AAUP chapter @UT Austin

The Integral Relationship Between Board Independence and Academic Freedom Watch this Webinar on Demand to explore the foundational role of board independence in preserving academic freedom and the pursuit of knowledge.

The webinar is now available. Watch @joshpasek.com, @umich.edu, and David Rabban, @utaustin.bsky.social, discuss political pressure, academic freedom, and the boards responsibility to resist the former to protect the latter. @aaup.org @utaustinaaup.bsky.social

agb.org/events/webin...

texasedequity.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...

Trump's higher ed ransom note is here - everyone would have to acquiesce to their unprecedented demands or not be "given priority for grants," plus they can demand "reimbursement" for "violations" www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

A mechanism to enforce fealty. An attack on academic freedom and democracy

UT-Austin considering offer to adopt Trump priorities for funding advantages The funding deal would reportedly ask the university to adopt a stricter definition of gender and a tuition freeze, among other conditions.

www.texastribune.org/2025/10/02/u... shameful that this was not immediately rejected. I’m disgusted with my grad school Alma mater leadership.

Politicizing Accreditation in the South and Beyond This webinar will explore the historic importance of independent accreditation systems for maintaining professional norms and standards for public higher education and examine the threats a politicize...

Still time to register for Monday's @aaup.org webinar on the state-backed threat to independent higher education accreditation www.aaup.org/event/politi...

AAUP’s Wolfson and AFT’s Weingarten on Trump’s Loyalty Pledge for Colleges and Universities WASHINGTON—AAUP President Todd Wolfson and AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement slamming the Trump administration’s ideological litmus test for higher education. The two affil...

"The federal government should not, under any circumstances, dictate who goes to college, what can be researched, or learned, and what can or can’t be the subject of critical academic inquiry." - AFT President @rweingarten.bsky.social & @aaup.org President @proftwolf.bsky.social

Universities Must Reject Trump Admin 'Loyalty Oath' Compacts The AAUP and AFT warn that the Trump administration’s offer to give preferential treatment to colleges and universities that court government favor in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological...

The Trump admin’s offer to give preferential treatment to institutions that toe the party line reeks of bribery in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda.

This is corruption.

Adherence to ‘loyalty oaths’ would usher in a new era of thought policing in American higher education.

A General Air of Anxiety - Boston Review The Red Scare targeted my father. He taught me the meaning of resistance.

“I learned early about the intrusive operations of state power in the daily routines of domestic life. For years, we all breathed a general air of anxiety.”

Historian and @aaup.org member Joan Wallach Scott on the Red Scare, then and now:

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

"This is extortion, plain and simple.... The only solution is solidarity and collective action against this effort at federal control over higher education."

A sobering analysis of the illegality of the administration's "compact" and its stakes for higher ed. 🎁🔗

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Breaking Down Trump's New Higher Ed Loyalty Oath Compacts and Why We Must Resist YouTube video by TheAAUP

This conversation was very good and well worth watching:
www.youtube.com/live/RB1FLkR... @aaup-penn.bsky.social @aaup.org @chenjerai.bsky.social @proftwolf.bsky.social

It’s a 1️⃣-2️⃣punch: The State of Texas, the Regents, & the President dissolve the Faculty Council. Then Trump offers a compact that will affect academic freedom, curriculum, student recruitment, research priorities, the future of academic programs. Once faculty had a voice in such decisions. No longer.

Colleges weigh whether to sign onto Trump plan or forgo federal benefits A new proposal from the Trump administration would give colleges funding advantages if they adopt conservative priorities.

“No self-respecting university could ever accept something like this,” said Lee Bollinger, a First Amendment scholar and former Columbia University president. “Trying to protect conservative ideas against being ‘belittled’ — that’s about as violative of the First Amendment interests as you can get.”

✴️When we say What Starts Here Changes The World, this is not what we should mean!

University of Texas leaping to the top of the rankings of higher ed institutions most eager to cozy up to the authoritarian, taking over the top spot from previous leader, Columbia University. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/u...

Universities considering capitulating to the Trump “conditions” should use this real world example to understand they will simply be destroying their own institution. bsky.app/profile/nich...

US scientific societies blast Trump administration's plan to politicize grants – Physics World The societies call on the US Congress to safeguard the integrity of the peer-review process

‘Almost 60 US scientific societies have signed a letter calling on the US government to “safeguard the integrity” of the peer-review process when distributing grants.’ ⚛️🧪🔭

physicsworld.com/a/us-scienti...

Hey, @utaustin.bsky.social, are you listening? Signing Trump’s extortion “compact” is the surest way to turn an “new Ivy” into a national laughing stock. Just 👏 say 👏 NO!👏

“Acquiescing to a Mailman compact would be a profound betrayal of your students, staff, faculty, the public, higher education, and our shared democracy—one that would irretrievably tarnish your personal reputation and compromise your institution’s legacy.” 🔥

⭐️”Colleges and universities have an obligation to develop campus policies that protect the constitutional rights of their faculty to teach and research the subjects in their areas of expertise without intimidation or censorship,” said Brian Evans, president of the Texas conference of the AAUP. ⭐️

"Should Universities work together to fend off the administration's attacks on academic freedom and free speech?" is a key question that rank-and-file faculty (i.e., @aaup.org) are answering in the affirmative and University administrators are mostly shrugging off. Time is running out.

Hey, there @texasexes.org! 🤠

Sign the petition below to protect UT and demand President Davis refuse to sign the Trump administration’s “compact” for higher education, an attack on UTAustin’s integrity and independence!

alumni.controlshift.app/petitions/tr...

UC’s Academic Council calls on the Office of the President & the UC Board of Regents to unequivocally reject governmental demands that compromise institutional autonomy and #academicfreedom.

This is the way.

#DefendHigherEd

It IS extortion.

Gift article link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Chris Rufo's disastrous takeover of New College in Florida shows what universities would become if they sign the Trump regime's extortionary "compact."

New College was supposed to model the anti-woke conservative higher-ed Americans crave. Instead, it showed the opposite, and serves as a warning.

Are you listening, Jim Davis? @utaustin.bsky.social

The Billionaire Behind Trump’s Deal for Universities

Why do billionaires with no background in #HigherEd get to determine what happens at our institutions?? 🧐

Gift link:
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/u...

“By even considering signing, [universities] would be giving in to the kind of leveraging of speech power that…poses a serious threat to the (democratic + truth-seeking) values that the First Amendment protects.”

Are you listening, @utaustin.bsky.social?? 🤨

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

Now we have the Trump Administration's "nice university ya' got there, shame if anything should happen to it" campaign centered around a mafia-style protection racket they call "The Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education." Did we help make it happen? 1/ www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

As an alum (my PHD granting institution), I'm calling the Univ of Texas Austin's President on Monday to tell him not to sign Trump's "compact." I don't have much hope that it will change his mind, but he needs to hear dissent.