021, 2025). Prof. Emer., CSU East Bay. Historian of Russia/Soviet Union.
From Vandy AAUP: academeblog.org/2026/08/11/v...
Vanderbilt AAUP Statement Against VU BoT’s “Declaration” and Dept. of Education’s “Call”
BY VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY AAUP The Vanderbilt University chapter of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) registers its profound disagreement with the Vanderbilt Board of Trust’s …
academeblog.org
Susan Collins has spent years cultivating her image as a “moderate.” Her fundraising tells a different story. A new Meidas News report reveals Collins recently attended a fundraiser hosted by MAGA mega-donors and right-wing power players.
Susan Collins Held Fundraiser With Right-Wing Extremists, MAGA Mega-Donors
Despite attempting to cultivate a moderate image, Collins continues to be backed by the MAGA far-right
meidasnews.com
Truly extraordinary how Tomasi can so brazenly state that a document means exactly the opposite of what it so clearly and cogently argues. @aaup.org www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
What Does the AAUP’s 1915 Declaration Really Say?
Not what John Tomasi claims it does.
insidehighered.com
Trump’s Compact 2.0 announced by Linda McMahon this week should be placed in the context of their failed 2025 “loyalty oath” compact that was defeated by students & faculty at every institution they offered it to. Organizing & collective pressure works. 1 🧵 www.aaup.org/issue/winter...
“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
“A lot of things in the new compact are red herrings for conservative priorities. Reform needs to happen through the channels of faculty governance...We’re disappointed in the lack of transparency in President Daniels involvement." – Ahmed Ragab, Hopkins AAUP chapter vice-president
Johns Hopkins president helped craft Trump’s new higher education framework
Ron Daniels, the longtime leader of Johns Hopkins University, helped the Trump administration craft its new higher education call to action
thebanner.com
“We tend to talk about all universities, but especially New College, as if they were chess pieces. A college education, especially at a public institution, is often a real sacrifice for a lot of families. There are human costs to the higher education games that culture-war politicians play.” ⬇️⬇️⬇️
In Florida, Culture-War Politics Leave Collateral Damage
Even as wide swathes of American life have fallen victim to culture wars, higher education was seen as immune. Until now.
dkotok.substack.com
I'm glad Prof. Segal was compensated for his trouble, but UMN administration has a lot of work to do to regain the trust of faculty and researchers who depend on academic freedom to do our jobs, and students and community members who lost the opportunity to study with a leading scholar of genocide.
An Israeli professor lost a prestigious US job offer after speaking out on Gaza. Now the university is paying him $250,000
The University of Minnesota withdrew an offer for Raz Segal to lead its Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies after an organized campaign against his hiring
theguardian.com
𝗖𝗟𝗔𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗢𝗡𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐨𝐦 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐭 Union members are backing a bill that would help all academic workers in the state. The bill is sponsored by @salazarsenate.bsky.social & @dianaforqueens.com. Read the full article here: psc-cuny.org/clarion/onli...
Realizing the academic freedom protection act - PSC CUNY
Union members are backing a bill that would help all academic workers in the state.
psc-cuny.org
The Trump Administration has declared a war on our universities and science. It will hurt our economy and competitiveness for years to come.
"Donald Trump’s approval is so far underwater. He’s far worse off than George W. Bush in 2006, or Barack Obama in 2010, or Joe Biden in 2022, or than he himself was in 2018. In all those instances, the House flipped."
It’s Still a Blue Wave
The fundamentals still apply after Tuesday night’s primaries. And they look good for Democrats.
lnk.thebulwark.com
Vanderbilt trustees impose a political agenda in the name of opposing political agendas. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
Vanderbilt’s Board Declares War Against Academic Freedom
A new policy punishes faculty for speech the trustees deem strays from the core purpose of the university.
insidehighered.com
The sneaky extortion of McMahon's Compact 2.0. @aaup.org academeblog.org/2026/08/04/a...
A Sneakier Attempt at Extortion
BY HANK REICHMAN “If at first you don’t succeed . . .” The Trump administration is at it again. With their much-ballyhooed “Compact for Excellence in Higher Education̶…
academeblog.org
Q: You’ve been Republicans for most of your voting lives. Who’s voting for James Talarico? Republican moms: *all raise their hands* “I like him. I want a middle school teacher who’s like, hey, this is broken. Somebody needs to fix it. Why not me?”
Virtually EVERY SINGLE time someone says, "Dems haven't done X," a simple Google search will show that, in fact they did, and the speaker was just too lazy to check. Yes, communication is broken. That's a two-way street, always, especially now.
Sensible advice for Dems: How To Choose a Nominee open.substack.com/pub/contrari...
How To Choose a Nominee
Democrats cannot blow it in 2028.
open.substack.com
Trump wants to redirect $200B “toward AI, away from Colleges”*** The plan was laid out in a new report by the Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) — led by “Peter Thiel Protégé” Michael Kratsios. 1/
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
WTF are they talking about?! This is nuts.
The Washington Post@washingtonpost.com · 3w agoThe Trump administration issued a report alleging that a multi-decade Cuban influence campaign in the U.S. has had “remarkable success” in infiltrating the government, backing “left-wing terrorism on American soil” and turning “America against itself.”
ICE claims that Araujo drove into one of their SUVs with his van and then tried to run over an agent. There were no marks on the van and KHOU11's Jeremy Rogalski found surveillance footage showing ICE chasing Araujo and cutting him off. Renee Good all over again.
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... 🧵
This is an actual screenshot from the syllabus for this class. Beyond parody
Robert Komaniecki@komaniecki.bsky.social · last mo.After decades of screeching that universities are indoctrinating the youth, Republicans are proud to roll out the new course, Mandatory Youth Indoctrination 1001
In the well-over 100,000 documents written by founders included in the Founders Online database from the National Archives, no one uses the phrase "God's noble experiment." No one.
