'This Is What Fascism Looks Like': Beloved Labor Leader David Huerta Arrested | Common Dreams "This is about something much bigger," said the president of SEIU California, still in detention. "This is about how we

Be warned: attacking unions is a hallmark of fascism.

https://www.commondreams.org/news/david-huerta-arrested

DAVID IS RELEASED and with his family! He still faces an unjust felony charge.

While we’re relieved that David is out after three nights in detention, we demand the Trump regime drop the unjust charge against him & end the raids! seiu.co/endraids #FreeDavidEndRaids

Trump Administration’s Ideological Vetting of Fulbright Scholars Raises Alarm The 11th-hour vetoes of grantees overrule foreign governments that jointly select and fund recipients of the prestigious scholarship.

The U.S. Department of State has been exercising a last-minute veto of applications to the prestigious Fulbright program on ideological grounds — often rejecting grants funded in part, or largely, by foreign countries, not the U.S. chroni.cl/3FrqPLr

Trump Proclamations Escalate International Student Attacks Trump issued two orders Wednesday night that could deal a major blow to international enrollment. One targets Harvard; the other restricts travel from more than a dozen countries, raising alarms acros...

International Students Hit With Back-to-Back Orders

Trump issued two orders Wednesday night that could deal a major blow to international enrollment. One targets @harvard.edu; the other restricts travel from more than a dozen countries, raising... #HigherEd #EDUSky #AcademicSky bit.ly/4kT1itw

Read our open letter from VCU faculty citing concern about the silencing of student voices and unlawful withholding of diplomas from student activists:

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

Williams: By punishing speech, VCU loses its moral compass Students, in daring to protest U.S. complicity, risk punishment, arrest, or in the case of noncitizens, deportation. Far from being safe havens from authoritarianism, college campuses are functioning...

"Students, in daring to protest U.S. complicity, risk punishment, arrest, or in the case of noncitizens, deportation. Far from being safe havens from authoritarianism, college campuses are functioning as training grounds for it."

richmond.com/opinion/colu...

Rumeysa outside, surrounded by reporters and her team.

BREAKING: Rümeysa, our union sister who was snatched by ICE, is free today. We stood up for our union family and demanded justice! When you mess with one of us, you mess with all of us. #4the1st ✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿

I should add that this happened between their initial warning and the police shutdown — which could have extended the time students were on the lawn.

Usually punishment looks like community service or writing an essay, but one of the three — Sereen Haddad — has had policy violations before and could face something more severe this time like suspension/expulsion.

UPDATE: Three graduating seniors — leaders of the VCU SJP chapter — are having their degrees temporarily withheld over pending investigations for breaking VCU’s interim campus expression and space utilization policy.

What is a safety ambassador?

The federal minimum wage is officially a poverty wage in 2025 In 2025, the federal minimum wage is officially a “poverty wage.” The annual earnings of a single adult working full-time, year-round at $7.25 an hour now fall below the poverty threshold of $15,650 (...

The minimum wage isn’t just low — it’s a trap.

$7.25 in 2025 will leave a full-time worker thousands of dollars below the poverty line.

Congress, raise the wage. Protect working people.
seiu.co/3EJtLTi

How Trump’s First 100 Days Transformed Higher Ed In his first few months in office, the president attacked higher education with dizzying frequency, confronting colleges and unraveling decades of federal policy. We look at 10 ways the administration...

Trump’s 100-Day War on Higher Ed

In his first few months in office, the president attacked higher education with dizzying frequency, confronting colleges and unraveling decades of federal policy. We look at 10 ways the administration has upended... #HigherEd #EDUSky #AcademicSky bit.ly/42yQ47c

For the rest of eternity, anyone who hires someone with DOGE on their resume is a traitor.

VCU student arrested in gathering echoing 2024 Gaza encampment A peaceful gathering to “be together in community” on the anniversary of VCU’s violent April 2024 Gaza solidarity encampment unravelled into disarray after police told roughly 50 students they were tr...

Students were peacefully gathered on the anniversary of VCU's violent April
2024 Gaza solidarity encampment until police shut down the event and asked them to move to the "designated area for free speech." commonwealthtimes.org/2025/04/30/v...

Register below for the first in a series of panel discussions co-sponsored by Scholars for a New Deal in Higher Ed, the Critical Legal Collective, & the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom.

Monday, April 28!

@sfndhe.bsky.social

us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

RSVP for Union Fest

RSVP for our 2025 May Day cookout is live! This year we're hosted at the Teamsters Union Hall. This annual event is family friendly, with plenty of food and drinks for central Va workers—let us know if you'll join us!

secure.everyaction.com/4yXwA4HclkOL...

"It’s no coincidence that the language of mobilization, defense, and alliances evokes times of war. We are under attack, and we are out-resourced. The only way we can stand fast is to stand together."

#academicsky

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: Understanding University Budgets. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar. Budgets are moral documents that reflect the politics and cultural values of institutions of higher education. For many academic workers and students, university budgets are difficult to “read,” analy...

It's in the graphic but you can't click it. Try this: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

@aaup.bsky.social @higheredlabor.bsky.social @lawcha.bsky.social @jillkmpenn.bsky.social

Once again, elementary school staff are standing up to ICE while the wealthiest, most powerful universities in the country meekly hand students over to anyone who shows up in black balaclavas and an unmarked car

Visas revoked for three at VCU, nine at Virginia Tech, 10 at GMU The news comes days after the University of Virginia joined the growing list of U.S. colleges where the federal government under the Trump administration has canceled some international students' visas.

The news comes days after the University of Virginia joined the growing list of U.S. colleges where the federal government under the Trump administration has canceled some international students' visas.

Supreme Court says Trump administration must facilitate return of deported Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia had a court order preventing his deportation to his native El Salvador over fears he'd face persecution from gangs.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia had a court order preventing his deportation to his native El Salvador over fears he'd face persecution from gangs.

Thirty faculty groups, including seventeen AAUP chapters, organized to join an amicus brief urging a preliminary injunction against ideological deportations of students and scholars

Free speech is a right, not a privilege.

When Rumeysa was detained for using her voice, it became an issue that impacts all of us.

This is bigger than one case—it’s about defending our right to organize, speak out, and live without fear. #4The1st seiu.co/3G2YsCX

It’s deeply embarrassing how swiftly American universities have caved to foreign interests, betraying their own students, shutting down dialogue, and abandoning the fundamental principle that universities should be spaces for the free exchange of ideas and diverse perspectives.

I just gave to Richmond Community Legal Fund! Show your support with a contribution.

We're excited to announce the formation of the Richmond Community Legal Fund! Join us for a fundraiser launch on 4/25 hosted by @studiotwothree.bsky.social. Get your tickets here:

secure.actblue.com/donate/guerr...

YouTube video by United Campus Workers of Virginia 2025 UCWVA Lobby Day Rally

Our lobby day rally video is live! Check out all these amazing voices standing up for workers and students at the GA this year:

Text of the Virginia Human Rights Act that includes protections on account of gender identity.

Code of Virginia defining medically necessary transition-related care.

Just as a reminder, separate from the executive orders being blocked in federal court, the Code of Virginia explicitly prohibits discrimination on account of gender identity.

BREAKING: Indigenous activist Leonard Peltier released from prison after nearly 50 years