I am really proud to share the Stand Up for Science Foundation's new Impact Report on the OMB Rule Proposal--done by the brilliant @irenesufs.bsky.social @colesci.bsky.social and team! We've got such a great team at @standupforscience.net. www.standupforscience.foundation/policy-and-a...

Beyond Science: How OMB’s Proposed Rule on Federal Financial Assistance Threatens Essential Services Nationwide — Stand Up for Science Foundation

OMB’s proposed rule on federal financial assistance poses a sweeping threat to federal grantmaking and the responsible stewardship of American taxpayer dollars. It would dramatically expand execut...

standupforscience.foundation

"We're the test case." At NIH, even grants that have passed peer review are delayed for political screening. Officials warn the proposed OMB rule would codify this chaos aross the fed. government. Politicians shouldn't be able to decide what questions science is allowed to ask. zurl.co/f6hmm

Inside the new political screening that’s stalling NIH grants

Mandatory reviews by top health officials and checks for 235 disfavoured terms have left hundreds of vetted grant applications in administrative limbo.

nature.com

@krforde.bsky.social argues post-Reconstruction-1960s Black newpapers offer a model for pro-democracy journalism that the entire industry should emulate today. newrepublic.com/article/2115...

open.substack.com/live-stream/...

LIVE SOON: Umass’s Kathy Roberts Forde on 60 Minutes, CBS and Journalism in the Trump Era

Starting Jun 9 at 11:00 AM EDT

open.substack.com

The US has a history of violent, racist authoritarian rule, with the press helping to make it happen. As our democracy erodes further, it's worth asking which parts of our press are serving democratic ends--and which are participating in an authoritarian project. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The Jackson Clarion and the Mississippi Plan of 1875: Press Power and Authoritarian Rule in the Reconstruction Era South

This article documents the role of the white press as a central architect of the Mississippi Plan of 1875 and the violent overthrow of the state’s multiracial Reconstruction government. The Jackson...

tandfonline.com

THIS!!!!! www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

How Not to Talk About Colleagues in Texas, Florida (opinion)

We’re not fighting a lost cause.

insidehighered.com

It’s up to all of us to defend the freedom to learn, the freedom to think—to stand against censorship and thought control. #highered faculty and staff: please join us at standtogetherhighered.org (it’s free)

Stand Together

standtogetherhighered.org

Hari Kunzru@harikunzru.bsky.social · 3mo ago

Texas tech now bans students from writing about LGBTQ issues in any form. Mentions of gender identity, orientation etc in textbooks must be skipped. Deafening silence so far from all the brave heterodox free speech absolutists www.erininthemorning.com/p/texas-tech...

#highered Faculty—please join the AAUP and start a chapter if your campus doesn’t have one or a faculty union. They are working for ALL of us.

AAUP@aaup.org · 3mo ago

NEW today in the New York Times: In the face of unprecedented authoritarian attacks, the AAUP is building a powerful and militant resistance movement in defense of American higher education, the freedom to learn, and our democracy. Join Us!

We’re not even officially launching this through our regular communication channels until tomorrow morning! And what’s more, it’s free! But that’s not all!! We have @krforde.bsky.social from @standhighered.bsky.social helping us kick this thing off!!!

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon@sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Be the first kid on your block to see the agenda for UFS’s 203rd plenary! Many thanks to Farmingdale for hosting our Spring 2026 Plenary!! hdl.handle.net/1951/88944

Did you know newspaper editors (the press!) helped plan and execute political violence and electoral fraud to overthrow the biracial Reconstruction era government of Mississippi and replace it with an authoritarian regime that lasted generations? 1/3 www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

The Jackson Clarion and the Mississippi Plan of 1875: Press Power and Authoritarian Rule in the Reconstruction Era South

This article documents the role of the white press as a central architect of the Mississippi Plan of 1875 and the violent overthrow of the state’s multiracial Reconstruction government. The Jackson...

tandfonline.com

(Like if you agree.) If you have yet to notice, the @nytimes.com Editorial Board has an Autocracy Tracker, which follows 12 markers of democratic erosion in the US. Launched late Oct 2025, updated early Feb 2026. Needs to be highlighted on home page every day! Updated more often. Let's go! 1/2

Head coaches and athletic administrators across the U.S. are joining together to support a public letter defending the universities and colleges that form the backbone of the sports we love.

Stand with Coaches for Campus Freedom: Let universities be free and independent

Head coaches and athletic administrators across the U.S. are joining together to support a public letter defending the universities and colleges that form the backbone of the sports we love. Show supp...

alumni.standforcampusfreedom.org

This kind of thought policing goes against every precept of academic freedom. If you’re in #highered, join us at standtogetherhighered.org. We are nonpartisan and free—an we are building campus-level teams to protect our shared mission of serving the public good.

Stand Together

standtogetherhighered.org

Jay Willis@jaywillis.net · 7mo ago

Earlier this month, the University of Arkansas hired Emily Suski as its next law school dean, praising her as an "accomplished scholar." But then, Republican politicians found out she'd signed a Supreme Court amicus brief defending trans rights. A week later, university leadership pulled her offer.

OK, Bluesky academics: what can we do to expose and push back against this Orwellian effort to control the freedom to learn and to teach? Seriously. What Texas A&M is doing matters for all of us and all of our students and all in our society.

AAUP Texas A&M-College Station Chapter@tamu-aaup.bsky.social · 7mo ago

From an email to one of our faculty members.... Not even Plato can escape censorship at Texas A&M!

"This represents saving higher education, saving public research and the standing up of faculty, staff and students," — Veena Dubal, AAUP General Counsel & law professor at the University of California, Irvine. #DefendHigherEd

Judge Orders Trump Not to Threaten University of California’s Funding

nytimes.com

THIS is what we face in higher ed. Join us at Stand Together for Higher Ed—a grassroots movement of faculty and staff at universities and colleges across the US. We are building the resistance and renewal infrastructure we need in these dangerous times. Join! It’s free. standtogetherhighered.org

Stand Together

standtogetherhighered.org

Chris Seaman@cbseaman.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Related to this, I have a pending FOIA request with UVA for the retainer agreement and billing records/invoices from McGuireWoods regarding UVA’s interactions with DOJ. It was filed on *July 2* and I still haven’t received a substantive reply. (The deadline is a maximum of 12 working days.)

Jamelle Bouie always writes from a pro-democracy position. If only the NYT as a whole would begin a Democracy Desk to do this, too: track and make visible how the consolidation of authoritarian power in US is happening. What news outlets do you think are doing this well?

Denny Carter@dennycarter.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Jamelle was cooking. Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...

The federal government is trying to place the University of California under political control. Join with UC Unbowed before the Board of Regents meeting on November 18-20 and tell President James B. Milliken and the Regents to protect UC independence. alumni.standforcampusfreedom.org/petitions/un...

University of California: Reject the federal government's political control

The federal government is trying to place the University of California under political control. Join with UC Unbowed before the Board of Regents meeting on November 18-20 and tell President James B. M...

alumni.standforcampusfreedom.org

Faculty and staff cannot allow our college/university leaders to make these odious side deals with the federal govt. Please join us at Stand Together for Higher Ed: www.standtogetherhighered.org. It’s free. And we’re building collective power to stand together against this madness.

Stand Together

standtogetherhighered.org

Stacy Fahrenthold@sfahrenthold.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Here it is: the Trump Administration "draft proposal" to the University of California. Published bc faculty sued for its disclosure. Its terms go beyond what Trump demands in similar compacts to other universities. EVERYONE should read: faculty, students, admins, alumni. ucop.edu/communicatio...

❤️ this! You’ve met confidence intervals before — in polls: “Candidate A 52% ± 3%.” That ± 3% is the ring: we’re 95% sure the real number’s somewhere inside it. Polls dance round and suppose. The truth sits in the middle and declines comment. #statssky #polling #academicsky

Donald Szlosek@dszlosek.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Robert Frost was certainly more familiar with iambic pentameter than he was with estimated parameters, but in 1942 he wrote a couplet that sounds very much like a poet's perception of a confidence interval: #statistics #statssky #academicsky

Robert Frost was certainly more familiar with iambic pentameter than he was with estimated parameters, but in 1942 he wrote a couplet that sounds very much like a poet's perception of a confidence interval: #statistics #statssky #academicsky

Meet our new scholar-mentor pair: Laurie & Michael! Laurie is studying Biology at UMass Boston. She’ll be supported by Michael, a graduate student at UMass Boston pursuing his Master’s in Molecular Biology. #AcademicSky #MentorshipMatters #HigherEd #StudentSuccess #EduSky #BostonNonProfit

📣 STHE wants to hear from you! Join us for one of our upcoming brainstorming sessions focused on how to respond to the White House compact. We would love to hear your thoughts and feelings on how our community should be responding. Register at buff.ly/R9VHdrm #AcademicSky #Academia

Many institutions, organizations, & individuals are standing together to say NO to the White House Compact. Faculty fellows at leading Institutes for Advanced Studies are adding their voice to the choir with a new open letter: #AcademicSky #Academia

So UVA rejects the Compact but still makes an odious side deal. We invite all UVA faculty and staff to join Stand Together for Higher Ed. It’s free, and we’re building community and strategies to stop this madness www.standtogetherhighered.org

@mikenietzel.bsky.social · 10mo ago

UVA reaches deal with Trump administation that ends the government’s civil rights investigations. #AcademicSky #HigherEd www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

#academicsky, particularly #Purdue, should you happen to be visiting #Boston for any reason in the near future, here's a little something you might consider doing on any Wednesday. #StandUpForScience.

Hnnh Nesral MD@hnnhnesral.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Our 2nd #WednesdayWalkoutsForHealth site - in #CambridgeMA! Join them every week 5-5:30 in Kendall Square!

🙌 Yes, this. The people, the lives, the health of our planet, the pursuit of just and fair outcomes and human rights and a better world. Legal storytelling helps us understand what is and imagine a better way. ❤️

Legal Storyteller@bohemianslaw.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Storytelling in legal education reminds us: behind every case is a heartbeat, behind every judgment, a life forever changed. #lawyersky #academicsky #storytelling

Researchers at Duke Cancer Institute are looking at obesity's impact on breast cancer and whether GLP-1 drugs might help jump-start a more robust immune response. 🔗 Read more: https://medschool.duke.edu/stories/obesity-weakens-cancer-immunity-can-glp-1-drugs-turn-it-back #AcademicSky #MedSky

Fellows at Institutes for Advanced Study have issued a letter calling on universities to reject the Trump admin's Compact (loyalty oath). If you're faculty/staff at a US college or university, please join Stand Together for Higher Ed (it's free). www.standtogetherhighered.org/news-updates...

Faculty Fellows Release Open Letter to Leaders of US Universities — Stand Together

Below is a open letter that has been released by faculty fellows at leading Institutes for Advanced Studies in the U.S.: As American-based fellows at leading Institutes for Advanced Studies in the Un...

standtogetherhighered.org

At a moment when higher ed as a pillar of democracy is under political attack in the US, we cannot allow college and university leaders to try to control the student press or any kind of student expression. www.standtogetherhighered.org

AAUP@aaup.org · 10mo ago

Reject the ongoing censorship of student media on our campuses! “Administrative efforts to subordinate campus journalism to public relations are inconsistent with the mission of higher education to provide a space of intellectual exploration and debate” —Hank Reichman, in a new Academe Blog post