Zach Samalin

What the Columbia Settlement Really Means

The Columbia settlement is an “astonishing transfer of autonomy and authority to . . . an administration whose disdain for the values of the academy is demonstrated anew every day.” New @knightcolumbia.org analysis of the Columbia settlement, just published. knightcolumbia.org/blog/what-th...

The “deal” that Brown made with the Trump admin is much more extreme than is being reported. It includes government oversight of course evaluations and no barrier to government interference in faculty hiring.

Read it for yourself here:

www.brown.edu/sites/defaul...

AAUP Letter Supports CUNY Law Professor Ramzi Kassem Yesterday the AAUP sent a letter of support for Ramzi Kassem, a professor of law at the City University of New York singled out by US Representative Elise Stefanik in a recent hearing of the US House ...

💥IN DEFENSE OF CUNY LAW PROF RAMZI KASSEM💥

We REJECT Rep. Elise Stefanik's baseless attacks!

"Any discipline against Kassem for his representation of Mr. Khalil would violate AAUP standards on academic freedom & tenure & the terms of CUNY’s faculty labor contract."

Read the full letter here⬇️

| Knight First Amendment Institute

Recent law grads — we're now hiring for legal fellows to begin in Fall 2025. Our First Amendment rights are under daily assault. I hope you'll consider applying to work with us at @knightcolumbia.org to push back.

knightcolumbia.org/page/legal-f...

UCLA to pay $6.45 million to settle suit by Jewish students over pro-Palestinian protests UCLA agreed to settle a lawsuit by Jewish students who alleged the university aided a 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment, which the lawsuit alleged illegally discriminated against Jewish people.

1/ I represent 5 anti-zionist students and faculty challenging the outrageous claim that the Palestine Solidarity Encampment was a "Jew exclusion zone". UCLA refused to defend. Today they agreed to pay millions instead. I can't overstate how dangerous this is. 🧵

www.latimes.com/california/s...

A colleague has to meet with the university’s Office of General Counsel who want edits to their program’s website that basically amount to deleting every instance of the word “Black”

clearly university leadership and even some (pernicious) faculty see their interests as aligned with the right wing seizure of higher ed
www.dropsitenews.com/p/documentin...
bsky.app/profile/davi...

Columbia’s capitulation to Trump begins a dark new era for US higher education | Moira Donegan The university’s agreement reveals its willingness to bend to the administration’s will and undermines an American myth

(Responding to:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

A school that voluntarily does this to its own students is practicing authoritarianism, not "capitulating" to it

a hand holding a copy of a green and yellow book: University Keywords, edited by Andy Hines

This mighty book has arrived and I’m eager for it to be in your hands! It can orient us term by term to past struggles in higher education and the ones ahead.

www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/...

WU-TANG FOREVER 👐🏽

A Federal Trial Reveals the Sprawling Plan Behind Trump’s Attacks on Pro-Palestinian Students In Boston, a Reagan appointee is on pace to get to the bottom of the campaign against Mahmoud Khalil and others the Administration wants to deport over their activism.

In Boston, the most consequential and far-reaching trial of the second Trump Presidency has been set in motion: A.A.U.P. v. Rubio, which challenges the Administration’s systematic campaign to arrest, detain, and deport pro-Palestinian student protesters.

A Federal Trial Reveals the Sprawling Plan Behind Trump’s Attacks on Pro-Palestinian Students In Boston, a Reagan appointee is on pace to get to the bottom of the campaign against Mahmoud Khalil and others the Administration wants to deport over their activism.

Must read

www.newyorker.com/news/the-led...

- Israeli forces bomb a kindergarten - Israeli forces attack World Health Organization buildings, stripping and tying up staff and family members, taking some hostage - Reporters from AFP, world’s oldest news agency, announce this is the first time in their entire history that their colleagues may die from starvation - United Nations staff say they will stay at their humanitarian hub in central Gaza, despite Israeli displacement orders - Israeli Settlement Minister Orit Strook says war on Gaza must expand, even if that endangers the hostages - Israeli soldiers arrested in Belgium due to accusations of war crimes - 28 nations, including the UK, Canada, Japan, Spain, and France, condemn Israel’s blocking of aid & killing of people seeking food and water; demands Israel to not block aid and not ethnically cleanse Palestinians - The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention – named after Raphael Lemkin, a Holocaust survivor who coined the term genocide – demands world leaders: - "No more discussions, meetings, reports, sessions, summits…GET FOOD AND WATER INTO GAZA NOW. IF YOU HAVE THE POWER, YOU MUST USE IT."

Today:

At the AAUP/AFT 2025 Summer Institute, we are developing the tools we need to help build a movement to truly realize our vision for higher education & democracy.

#organizefightwin
@afthighered.bsky.social
@chenjerai.bsky.social

We are truly in IHRA hell

This was truly bonkers: the State Dept official who signed off on the abductions of Öztürk, Khalil et al testified today that *ANY* criticism of Israel is potential grounds for visa revocation. Wtaf?!

State dept and ICE had a whole back and forth about arresting her with the op-ed she'd written in the student paper just *attached* to their emails -- like, not even hiding the targeting! -- the op-ed was first drawn to their attention, ICE officials testified last week, by canary mission

Was kind of unreal tbh to listen to this ICE agent testify under oath that he sought legal counsel before ordering Öztürk's arrest because it was so different from normal procedure

Federal agents describe unusual run-up to arrests of Pro-Palestinian academics The revelations came in an ongoing trial on a lawsuit claiming the Trump administration is targeting pro-Palestinian academics for deportation over their speech.

Testimony in #AAUPvRubio today offered another disturbingly clear view of the inner bureaucracy of our fascist immigration apparatus: ICE agents offering matter-of-fact descriptions of their ideological targeting of students like Rümeysa Öztürk for Palestine advoacy
www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Immigration Officials Used Shadowy Pro-Israel Group to Target Student Activists

It’s long been suspected that Rubio and Noem were targeting foreign students based on info supplied by these fanatical, sinister groups. This is the first time the government has acknowledged it in open court. www.nytimes.com/2025/07/09/u...

BREAKING: "A senior ICE official testified that the agency assembled a team in early 2025 to investigate student protestors. The team — referred to internally as the “Tiger Team” — rapidly compiled over 100 reports based on a list of 5,000 people identified on the Canary Mission website."

Shai Davidai posted that Columbia closed an investigation into him today and issued no findings of wrongdoing. Per Columbia policy, the school can close investigations when an individual no longer works there. Davidai decided to leave Columbia, per email today theintercept.com/2025/07/09/p...

This ICE official’s testimony in AAUP v Rubio today, detailing ICE/Canary Mission collaboration, was wild. Def recommend reading the transcript once @knightcolumbia.org posts it

knightcolumbia.org/content/dhs-...

DHS “Tiger Team” Scrutinizing Student Protesters Was Told to Investigate 5,000 Names Listed by Canary Mission, ICE Official Testifies

Below are highlights from Day 3 of our AAUP v. Rubio trial before Judge Young in a case challenging the Trump administration’s policy of ideological deportation. knightcolumbia.org/content/dhs-...

The revelation comes per Knight Institute, highlighting testimony from Day 3 of the AAUP v. Rubio trial.

Huge news confirming that the Trump administration has welcomed the help of the anti-free speech doxxing group Canary Mission to target students.

Canada needs to follow through on its promise to help people in Gaza Ottawa’s ‘special measures’ visa program for Gaza has so far proved to be little more than a cruel taunt

Canada says it's a refuge. It has dangled only false hopes to Palestinians seeking to study here after Israel bombed their universities, or who have applied to be reunited with family.

I co-wrote this piece with Deborah Cowen, Kyo Maclear and Madeleine Thien www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/7a8fbe1...

“Ideological Deportation”: AAUP v. Rubio Trial Challenges Trump Crackdown on Pro-Palestine Students The first trial in a case challenging the Trump administration’s policy of detaining and deporting international students and professors who participate in pro-Palestinian activism is underway in Boston....

"Ideological Deportation": AAUP v. Rubio Trial Challenges Trump Crackdown on Pro-Palestine Students

We entrust our city's future to the nearly 200,000 teachers, paraprofessionals, counselors and more of the UFT. Now more than ever, they need a mayor who recognizes their value and has their backs. I am honored to earn their endorsement.