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#aaup
#Harvard professors sue #Trump administration over funding cut threats
by Katie Cole, April 14, 2025, #WBUR
"The Harvard chapter of the American Association of University Professors sued the Trump administration Friday over what they call an 'unlawful and unprecedented' attempt to use federal funding cuts to restrict #FreeSpeech.
"The #DepartmentOfEducation announced in late March that it would review $8.7 billion in federal grants and contacts given to Harvard, alleging that the school failed to prevent #antisemitic discrimination on campus.
"The Trump administration then unveiled a broad set of demands on April 4 the university must agree to in order to keep getting federal funding, including cutting all diversity, equity and inclusion programming, and modifying any programming and departments that 'fuel antisemitic harassment.' The administration gave Columbia University a similar set of demands in March, which the school agreed to.
"The lawsuit by the professors' group, filed in #Massachusetts federal court, alleges that the administration's federal funding review violates the #TitleVI of the #CivilRightsAct, which prohibits discrimination in programs that receive federal funds. The court filing says the law requires specific procedures to cut federal funds and that the Trump administration has not taken any of those steps.
"The group said in a press release that the administration's actions are in effort to create a chilling effect among universities and faculty to stop speech that the president does not like.
" 'Eliminating discrimination and protecting all students is important,' said Nikolas Bowie, a Harvard law professor and the secretary-treasurer of the school's #AAUP chapter, in a statement. 'But Trump is defying the Civil Rights Act, terrifying students, and illegally holding hostage grants for hospitals and scientific research so he can accomplish his real goal of punishing academics for our politics.'
"The lawsuit says that the actions by the administration have 'already caused severe and irreparable harm by halting #academic #research and #inquiry at Harvard.'
"This is the second suit that the Harvard AAUP chapter has filed against the Trump administration this year. The first was a joint suit with other chapters, including one from Columbia, over federal efforts to deport #MahmoudKhalil and students that engaged in #ProPalestinian #activism."
https://www.wbur.org/news/2025/04/14/harvard-aaup-trump-funding-cuts-lawsuit
Happening Saturday in Cambridge, MA:
STAND UP HARVARD!
Rally to STOP the domino effect!
Join Cambridge community leaders in solidarity with Harvard faculty to call out federal overreach for what it is: an attack on academic freedom - and democracy itself.
RAIN OR SHINE!
SATURDAY APRIL 12th, 2025
12 PM - 2 PM
CAMBRIDGE COMMON, HARVARD SQUARE
Harvard Chapter of the American Association of University Professors, 50501, and City of Cambridge
https://www.reddit.com/r/CambridgeMA/comments/1jvfq0l/rally_on_cambridge_common/
For the #PennState (or central #PA) people across the #fediverse – Sign this letter to tell congressman Glenn Thompson (PA) to publicly oppose the cuts to federal funding for research, healthcare, and education.
We'll be delivering the letter to his office on 4/8 as part of the #killthecuts national day of action 
Please give this post a boost so it gets to the right people
American Association of University Professors [#AAUP] v. #Rubio
A case challenging the #Trump administration’s policy of ideological deportation.
"On March 25, 2025, the Knight Institute filed a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s policy of arresting, detaining, and deporting noncitizen students and faculty who participate in pro-Palestinian activism. The lawsuit, filed on behalf of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), AAUP’s #Harvard, #NYU, and #Rutgers campus chapters, and the #MiddleEastStudies Association, argues that the policy chills noncitizens from speaking and, by extension, robs these organizations and their U.S. citizen members of noncitizens’ perspectives on a matter of significant public debate.
"The lawsuit responds to a climate of repression and fear on university campuses. Federal agencies are attempting to deport multiple individuals for their #ProPalestinian advocacy, including #MahmoudKhalil, a leader of protests at Columbia University. These actions have sent chills through the community of noncitizen students and faculty on campuses around the country, causing some to pull out of academic conferences, stay home from #protests, and withdraw from other forms of public advocacy and engagement.
"The lawsuit alleges that the administration’s policy of ideological deportation violates the First Amendment right of the plaintiffs to hear from and associate with noncitizen students and faculty, that it is unconstitutionally vague, and that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act. The suit seeks a court order declaring that the policy is unlawful and enjoining the federal government from enforcing it."
Status: Complaint filed on March 25, 2025.
Case Information: American Association of University Professors v. Rubio, No. 1:25-cv-10685 (D.Mass).
https://knightcolumbia.org/cases/aaup-v-rubio
#YunseoChung #RightToProtest #SilencingDissent #USPol #CharacteristicsOfFascism #law
#immigration #FreeSpeech #MarcoRubio #Trump #FreedomOfAssembly #Authoritarianism #Palestine #CriminalizingDissent #HigherEducation
Looks like the American Association of University Professors agrees with me!
#AAUP, Allies Sue over #Trump Policy of Arresting and Threatening to Deport #Students and #Faculty for #LawfulSpeech
"The national AAUP; chapters at #Harvard, #Rutgers, and #NYU; and the #MiddleEastStudies Association today filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty members who participate in #ProPalestinian #protests and other protected #FirstAmendment activities.
"We believe that the administration’s ideological-deportation policy violates the First Amendment by targeting constitutionally protected speech that Americans have a right to hear and engage with. The policy has created a climate of fear and repression on campuses around the country. We are represented in the case by the #KnightFirstAmendmentInstitute at #ColumbiaUniversity, #AhilanArulanantham, and Zimmer, Citron & Clarke LLP.
"Following executive orders issued by President Trump in January, the federal agencies that enforce immigration laws have arrested and detained several people associated with U.S. colleges and universities, including a legal permanent resident, on the basis of constitutionally protected speech and association.
"Today’s filing argues that the ideological-deportation policy has created a climate of #repression and intense fear on university #campuses, 'terrorizing students and faculty for their exercise of First Amendment rights in the past, intimidating them from exercising those rights now, and silencing political viewpoints that the government disfavors.'
"'The Trump administration is going after international #scholars and students who speak their minds about #Palestine, but make no mistake: they won't stop there. They'll come next for those who teach the history of #slavery or who provide #GenderAffirming health care or who research #ClimateChange or who counsel students about their reproductive choices. We all have to draw a line together—as the old labor movement slogan says: an injury to one is an injury to all,' says AAUP President Todd Wolfson.
"'The First Amendment means the government can’t arrest, detain, or deport people for lawful political expression—it’s as simple as that. This practice is one we’d ordinarily associate with the most repressive political regimes, and it should have no place in our democracy,' says #JameelJaffer, executive director at the Knight First Amendment Institute."
Source:
https://www.aaup.org/news/aaup-allies-sue-over-trump-policy-arresting-and-threatening-deport-students-and-faculty-lawful
#RightToProtest #SilencingDissent #USPol #CharacteristicsOfFascism #law
#immigration #FreeSpeech #MarcoRubio #Trump #FreedomOfAssembly #Authoritarianism #Palestine #CriminalizingDissent #HigherEducation
Update. Here are some press releases and news stories on the lawsuit against the #Trump admin by American Association of University Professors (#AAUP) and the American Federation of Teachers (#AFT).
* From the AAUP
https://www.aaup.org/news/aaup-allies-sue-over-trump-policy-arresting-and-threatening-deport-students-and-faculty-lawful
* From the AFT
https://www.aft.org/press-release/faculty-unions-sue-trump-admin-no-halting-science-research-suppress-speech
* From The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/25/pro-palestine-student-deportation-lawsuit?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
* From the NYTimes
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/nyregion/professors-sue-trump.html
#Academia #Censorship #DefendResearch #MahmoudKhalil #Protests #Travel #Universities #USLaw #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter
#Trump demands unprecedented control at #ColumbiaUniversity, alarming scholars and speech groups
By COLLIN BINKLEY and JAKE OFFENHARTZ
Updated 7:52 PM EDT, March 14, 2025
NEW YORK (AP) — "The Trump administration brushed aside decades of precedent when it ordered Columbia University to oust the leadership of an academic department, a demand seen as a direct attack on academic freedom and a warning of what’s to come for other colleges facing federal scrutiny.
"Federal officials told the university it must immediately place its #MiddleEasternStudies, #SouthAsianStudies, and #AfricanStudies Department under 'academic receivership for a minimum of five years.' The demand was among several described as conditions for receiving federal funding, including $400 million already pulled over allegations of #antisemitism.
"Across #academia, it was seen as a stunning intrusion.
"'It’s an escalation of a kind that is unheard of,' said Joan Scott, a historian and member of the academic freedom committee of the American Association of University Professors [#AAUP]. 'Even during the #McCarthy period in the United States, this was not done.'"
https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-mahmoud-khalil-ice-arrests-1921e26f6b5a8585ad5cbda790846324
#CharacteristicsOfFascism #USPol #Censorship #DumbingUsDown #Authoritarianism #SilencingDissent #AcademicFreedom #Fascism
Nice portrait of my friend and former colleague Todd Wolfson, new pres of #AAUP who's taking it in a more fighting direction
Important new resource!
"Faculty First Responders [exists] to proactively educate and support faculty and administrators about the causes and consequences of right-wing attacks on faculty, while providing advice about how to effectively respond to targeted harassment"
https://facultyfirstresponders.com/
The mystery of Cary Nelson. This change means he no longer dominates the #aaup, and he's upset.
Shame that he was captured by the anti-#boycott position. He made a lot of other contributions. But he owes us more disclosure of considerations he's received from the anti-#bds lobby than he offers, and he has for a long time. https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-aaup-abandons-academic-freedom
The American Association of University Professors (#AAUP, @aaup) just "voted to sanction New College of #Florida, saying the…school’s leaders have imposed 'an aggressively ideological agenda' since taking over more than a year ago."
https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2024/02/26/new-college-florida-is-sanctioned-by-national-faculty-group/
I am so glad @pbump highlighted the AAUP’s report on Florida higher education. It is a test case for how to undermine what makes education the bulwark of democracy.
No paywall.
Addendum 1
Texas’ political environment driving faculty to leave
https://www.texastribune.org/2023/09/07/texas-higher-education-faculty-dei-tenure/
* legislators passing laws banning diversity initiatives & targeting tenure at state universities
* 1/4 of 1,900 Texas professors surveyed by faculty associations said they plan to look for positions out of state
The American Association of University Professors (#AAUP) publishes a report titled:
Florida Higher Ed Faces an Ideologically Driven Assault Unparalleled in US History
They tweet a thread starting:
On the day FL governor DeSantis is to announce his bid for president, the AAUP has released a preliminary report on the impact of his unparalleled ideologically driven assault on higher education in the state.
#Florida #HigherEducation #RonDeSantis
https://twitter.com/AAUP/status/1661364807742701571
New instance, first introductory post:
I teach American history at Colorado State University - Pueblo where I cover everything after the Civil War. With respect to research, I specialize in food history. I used to be "that guy who hates MOOCs," and still spend a lot of time on edtech issues, just not publicly anymore. I'm a longtime member of the #AAUP who's working with them and the #AFT to organize my campus and my whole state university system.