iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

In times like these, it’s vital to know who will stand up for democracy and justice and who will cower and capitulate. Students, faculty, alumni and staff are on the right side of history. The Yale president and trustees are collaborators and their names will live in infamy.

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Bradford Vivian @bradvivian.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

It's worth remembering (esp. re: Cornell): when a network of pundits + think tank reps chose to deride "safe spaces" on college campuses, they by default derided the idea that universities should better protect vulnerable student groups from assaults + fully investigate their credible reports. 1/2

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Bradford Vivian @bradvivian.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

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David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

“Cutting this much from the university budget will mean that some of the core functions of the university will be lost. It’s not possible to just do more with less — to work smarter, to trim around the edges. We’re going to have to do less with less.” Gift link: www.startribune.com/umn-cuts-sta...

startribune.com

Perry: What we lose if the U cuts $225 million

"Austerity doesn’t work. Instead, it creates a death spiral, where reduction in services leads to reductions in revenue, which lead to reductions in services, which leads to reduction in revenue, whic...

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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

Pete Hegseth removing tenure protections shows precisely why they are needed. He wants to silence dissent by being able to fire anyone who questions his vision of the military. www.militarytimes.com/news/pentago...

militarytimes.com

Hegseth halts tenure appointments for civilian faculty at military academies

Military academies will no longer appoint civilian faculty to tenured positions as Hegseth says it can contribute to “academic stagnation.”

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Noel Healy @drnoelhealy.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

The assault on US universities didn't start in 2025. Our new paper traces the decades of corporate capture that made it possible, and why climate research is a primary target. Open access: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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Bradford Vivian @bradvivian.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

If this isn’t blatant viewpoint discrimination, then I don’t know what is. “The Office of the Provost rejected 57 of 77 applications from the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis to retain core curriculum status for the 2027-28 academic year . . . 1/2 thedailytexan.com/2026/09/24/u...

thedailytexan.com

University rejects over 30 courses of a COLA department’s requested core curriculum courses,

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story and headline incorrectly stated the number and percentage of courses of Social and Cultural Analysis that were rejected by the Office of the Provost due...

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Bradford Vivian @bradvivian.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

thedailytexan.com

University rejects over 30 courses of a COLA department’s requested core curriculum courses,

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Kate Starbird @katestarbird.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

This is... troubling. SCOTUS is allowing the Trump administration to use an error-ridden tool that relies on inaccurate data. This tool has already led to false allegations of non-citizen voting. Now, it could "accidentally" remove legal voters from the rolls, causing real disenfranchisement.

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Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 24/09/2026

Faculty Advisers Resign After Call for ‘Reset’ of Iowa Civics Center Eleven members of the Center for Intellectual Freedom’s Advisory Council stepped down this week. It’s the latest birth pang for such entities, which are created by Republican lawmakers and university boards. bit.ly/3Tse3mP

Students on lawn in front of Schaeffer Hall at the University of Iowa campus in Iowa City in 2024.

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Bradford Vivian @bradvivian.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

👇👇👇

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Josh Chafetz @joshchafetz.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

There's a lot to say about this, and other folks are saying most of it. I just want to focus on one thing: the claim about the relationship between universities and "the real world."

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Jay Rosen @jayrosen.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

"I have studied propaganda for decades, including authoring a book on Italian Fascist propaganda cinema, and I can tell you that a merger that would create a propaganda megastructure encompassing entertainment content and news would be devastatingly effective..." substack.com/inbox/post/2...

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Bethany Albertson @albertsonb2.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Our students don’t deserve this. For those who don’t understand UT Austin admissions, most undergrads get in bc they were top 5% of their graduating class, from a Texas high school. Anyone calling for more white students is advocating for race conscious admissions - to help out white students.

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Lisa Diedrich @lisadiedrich.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Public universities have led the way in creating popular ethnic & gender studies programs, which are now being destroyed by aggressively regressive politicians & administrators, not because students aren't interested in these subjects, but because they are. www.texastribune.org/2026/09/17/u...

texastribune.org

The University of Texas at Austin rejected a department’s plan to keep the majors, a decision that came without public knowledge, an interim department chair told faculty.

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Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 18/09/2026

‘Direct Repression’ of Academics on the Rise, Report Finds Universities must promote “broad public understanding” that university autonomy is essential, Scholars at Risk’s annual report says. Read the latest from @timeshighered.bsky.social ➡️ bit.ly/4riZkqT #EDUSky #AcademicSky #HigherEd

A group of people milling about with woman in foreground holding megaphone.

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Will Bunch @willbunch.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

A college administrator calls the cops on a student reporter A college QB laughs at an AI video of his coach slapping a woman journalist The president lunges at a Black woman reporter who dares question him It's past time to fight back against anti-media violence www.inquirer.com/opinion/viol...

inquirer.com

Violence toward journalists is a symptom of a terminally ill U.S. democracy | Will Bunch

From Trump’s unhinged outbursts to calling the cops on a student journalist, a free press dies in tandem with the American Experiment.

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Sarah T Roberts, PhD @ubiquity75.xyz · 18/09/2026

From Science: Free inquiry depends on freedom of movement Starting in May 2025, the US government implemented an immigration policy that targeted noncitizen researchers for visa denials, visa revocations, detention, and deportation based on the topics and findings of their work (1).

science.org

Free inquiry depends on freedom of movement

Starting in May 2025, the US government implemented an immigration policy that targeted noncitizen researchers for visa denials, visa revocations, detention, and deportation on the basis of the topics...

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Bradford Vivian @bradvivian.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Some people describe parts of “elite” universities as social clubs disguised as meritocracies. This is one of the best illustrations of that adage I’ve seen recently.

methods.) Chua was on her book tour, holed up in a Seattle hotel room after a slew of death threats. Vance had just read a copy of Battle Hymn in the Yale Bookstore. "I just don't get it," she says he emailed her. "Why is this controversial? Your girls are lucky. You remind me of Mamaw." Mamaw, a.k.a.
Bonnie Vance, was JD's gun-toting, Bible-thumping grandmother, whom he deeply respected. Soon, Vance began confiding in Chua about his tumultuous childhood. He attached a few pages of musings that would eventually become his origin story.

Chua connected him with her literary agent, Tina Bennett. Three editors at Harper Collins would ultimately pitch in to help Vance whip the manuscript into shape. And three years after his Yale graduation, Hillbilly Elegy was published. The question was raised:
Did Vance actually write the book himself? In his 1960 presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy took credit for Profiles in Courage, a book that, to a significant degree, was written by his aide Ted Sorensen. JFK won a Pulitzer. Was Hillbilly Elegy, I ask Chua, another Profiles in Courage? "No, no, no," she asserts.
"JD is a great writer, a prolific writer.
They may have edited it and shaped it, but the part that made the book good was the voice." The publishing rumor

Chua and her husband threw a book party for Vance at their apartment on New York City's Upper West Side. The swanky guest list included former NBC anchor Tom Brokaw, President Joe Biden's future national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his wife, Maggie Goodlander (a Chua mentee and future New Hampshire congresswoman), entrepreneur Wendi Deng, and author Patrick Radden Keefe (another Chua protégé). In their toast, Chua and Rubenfeld predicted that Vance would end up in the White House.

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Bradford Vivian @bradvivian.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Some people describe parts of “elite” universities as social clubs disguised as meritocracies. This is one of the best illustrations of that adage I’ve seen recently.

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Katherine Knott @knottkatherine.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

The Education Department has identified hundreds of documents related to mass layoffs. Trump officials previously said it was “mere speculation that the documents were considered or even exist.” www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

insidehighered.com

Plaintiffs Suing Over ED Layoffs Seek Withheld Documents

The Education Department is withholding more than 900 records it says are exempt from disclosure, according to court records.

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Bradford Vivian @bradvivian.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

A huge part of the AI hype for years now: AI will create many revolutionary transformations (esp. in universities). What are the “best” examples of those positive transformations? *Are* there any? AI has legitimate and impressive uses. But has the hype been anything more than talk?

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Bradford Vivian @bradvivian.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

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AAUP chapter @UT Austin @utaustinaaup.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

“At a time when a major party nominee for statewide office can look at a diverse crowd of young Texans and see an invasion, students need more opportunities to understand one another. UT is giving them fewer.” 💯

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Jonathan Feingold @jpygold.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

@aaup.org @biblioracle.bsky.social & Katie Rainwater nails what everyone misses. Heritage Foundation hates college full stop. They bash DEI to get in the door, but the point is to close the door on everyone. That's why they want to own accreditation. Say no today: docs.google.com/document/d/1...

academicfreedomontheline.substack.com

With Proposed Federal Rules, Heritage Foundation Upends Higher Education

Who is up for a little Christian Nationalism embedded into our higher education system?

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Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 15/09/2026

🚨 Breaking News | The Department of Homeland Security’s widely criticized rule limiting how long international students can stay in the country won’t take effect Sept. 15 after a federal judge granted a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit challenging... Read the full story ➡️ bit.ly/4j3rtjs

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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

The fallacy that University leaders pushing AI are falling into is thinking that the point of undergraduate research is to find things out. It isn't. What students find out is typically already generally known. The point of undergraduate research is to learn how to find things out.

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Berny Belvedere @bernybelvedere.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

How antivaxxers exploited and hijacked the Covid moment to advance their longstanding crankery. Brilliant from @noupside.bsky.social

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Fall of Freedom is a nationwide festival convoking artists to stand up against authoritarian assaults on free thinking, free expression,+creative making. Find events all over here: www.falloffreedom.com/fall-of-free... and join us in Chicago for a packed weekend of ART IN THESE TIMES #falloffreedom

falloffreedom.com

Fall of Freedom

Fall of Freedom is an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation.

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Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 14/09/2026

AAUP Sends Its Own ‘Call to Action’ to McMahon bit.ly/3T94kS2

Linda McMahon, wearing a blazer and white shirt, speaks into a microphone with her hand slightly raised

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

NEW: DHS's Inspector General releases a scathing report about the Everglades detention camp known as "Alligator Alcatraz." The OIG finds that the now-closed camp, violated multiple ICE standards. The OIG also confirms detainees were punished with placement in a metal cage in the Florida heat.🧵

OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Staff also reported that time spent in the small metal enclosures is closely monitored, and
detainees are not locked in, even though we observed locking mechanisms on the enclosures.
Figures 11 and 12. Small Metal Enclosures; Observed January 21, 2026

Underneath is a picture of a metal cage that is 4 feet 3 inches wide by 4 feet 3 inches long, and 7 feet 9 inches high. The cage itself is placed on a tiny spot of fake turf, and then surrounded by another chainlink fence with razor wire on top. The cage is covered by a roof, but it's entirely exposed to the outside otherwise, meaning mosquitos and no air conditioning.

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Perry Bacon @perrybaconjr.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

"These attacks on media and these attacks on universities are themselves ideological and partisan attacks," says @shannimcg.bsky.social. Great conversation on the problem with writers/academics trying to be seen as "neutral" and fixating on "polarization." newrepublic.com/article/2153...

newrepublic.com

Transcript: America’s Big Political Problem Isn’t Polarization

Academics and journalists do the far right favors when they describe American politics as polarized and desperately seek to seem neutral, says professor Shannon McGregor.

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Bradford Vivian @bradvivian.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

The super popular show “Lioness” has a storyline in which special forces uncover a communist college professor’s plot (part of a vast secret network) to recruit students to serve the Chinese govt thru his teaching. Great job, HxA, FIRE, op-ed pages. Way to promote new ideas, diverse viewpoints.

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Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

After reading some of the recent pubs and discourse around US higher ed.… I should just stop right here. But here are the three major fallacies of much of what’s out there, three contexts that are missing, and the one big thing that is driving me around the bend (actually already there, but). 1/

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Bradford Vivian @bradvivian.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

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Bradford Vivian @bradvivian.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

A fresh round of op-eds about “cancel culture” and a lack of “viewpoint diversity” on college campuses incoming.

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Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 10/09/2026

Judge Declares West Point Faculty Gag Order Unconstitutional bit.ly/4A4fxnN

West Point cadets, dressed in gray jackets and white pants. Several cadets are out of focus in the foreground of the image, to the left.

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Dan Froomkin/Press Watch/Heads Up News @froomkin.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

FIRE's college/state free speech rankings are a distraction from the real threat, which is from state action. See, for instance, the ridiculous disclaimer on the Florida page. rankings.fire.org/state/florid...

Some may wonder how Florida schools can earn a “green light” speech code rating or rank highly in the College Free Speech Rankings while FIRE is simultaneously litigating against the state’s Stop WOKE Act, which restricts instruction on certain concepts related to “race, color, national origin, or sex.” The answer lies in FIRE’s methodology: the speech code ratings and rankings reflect policies affecting student expression, not classroom instruction or faculty speech. Likewise, the survey component of the rankings captures the experiences of students — not faculty members — on their campuses.

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Brendan Cantwell @cantb.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

It is farcical that FIRE's campus rankings does not include any measure of state censorship, student self-reports are weighted very heavily, and the "tracking controversies" is opaque and incomplete. I think FIRE is mostly well-intended (not everyone agrees) but the rankings are worse than useless.

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King Algamemnon @adamrothman.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Secretary Bunch is a national treasure. He deserves a Medal of Freedom. The Smithsonian - and the country - will miss his leadership when he retires. I wish him well. www.nytimes.com/2026/09/08/a...

nytimes.com

Smithsonian’s Secretary to Resign as Trump Tries to Rule the Institution (Gift Article)

In the face of escalating White House attacks about how museums present American history, Lonnie G. Bunch III has announced his decision to depart.

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Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

"ultimate danger remains that, when institutions comply with authoritarian wishes, the govt will just ask for greater and greater concessions. After all, if you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to ask for a glass of milk." The anatomy of a coup d’université www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

insidehighered.com

That Same Ol’ Authoritarian Playbook

Throughout history, autocrats have gone after higher ed finances to control institutions’ culture.

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Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

"If the proposed Treasury rules become policy, risk-averse schools will further eliminate programs to fix historic inequities, and there will be fewer students of color in US colleges and universities." "That’s clearly what the president intends." @victorerikray.bsky.social states it plainly:

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