Melanie Jones Gast, Ph.D.

ICE is hiring dozens of health workers as lawsuits, deaths in custody mount Nearly as many migrants have died in detention so far this year than over the four years of the Biden administration.

More people have died this year in immigration detention than any other year in decades.

The best way to prevent abuse and deaths in ICE custody is for Congress to stop funding the ICE detention machine.

W/ @genevievelakier.bsky.social, the @aaup.org today released a letter to the Offices of the General Counsel at US colleges & universities. We detail why the Compact violates the Constitution & urge that no one signs it.
www.aaup.org/sites/defaul...

BREAKING: A court ordered the Department of Defense to stop censoring educational materials discussing race and gender in schools on military bases.

Books removed from the schools must be returned to the shelves immediately.

LGBTQ+ youth's mental health struggles are getting worse, according to a new survey A new survey from the Trevor Project found that between 2023 and 2025, LGBTQ+ youth reported an increase in anxiety, depression and suicide ideation.

The kids are not alright.

Longitudinal research shows that rates of mental health distress among LGBTQ+ youth have increased since 2023, that they're less able to access mental health care, and that nearly 1/4 have been threatened with conversion therapy.

www.latimes.com/science/stor...

AAUP President: DOJ investigation at George Mason an attack on Academic Freedom On July 25, the US Department of Justice Civil Rights Division sent a letter launching an investigation into the George Mason University Faculty Senate—because faculty members dared to show support fo...

‼️DOJ Investigation at George Mason an attack on Academic Freedom‼️

“If the DOJ can investigate faculty governance bodies for citing a university’s own strategic plan…then no campus is safe. Today it’s Mason. Tomorrow it could be yours.”

—Todd Wolfson, AAUP President

www.aaup.org/news/aaup-pr...

Intensive mothering expectations & the anti-immigrant climate exacerbate intersecting burdens faced by Latina mothers- check out “”Giving Back”: Filipina and Latina Mothers’ Intersecting Burdens in Schools and Community-Based Organizations” at @asanews.bsky.social @sociusjournal.bsky.social

@Socius journal

Immigrant mothers face multiple, intersecting challenges, exacerbated more now by the current anti-immigrant climate - check out
Our article ““Giving Back”: Filipina and Latina Mothers’ Intersecting Burdens in Schools and Community-Based Organizations” at Socius doi.org/10.1177/2378...

Registration information for the fighting attacks on higher ed in red states workshop.

Registration information for the immigrants rights defense workshop.

Registration information for the Who Rules the Academy (and how to Fight Back) workshop.

Registration for the universities as political battlegrounds workshop.

Want to brush up on your skills about fighting back against repression and political interference in #highered? Join an online session for the April 17 #DayofActionforHigherEd. Register: www.dayofactionforhighered.org/events

Kentuckians! Please sign & share this UCW Kentucky letter of solidarity with international students & workers!

KY bills ending DEI in public colleges, stirring uncertainty about tenure's future become law • Kentucky Lantern With a veto-proof supermajority, Republican lawmakers in Kentucky overturn Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear’s vetoes on two notable higher education bills.

Death to higher Ed funeral today in KY. But “we must also organize, agitate, educate and fight back against those who would use all the power of government in attempts to force… exclusion on all our universities, classrooms and curriculum” kentuckylantern.com/2025/03/27/k...

So do you! 🤗

Thank you @wcbyrdphd.bsky.social for your prior feedback on this article!

As DEIB initiatives are being cut, our new Journal of Diversity in Higher Education article shows the multiple levels of exclusion, discrimination, lack of support, etc felt by faculty of color & women faculty in a HWI & the importance of campus-wide DEIB psycnet.apa.org/record/2025-...

Kentuckians! Sign & share this petition by Sunday night, urging Governor Beshear to VETO House Bill 424 (anti-tenure bill)

actionnetwork.org/forms/petiti...

Petition for Governor Beshear to VETO House Bill 424 Dear Governor Beshear, We, the undersigned faculty members at Kentucky’s public universities, along with the administrators, staff, students, and community supporters who have signed this letter in s...

actionnetwork.org/forms/petiti...
@joedunman.bsky.social @murphycartoons.bsky.social @dancanon.bsky.social

these folks are unreconstructed segregationists and it isn’t even speculative or a difficult argument at this point

Saying it's 'about hate,' Beshear vetoes ban on DEI in Kentucky public higher education • Kentucky Lantern Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear issues expected veto of a Republican-backed bn on diversity, equity and inclusion in Kentucky’s public colleges.

Saying it’s ‘about hate,’ Beshear vetoes ban on DEI in Kentucky public higher education kentuckylantern.com/2025/03/20/s...

HB4 also bans requiring & funding courses that somehow “indoctrinate participants with a discriminatory concept”, plus so much more in the 43-page, comprehensive bill

Kentucky lawmakers vote to ban DEI spending at public colleges Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear is unlikely to sign the bill, but Republican lawmakers hold a veto-proof supermajority in the Legislature.

Kentucky lawmakers vote to ban DEI spending at public colleges www.highereddive.com/news/kentuck...

🧵 IN SHOCKING MOVE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY FIRES UNION PRESIDENT ONE DAY BEFORE CONTRACT NEGOTIATIONS BEGIN, IN FURTHER CRACKDOWN ON FREE SPEECH

Kentucky lawmakers debate systemic racism in crucial vote to ban DEI in public colleges A bill to ban diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at public colleges and universities passed out of the Senate Wednesday. It’s likely to head to the governor’s desk once the House concurs.

Kentucky lawmakers move forward with passing HB4, a GOP anti-DEI bill in higher ed. GOP Sen. Douglas, the first Black Republican in Kentucky Senate, supported HB4 saying that slavery ended in 1805. www.lpm.org/news/2025-03...

From JCKFTC via IG:

House Bill 4, the college anti-DEI bill in KY, had its first reading in the Senate today. This dangerous bill must be stopped! Email the entire Senate Education Committee ASAP (qrco.de/KY-EdJustice) and leave a phone message for them: 800-372-7181

I got laid off today, with the rest of 18F.

18F was an elite federal software shop. We made gov't websites work better, more efficiently for the American people. We saved taxpayers from getting screwed over by contractors. And were fired for it.

We made this website to tell our story:
18f.org

Legislative bills on tenure and DEI threaten Kentucky higher education | Opinion OpEd: HB 4 and HB 424 will push students, athletes, researchers, faculty, and higher-education leaders, along with scientists, nurses, doctors, counselors, teachers, and more to leave Kentucky.

Here we discuss broader implications of KY bills (anti-tenure) HB424 & anti-DEI HB4 for academic freedom, innovation, university support systems, learning, & vulnerable students/employees in access, inclusion, success. More states have similar bills, so read/share: www.kentucky.com/opinion/op-e...

Chair’s Notes from Emory Admin:

“Emphasized that the use of race in anything is problematic, with failure to comply with Executive Orders risking the loss of federal funding”

Guess they are putting a bunch of Black and Brown professors on sabbatical in the Fall.

Or, fire us. EEO office is closed.

Opinion | Trump and state Republicans are giving liberal residents the blues Democratic areas of red states face a double whammy of policies from Trump and state legislatures.

"Savannah Dowell, a junior who is majoring in history and gender studies, said, 'Everything that I’ve studied is being attacked. It’s very, very hostile and not a great environment to be a student in.” wapo.st/41hFfol

Trump administration cancels federal teacher training, retention grants in NC Tens of millions of dollars in federal grants for teacher training and retention have been canceled in North Carolina, including a $12 million program in Wake County.

For the first time, I'm hearing that DOGE cut Dept of Ed Teacher & School Leader Incentive Program grants, which fund performance-based pay to recruit, reward, & retain teachers & leaders in high-needs schools.

Check out abstracts of grants cut
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