Ali Watts

Dear Ms. Wolfe, Petitioner-Appellee Rümeysa Öztürk submits this Rule 28(j) letter to advise the Court that on January 29, 2026, the immigration court held that the Department of Homeland Security had not met its burden of proving removability, and the immigration court thereby terminated removal proceedings against Ms. Öztürk.' This development underscores the dangers of the government's interpretation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Under the government's view, it could punitively detain any noncitizen in retaliation for her speech for many months, so long as it simultaneously institutes removal proceedings—no matter how unmeritorious—all without any federal court review of the lawfulness of detention at any time. To be clear, the termination of Ms. Öztürk's removal proceedings does not moot her habeas case. (By contrast, as Ms. Öztürk has argued, this appeal is moot. Br. 18-20.) Without habeas jurisdiction and the bail order that is currently in place, any government appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals would again subject Ms. Öztürk to re-detention. See 8 C.F.R. § 1003.6(a). For that reason, she continues to suffer the threat of continuing "now-or-never" First and Fifth Amendment harms. Br. in Opp. 55-57.

NEW: An immigration court has terminated removal proceedings against Tufts doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk, finding that DHS did not meet its burden of establishing that she was removable, her lawyers tell the Second Circuit. live-awp-vermont.pantheonsite.io/app/uploads/...

AAUP President on the Elimination of Tenure at Oklahoma Regional Universities and Community Colleges. WASHINGTON—AAUP President Todd Wolfson issued the following statement in response to the Governor of Oklahoma’s signing of Executive Order 2026-07, which immediately eliminates the conferral of academ...

AAUP President Todd Wolfson issued the following statement in response to Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt's Executive Order issued today immediately eliminating academic tenure at the state’s public regional universities and community colleges.

Tenure Will Be Eliminated at Most of Oklahoma’s Public Colleges, Governor Says Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, directed the state’s two-dozen regional universities and community colleges to phase out the practice. Existing faculty members will be grandfathered in.

Breaking, from me: An executive order from Oklahoma's governor directs most of the state's public colleges to "phase out tenure." #AcademicSky #HigherEd @chronicle.com
www.chronicle.com/article/tenu...

Prof. McCoul Fired; Sues Texas A&M Over Free Speech FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Dr. McCoul’s firing was the canary in the coal mine for Texas A&M University. They had a chance to stand up to the politicians seeking to meddle in Texas universities + instead they caved," said Dr. Brian Evans, president of TX AAUP-AFT.

aaup-texas.org/blog/f/prof-...

I know all eyes are on Minneapolis, but there's a fast-approaching nightmare in Springfield, Ohio.

Trump is revoking protected status for tens of thousands of Haitians living there on Feb. 3.

Reportedly, on Feb. 4, 1000 ICE agents are arriving to remove this population. Ethnic cleansing.

Free Ebooks: Abolish ICE, Abolish the Border In solidarity with all those standing up for our communities against the brutality of immigrant detention and ICE occupation, we're offering free ebooks of three crucial books about migrant justice an...

In solidarity with all those standing up for our communities against the brutality of immigrant detention and ICE occupation, we're offering free ebooks of three crucial books about migrant justice and border abolition.

We’ve also added a list of additional recommended reading:

Organized Labor Escalates Against ICE Summary Executions - The American Prospect Unions in Minnesota and across the country have spent the days after an immigration officer murdered Alex Pretti discussing how to escalate, including toward a national general strike.

“Workers are the ones who will drive out ICE, not elected officials,” a Twin Cities labor leader told Whitney Wimbish. After the killing of Alex Pretti, union members are planning to do just that. Wimbish has the story on labor’s plan for resistance:
trib.al/J1xTCLi

from Keith Faber: "Renee Good wasn't an 'innocent.' Problem is hysteria, not Ice | Ohio AG candidate If you have done nothing wrong, you will be fine. If you refuse to comply, your actions can escalate quickly-and unnecessarily-into criminal conduct."

The auditor of the state of Ohio, who is running to be the state's next attorney general, wrote an oped this morning that the Columbus Dispatch published on how Renee Good is to blame for her death.

The subheadline alone is already chilling.

www.dispatch.com/story/opinio...

Trump can't deport foreign students based on speech, judge rules A federal judge has formally ordered the Trump administration to cease efforts to deport foreign-born students over pro-Palestinian speech.

A federal judge has formally ordered the Trump administration to cease efforts to deport foreign-born students over pro-Palestinian speech.

National media should really be covering the fact thay every major school, museum, and arts institution in the Twin Cities, and hundreds of local businesses are closed tomorrow to protest federal occupation.

Nothing like this at this scale has happened anywhere in America anytime in living memory.

Graphic promoting the "Speech Matters Podcast" from the University of California National Center for Free Speech and Civic Engagement. The episode is titled “Campus Speech and Academic Freedom, A Guide for Difficult Times.” The left side of the image has a smart phone with the SpeechMatters logo displayed above a podcast player and the right side has the episode name and speaker information with placeholder profile icons on a dark blue background.

📢 Season 5 of the #SpeechMatters podcast starts now!

Tune into the latest episode, “Campus Speech and Academic Freedom, A Guide for Difficult Times” with guest speakers and Center Co-chairs UC Irvine Chancellor Howard Gillman and Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of Berkeley Law.
🎧 buff.ly/5yp9QFx

So all colleges and universities will bring back the DEI stuff they cut when obeying in advance right...............................................................................................................................................right?

Report: State Lawmakers Enacted 21 Censorship Bills in 2025 The legislatures in all 15 states that passed higher education censorship bills are Republican-controlled. Measures range from curricular control to curtailing faculty governance.

Your periodic reminder the college student are adults CHOOSING their courses in NONCOMPULSORY education. Yet a record number of state legislatures have decided they know best. Give adults the freedom to learn. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

Please help out with this important U of Oklahoma study on how recent changes in state and federal policy are affecting you and your students. qualtrics.ou.edu/jfe/form/SV_... @drkalebbriscoe.bsky.social @modernlanguage.bsky.social

PEN America Warns of Expanding Web of Control as Politicians Escalate Campaign to Censor U.S. Colleges and Universities A new PEN America report on the state of higher education warns of an alarming political web of control on state and federal levels

New PEN America Report Warns of Expanding Web of Control as Politicians Escalate Campaign to Censor U.S. Colleges and Universities https://pen.org/press-release/pen-america-warns-of-expanding-web-of-control-as-politicians-escalate-campaign-to-censor-u-s-colleges-and-universities/

The Trevor Project receives $45M from MacKenzie Scott after difficult years and federal funding cuts The nonprofit Trevor Project received a $45 million gift from billionaire MacKenzie Scott at the end of 2025

The Trevor Project, known for its hotline for LGBTQ+ youth, received $45 million from billionaire MacKenzie Scott at the end of 2025.

The gift is the largest in the organization’s history.

InsideHigherEd wisely hired @bakerdphd.bsky.social to write a new column and the first one is a banger

www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

I know this isn't a headline that gets many people to click, but I spent a ton of time going over the last 7 years of Ohio news. I put all the articles all in one place. It's a valuable resource for anyone researching or trying to keep track of all that's happened in Ohio. I hope folks take a look.

Texas A&M restrictions on race, gender could affect 200 courses With the semester set to begin next week, professors have been directed to alter courses, and some classes have been removed or reassigned from the core curriculum at the College Station campus.

Syllabi review policies at Texas A&M introduce censorship on discussions of race & gender in 200 courses.

Restrictions include banning Plato's writings, who "founded Academy, the very first university," Martin Peterson says.

"If we cannot freely discuss Plato, we no longer have a university."

Four Frictions: or, How to Resist AI in Education - Public Books We are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.

"We envision a resistance that is...a repudiation of the efficiencies that automated algorithmic education falsely promises: a resistance comprising the collective force of small acts of friction."

"How to Resist AI in Education" by me & @cnygren.bsky.social
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...

This gets at something important that is in danger of being lost not only in the AI conversation but in any efficiency-focused, assembly-line model of academia. A lot of the best scholarship needs wayward paths. It's time-intensive, unpredictable, odd. The process is what produces the knowledge.

It's hard to overstate how impossible this demand is from Purdue's administration to implement these AI requirements by next fall. We are nowhere close to understanding what AI proficiency means or what it looks like in education.
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...

If we accede to the demand that political appointees can decide what is worthwhile to study and what isn't, we've lost universities as institutions of knowledge, innovation, and progress. This is why academic freedom and tenure are so important.

Please sign & spread the word.
@unc-ch-aaup.bsky.social
@uncgaaup.bsky.social
@ncaaup.bsky.social

Passing along to some other chapters w accounts here:
@emoryaaup.bsky.social @utaustinaaup.bsky.social @aaup-penn.bsky.social @wesleyanaaup.bsky.social #AAUP

Screenshot of page 26 which reads: In the 1930 and 1940s, white public officials in Mississippl, Georgia, South Carolina, and Texas meddled in institational affairs to such a degree that the AAUP censured both institutions and entire systems. SACS acted similarly and went so far as to revoke accreditation from the white public institutions of higher education in Mississippl and Georgia. The states' black public institutions escaped censure because they remained off the AAUP's radar and were so tightly controlled y white trustees that dissent did not exist on campus (in public, at least). Nor did they lose accreditation, because SACS refused them membership anyway."

When we say the AAUP and accreditors like SACS could be doing more, this is what we mean

(From Jim Crow Campus by Williamson-Lott)

AFT Utah and the AFT on the Repeal of Utah’s Public Sector Collective Bargaining Ban SALT LAKE CITY—AFT Utah President Brad Asay and AFT President Randi Weingarten issued the following statement after the state legislature repealed a law, HB 267, that banned public employee unions fro...

Tonight’s repeal of Utah’s ban of teacher collective bargaining is a historic step in the right direction to return respect and dignity to the workers of Utah. Here's my full statement.
www.aft.org/press-releas...

https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_OX6fOyHCRgeKJd5dHLMa7Q#/registration

AI Is Not Inevitable

join AAUP for a conversation with educators, educator unions, and the Collaborative Research Center for Resilience

zoom.us/webinar/regi...

hard to overstate how bad this is for discrimination against everyone but white people.

I'm saying we are undergoing a wholesale revision of equal protection and anti-discrimination law so that it only protects white people.

Let me explain:

This is horrific and exactly what those of us in Black studies, gender studies, women’s studies have been warning our colleagues in the sciences about. Their seeming neutrality will not save them.