Rebecca Givan

Wealthy People Have Always Shaped Universities. This Time Is Different.

"A White House official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity...argued that wealthy people had long shaped American institutions for the better and that Mr. Rowan’s role in the policymaking process was a natural extension of that."

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/u...

PITTSBURGH'S Public Source Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh journalists return to their jobs at the Post-Gazette after three years on strike After a court ruling in their favor, long-striking journalists declared victory and returned to a pivotal Southwestern Pennsylvania newsroom. They return as union organizing continues throughout the region. Stephanie Strasburg November 24, 2025

Natalie Duleba, local secretary of the guild, hugs Jon Schleuss, president of the NewsGuild Communications of America, as she hands him the mic. "The first day of this strike, our folks went over across the street and they sat down at a table, and they started talking about that they were going to take care of each other," said Schleuss, acknowledging the guild could not have known how long the path back to work would be. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/Pittsburgh's Public Source)

This is so incredible. You have to see the photos. These workers held the line for THREE YEARS www.publicsource.org/post-gazette...

Pabst, Pamphlets and a Petition: A Harvard-Yale Tailgate in the Trump Era

Great piece on the @crimsoncourage.bsky.social and #Standup4Yale tailgate yesterday.
Pabst, Pamphlets and a Petition: A Harvard-Yale Tailgate in the Trump Era www.nytimes.com/2025/11/23/u...

Secretive Big Ten Deal Riles Trustees The Big Ten is weighing a $2.4 billion private equity deal. But multiple trustees at member institutions say they aren’t getting enough information and the proposal has been rushed.

"Given that the Big Ten is about to create 'a for-profit company using what are essentially public dollars,' [a Penn State trustee] argued, boards need to know more in order to be able to advise their institutions accordingly."

www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

After Shutdown, Labor Dept. Says Some Data Is Gone for Good

"Never before has a government shutdown lasted long enough to unsalvageably ruin parts of the employment report, and this will be the first time in the survey’s 77-year history that the Labor Department will not publish an unemployment rate."
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/b...

Commentary: Florida’s education commissioner just fired free thought Anastasios Kamoutsas’ removal of a sociology professor from a statewide committee is only the latest government attempt to limit the scope of education.

"The fight over Intro to Sociology is not just about this course. It is a struggle to preserve the independence of our public education system and more broadly, the freedom of thought."
www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/11/09/c...

Pictured is a field of blue with text and a picture. The text is on the left side and reads "Employer: Metropolitain Musem of Art; Unit Size: 990; Filed: November 17, 2025; Location: New York, New York; Industry/positions: Cultural art museum. All Full Time and Part Time professional and non-professional employees; Local: UAW 2110;" On the bottom there is text that reads "Made by @UnionsElections; @unionelections.bsky.social. Logo property of UAW." On the right side is the logo of UAW.

BREAKING: 990 employees for the Metropolitain Museum of Art are unionizing with @uaw.org Local 2110.

Breaking news: The discharge petition for @golden.house.gov's bipartisan Protect America’s Workforce Act has reached majority support with 218 signatures.

This bill to restore federal workers’ union rights must be brought to a vote in Congress NOW. https://bit.ly/3M6zJAF

🧵 Robyn has deep roots in our union family — from her years as an SEIU member while teaching college courses to her current work organizing with Doctors Council–SEIU. She’s spent her career bringing people together across race and background to fight for what every family deserves. (1/4) #mnleg

You know how police PR departments are…

Judge Orders Trump Not to Threaten University of California’s Funding

“This represents saving higher education, saving public research and the standing up of faculty and staff and students.” - @aaup-penn.bsky.social General Counsel @veenadubal.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/14/u...

Maps Show How Latinos Who Shifted Right in 2024 Snapped Back Left in 2025

"Ms. Sherrill won Union City by 69 percentage points, just a year after Ms. Harris had carried it by only 17 points. And Ms. Sherrill won Perth Amboy by 56 points, a year after Ms. Harris had beaten Mr. Trump by less than nine points there."
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/15/u...

New York Times headline: "Dog Accidentally Shoots and Injures a Pennsylvania Man, Police Say"

Glad to know it was an accident

"Defendants are ENJOINED and/or STAYED from conditioning the grant or continuance of federal funding on the UC’s agreement to any measures that would violate the rights of Plaintiffs’ members under the First Amendment."

we fucking won y’all
not UC - workers and their unions and students standing together
so grateful for time our brilliant colleagues like Veena put into this and for the solidarity of my @ucaft.bsky.social and @uclafa.bsky.social

Millionaire Tax That Inspired Mamdani Fuels $5.7 Billion Haul in Massachusetts A millionaire levy in Massachusetts that New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani holds up as a model for taxing the rich has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing...

NEW: The first two years of Massachusetts' millionaire tax has raised $3 billion more than expected.

And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.*

Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:

📢 Hope our colleagues across the country recognize—just as with Texas’s ban on DEI in higher education—this will NOT remain in Texas. What is happening here is a blueprint for the rest of the country.

Congrats to member graduate worker Allegra Kuney for her 4th straight win! @rutgerscomminfo.bsky.social

Big Jeopardy run by an @ruaaup-aft.bsky.social member!
👇

I can’t support this bill. It doesn’t meet the urgency of the moment and deliver actual relief that can pass both chambers of Congress.

I’ve been clear that we need real action to stop the devastating health care cost increases that are hurting millions of families. 1/2

🎷Get up and get down for higher ed 🎷

Our coalition rejects the compact!

We believe that higher education should be free from partisan interference and billionaire influence including that of Marc Rowan, who spearheaded Trump’s dangerous loyalty oath compact!

@aft.org

Cornell will be sharing admissions data including Cornell college, race, GPA and test scores.

SIGNATURES For Cornell University: Michael I. Kotlikoff President of Cornell University Office of the President 300 Day Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 Ben the Winited States (including but not limited to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Servives and the U.S, Department of Education): /N istant Attorney General U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division 950 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20530 For the Department of Health and Human Services: Paula Matana S Paula M. Stannard Director, Office for Civil Rights U.S. Department of Health & Human Services 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201 Effective Date: 14/7/2025.

BREAKING: Cornell caved.

Here is the settlement agreement, signed today by the university's president, Michael Kotlikoff: statements.cornell.edu/2025/documen...

Valley Forge Military College Wants to Sign Compact While seven of the nine universities originally invited to join the Trump administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” have formally rejected the agreement, Valley Forge Mili...

The list of potential signers of the proposed higher education compact now includes:

New College of Florida, a public spending $100k per student
Grand Canyon University, which fought the feds about shedding for-profit status
Valley Forge Military College, which has less than 100 students

Photo of Jim and Cheryl Bassett and UAW Archivist Gavin Strassel in front of Solidarity House with an old Ford station wagon that was used by UAW Local 174 in the late 1940s and 1950s to organize workers.

News clipping from the United Automobile Worker, Westside 174 Conveyor Edition from February 1949 featuring a Ford station wagon purchased by the local to use as a sound car, with union leaders Ed Reno and George Lyons trying out to the new purchase.

Old Ford station wagon that was used by UAW Local 174 to organize workers in the late 1940s and 1950s.

Photo of the inside of a 1949 Ford station wagon purchased by UAW Local 174 as a sound car to organize workers in the late 1940s and 1950s. Includes a cardboard cutout of a smiling UAW President Walter Reuther behind the wheel.

🧵 Solidarity House had some very special guests last week!

Former Ford workers, Jim and Cheryl Bassett, purchased a vintage Ford station wagon from UAW Local 174 around 10 years ago. It was a bit worn and dusty from being stored for decades, but it appeared to be something special.

Join us TONIGHT 10/29 @ 7:30pm ET for a ✨ spooky✨ look into the world of academic healthcare workers. A haunted house with: funding cuts, staff shortages, & more. "Skeleton Crews at Academic Medical Centers: The Dangerous Results of Bare-Bones Funding": us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...