Bradford Vivian

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

The “compact” for higher ed is an unserious document written by unserious people from a position of spectacular ignorance. No one should take it seriously. Sadly, my bosses are taking it seriously.

newrepublic.com/article/2013...

The Public Scholar: A Practical Handbook A Practical Handbook

Pre-order The Public Scholar here. Pay zero shipping from @bookshop.org.

I tried to write it real good for you!

bookshop.org/p/books/the-...

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

"Academic freedom policies came from faculties, not the government. Governments are the enemies of academic freedom, not their protectors." Brilliant piece by @sivav.bsky.social about the Trump administrations' latest effort to censor universities newrepublic.com/article/2013...

ACLS Statement Regarding White House “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” ACLS stands firmly against this latest White House effort to divide faculties by giving special privileges to students in “hard science programs” and its demand that institutions abolish “units that p...

"No institution that is committed to the free pursuit of knowledge should submit to the degradation of autonomy and academic freedom contained in it." @acls1919.bsky.social statement on the White House "compact" proposed to universities. www.acls.org/news/acls-st...

To start, much of what's in the contract sounds fine: Universities must agree to cut administrative costs, use objective tests for

@postopinions.bsky.social Ed Board could more accurately state its position on the “contract” w/universities by saying that it partially sympathizes with, or supports, the idea of compelling sweeping changes to university policy for ideological purposes (or that the board is partly pro-censorship).

(And, of course, that’s before we get into the list of specious assumptions in ideological code (e.g., “preferential treatment,” “objective measures”) about why universities allegedly need to be brought to heel.)

To start, much of what's in the contract sounds fine: Universities must agree to cut administrative costs, use objective tests for

@postopinions.bsky.social Ed Board could more accurately state its position on the “contract” w/universities by saying that it partially sympathizes with, or supports, the idea of compelling sweeping changes to university policy for ideological purposes (or that the board is partly pro-censorship).

• THEWRAP. SUBSCRIBE Paramount to Name Bari Weiss CBS News Editor-in-Chief as Part of Free Press Deal Report Weiss will report directly to Paramount CEO David Ellison in an agreement expected in the coming days Corbin Bolies October 2, 2025 @ 2:30 PM

A potentially historic example of how manufacturing misinformation about universities is a reliable path to power and influence right now—and why that animus against universities is a symptom of broader threats to vital systems of public information + collective senses of fact, truth, and meaning.

Part of the tragedy here (in an intellectual sense) is this won’t even register as a “free speech” issue for “heterodox” + “viewpoint diversity” groups . . . bc it involves true assaults on 1A rights rather than isolated anecdotes about protests at a statically tiny number of campus speaking events.

Honestly the perfect coda to the cancel culture panic is one of its biggest promoters being actually so thoroughly uncanceled/unsilenced that she assumes the helm of a major news network

Institutional Neutrality Is Censorship by Another Name Its recent vogue owes much to conservative think tanks.

Re-upping in light of the censorious, illiberal, unconstitutional “compact” with universities announced today…

#EduSky

www.chronicle.com/article/inst...

Institutional Neutrality Is Censorship by Another Name Its recent vogue owes much to conservative think tanks.

Re-upping in light of the censorious, illiberal, unconstitutional “compact” with universities announced today…

#EduSky

www.chronicle.com/article/inst...

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...

• THEWRAP. SUBSCRIBE Paramount to Name Bari Weiss CBS News Editor-in-Chief as Part of Free Press Deal Report Weiss will report directly to Paramount CEO David Ellison in an agreement expected in the coming days Corbin Bolies October 2, 2025 @ 2:30 PM

A potentially historic example of how manufacturing misinformation about universities is a reliable path to power and influence right now—and why that animus against universities is a symptom of broader threats to vital systems of public information + collective senses of fact, truth, and meaning.

Part of the tragedy here (in an intellectual sense) is this won’t even register as a “free speech” issue for “heterodox” + “viewpoint diversity” groups . . . bc it involves true assaults on 1A rights rather than isolated anecdotes about protests at a statically tiny number of campus speaking events.

U.S. used a transnational crime unit to secretly target campus protesters A Tufts University graduate student was among those targeted after the Trump administration created a “tiger team” to investigate pro-Palestinian activists.

www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2025/...

“…the government assigned a special team to target Ozturk and other pro-Palestinian activists, laying the groundwork for their highly unusual arrests.”

Trump Administration Asks Colleges to Sign ‘Compact’ to Get Funding Preference Demands sent to nine top schools included pledging to freeze tuition for five years and to commit to strict definitions of gender.

Breaking News: The White House asked nine top universities to pledge support for President Trump’s agenda to help ensure access to research funding.

Introducing “Faculty on the Frontlines,” a new series from the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom that documents the stories of AAUP members!

Over the next 2 weeks, we will spotlight the stories of 10 AAUP members fighting to defend academic freedom.

Check out our teaser 🔥

Protesters hold signs with Mahmoud Khalil's face on them to protest his arrest

Judge Rules International Student Deportation Campaign Unconstitutional

The ruling chastises two federal departments for their “invidious” efforts to chill pro-Palestinian speech and declares unequivocally that noncitizens in the U.S. are entitled to the full... https://bit.ly/4nXqj8i

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Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces (1948) EnlargeDownload Link Citation: Executive Order 9981, July 26, 1948; General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives. View All Pages in the National Archives Catalog...

In 1948, President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9981. It ordered "that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin." 1/

www.archives.gov/milestone-do...

Judge Young: "This case ... squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in United States actually have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally 'yes, they do.' 'No law' means 'no law.'"

BREAKING: Judge William Young, a Reagan appointee, delivers the most scathing legal rebuke of the Trump era, ruling that Trump and his cabinet illegally targeted pro-Palestinian students for deportation to "strike fear" into First Amendment protesters. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

The report also relied heavily on testimonials from military personnel that integrated forces not only strengthened military units but also provided models of trust and solidarity around shared values and goals.

1947.
1948.

4/4

EO 9981 was based on the findings of "To Secure These Rights," the Truman administration's commission on civil rights, published the year before, in 1947. It comprehensively argued for the national benefits of proactive desegregation. 3/

www.trumanlibrary.gov/library/to-s...

Mandating equality in the military (and the procedures of due process, rule of law, etc., that it implied) was seen as a critical tool in the fight against Soviet totalitarianism. 2/

Executive Order 9981: Desegregation of the Armed Forces (1948) EnlargeDownload Link Citation: Executive Order 9981, July 26, 1948; General Records of the United States Government; Record Group 11; National Archives. View All Pages in the National Archives Catalog...

In 1948, President Harry Truman issued Executive Order 9981. It ordered "that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin." 1/

www.archives.gov/milestone-do...

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