the University of Michigan is using private, undercover investigators to surveil pro-Palestinian campus groups, including trailing them on and off campus, furtively recording them and eavesdropping on their conversations
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/06/michigan-university-gaza-surveillance
so apparently conservative #UofT faculty are concerned about being "cancelled" for their right-wing views 🙄 and fervently believe that "viewpoint diversity" is a thing 🙄 [source: https://www.provost.utoronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/WGCD_Broad-Themes-and-Preliminary-Recommendations_April-2025.pdf]
it has obviously never occurred to them that the simplest way of avoiding bad reactions to their brand of politics is to grow some better politics 🤭
student journalists in the U.S. are having to self-censor to keep themselves and their families safe from the Trump2 administration. and they're currently more scared of speaking up on Palestine than anything else.
amid a statewide crackdown on undocumented migrants, at least ten public universities in Florida are giving campus police immigration enforcement powers. and more are considering doing so. 🤢
#UniversityNonsense #FascistNonsense #USpol #AbolishThePolice
a bunch of conservative UBC professors is taking the university to court claiming that it is violating academic freedom by referring to [stolen] Indigenous lands as "unceded" and promoting equity diversity and inclusivity, plus other right-wing talking points: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/ubc-professor-university-court-1.7504889
A petition filed in B.C. Supreme Court Monday claims UBC is breaching the University Act through the use of Indigenous land acknowledgments, equity and inclusion initiatives and by taking positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Letters and Petitions — We Are (U.S.) Higher Ed
"Many of us in higher ed—-admins, faculty, staff, students, allies—are not giving up without a fight. We are combining our efforts, through letters, teach-ins, walk-outs, protests, to let anyone who’s listening know that we are out here fighting for academic freedom. Fighting for human dignity. Fighting for equity, Fighting for all of our students and their right to learn. Fighting for scientific inquiry, critical thinking, artistic expression and the general pursuit of knowledge. Fighting for the foundations of democracy."
Academic Freedom, Democracy, and the Role of Faculty Unions | Academe magazine, Spring 2025 issue
https://www.aaup.org/article/academic-freedom-democracy-and-role-faculty-unions
In the United States, we face an authoritarian threat unlike anything we have seen in our lifetimes. President Donald Trump is swiftly implementing destructive, dehumanizing, and undemocratic dictates from Project 2025, the authoritarian playbook for his second term. Elon Musk is carrying out his own vast agenda (some would say shadow presidency) with the impunity of an autocrat. Musk and his aides are waging reckless attacks on vital research, accessing highly restricted sensitive personnel information, and purging the civil service of independent experts.
as a Harvard alum, i am extra appalled at this example of institutional violence
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/3/29/harvard-cmes-director-departure/
Interim Harvard Dean of Social Science David M. Cutler ’87 dismissed the director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, professor of Turkish Studies Cemal Kafadar, and its associate director, History professor Rosie Bsheer, on Wednesday, according to a faculty member familiar with the situation.
Columbia Expelled Me for My Palestine Activism, but I Won’t Be Silenced
— Grant Miner
https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/grant-miner-columbia-expelled-palestine/
"Columbia's complete and utter capitulation, really giving up to an autocratic regime, showed me that the universities are not going to stand together," Stanley said.
A-Dub 🥝
