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Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)

@jackiepedota.bsky.social
1.2K followers 398 following 33 posts

Assistant Professor at UMass Boston | UT Austin PhD 🐮 | UF alum 🐊 | Racial Equity, Org Change, Higher Ed, Legal Environment | 305 born & raised 🇨🇺 | Siempre Pa’lante ✨

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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Scholars at Risk @scholarsatrisk.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
SAR’s #Free2Think2025 report is out now to mark the International Day of #Democracy! Violent repression and government interference in #universityautonomy are leading threats to global #academicfreedom. Read the report now: www.scholarsatrisk.org/resources/fr…
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Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella) @jackiepedota.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Why public comments matter!!Folks have until Monday to submit comments on the proposed accreditation rule! www.regulations.gov/document/ED-...
regulations.gov
Regulations.gov
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
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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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
We woke up thinking about the long shadow of all the workers’ wins and even their losses. We made it free to watch the short documentary that dominated my life this year. Happy Labor Day. vimeo.com/1224659811/7...
vimeo.com
Power to the People, Y'all [Happy Labor Day]
Power to the People, Y’all is a character-driven documentary that explores aging, legacy, and resistance through interviews with five founding members of the Winston-Salem Chapter of the Black Panther...
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Mary Anne Franks @maryannefranks.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
As @victorerikray.bsky.social says, "University leaders should make it clear that it’s their right to address historical inequities & help students from historically marginalized racial groups, & that they will fight this authoritarian escalation with everything they can." www.ms.now/opinion/trum...
ms.now
Opinion | Trump’s next high education target: schools that help Black students
Victor Ray: American universities must stand up to Trump's plan to re-segregate higher ed
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
"...findings that 3 [insts] violated civil rights law by tolerating antisemitism were predetermined by political priorities that blew past the evidence and cast aside standard investigative procedures..." Reading the whistleblower statement and taking rage breaks www.ms.now/news/frame-u...
ms.now
Whistleblower says probes into antisemitism at colleges were ploys to harass and strip millions
A former Justice Department lawyer says the Trump investigations squeezed Ivy League universities for millions before they were even concluded. A top Democrat is demanding answers.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 13/08/2026
Judge Dismisses Trump’s Antisemitism Lawsuit Against Harvard The decision is a blow for the administration, which has engaged in a yearslong battle with the Ivy League institution. bit.ly/3TUvPiA #EDUSky #AcademicSky #HigherEd
A photo of Harvard's campus
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
James M. Thomas (JT) @insurgentprof.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
A guy taking a job at The Atlantic to write either anecdotes of his own limited experience at a tiny liberal arts college or straight up falsehoods about higher ed more generally is just…not interesting. It’s boring, and unserious.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Me on the AAU "The AAU claims to be comprised of America’s leading research unis...But if the member presidents choose the guise of institutional neutrality as a way to gain political cover, they may now be leading higher ed toward greater authoritarianism." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
insidehighered.com
How Elite Colleges Aided Censorship During the Red Scares
Powerful organizations during the Red Scares crafted a world where “academic freedom” was conditional on political allegiance.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Dana R. Fisher (aka the Apocalyptic Optimist) @fisherdanar.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Yesterday, @asanews.bsky.social announced that, due to cuts in funding from the National Science Foundation, it will no longer run its Dissertation Research Improvement Grants. The consequences of these funding cuts to science and the future research capacity of the US will be staggering.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
AAUP @aaup.org · 22/07/2026
OUT TODAY, the AAUP just released the first comprehensive account of how the Trump administration has taken the same playbook it's used on law firms & foreign governments & turned it on American universities. US higher ed has, in effect, become a target of a massive extortion racket. 🧵
aaup.org
New Report on Extorted Compliance Charges “Massive Extortion Racket” Against Higher Ed
A new AAUP report, "Extorted Compliance: A Threat to Institutional Autonomy, Academic Freedom, and Shared Governance," exposes how the Trump administration has extended its pay-to-play approach to gov...
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Texas Conference of the AAUP @texasaaup.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
UT Austin doubles down on denial of tenure to leading borderlands tech scholar: “In an emailed statement to Inside Higher Ed, a UT spokesperson said, ‘Tenure is privilege, not a right.’” www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
insidehighered.com
Border Surveillance Scholar Denied Tenure at UT Austin
Border-surveillance scholar Iván Chaar López was denied tenure at the University of Texas at Austin after being recommended by more than 30 scholars, The Austin-American Statesman reported.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
AAUP @aaup.org · 20/07/2026
"What I found most encouraging in the ruling was the rejection of Florida’s claim that paying faculty members’ salaries gave the state the right to control their classroom speech. The opposite decision would have fundamentally changed public higher education."
insidehighered.com
How the Stop WOKE Act Ruling Strengthened Academic Freedom
A conversation with Tim Cain, an academic freedom expert and professor of higher education at the University of Georgia.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 10/07/2026
Look at that collective action at Yale! And good on faculty at other institutions for sharing what they've learned!
Screenshot of article which reads: Because Yale had until recently escaped direct scrutiny from the Trump administration, Yale’s AAUP members have had a year to learn from its peers and prepare. Last fall, they recruited two faculty members from the law school, Ahmad and Marisol Orihuela, to serve as their general counsels. They also met over Zoom with colleagues from Brown, Columbia, and Harvard Universities. All had been offered deals by the Trump administration.Screenshot of article which reads: From them, the Yale faculty members learned several strategies. They brought together colleagues from different disciplines, who might be affected differently by a deal, to understand each other’s worries. Otherwise, a researcher whose lab would be devastated by a federal funding freeze might not naturally be aligned with an instructor who would be silenced by provisions against the teaching of certain concepts. The Yale members heard that once dealmaking started, they would probably be shut out and hear little from the university administration. They learned to build relationships with other Yale constituencies, such as the student government. That preparation helped the groups mount opposition to a proposed deal quickly.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Texas Conference of the AAUP @texasaaup.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Faculty groups sued Texas Tech Chancellor Brandon Creighton + the system’s regents Wednesday, asking a federal judge to block classroom restrictions they say have censored professors who teach about race, gender identity and sexual orientation + intentionally discriminated against Black faculty.
texastribune.org
Texas Tech sued over limits on race, gender instruction
The lawsuit asks a federal judge to halt the restrictions as discriminatory, improperly vague and a violation of free speech.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
BREAKING: Eleventh Circuit, on a 2-1 vote, upholds injunction blocking Florida from enforcing its 2022 Stop WOKE Act in the university context. The majority opinion is from Judge Britt Grant, a Trump appointee: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Before GRANT, LAGOA, and WILSON, Circuit Judges.
GRANT, Circuit Judge:
"Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech." U.S. Const. amend I. The First Amendment, incorporated against the States in 1868, is this country's written commitment to the idea that freedom of speech is essential to freedom of thought, and that both are essential to maintaining our liberty. The Supreme Court has long been clear that teaching and scholarship are due some measure of protection under the Amendment. But how much? And in what contexts? That Court has not had to say, but this one is now put to the test. The State of Florida legislated a broad set of speech restrictions banning certain viewpoints relating to race, color, sex, and national origin in various settings. The provision at issue here bars Florida's educators from promoting or endorsing those distavored ideas when instructing students. Its prohibition applies not only in primary and secondary education, where states traditionally exercise a great deal of control, but also in public colleges and universities, where the state government's role has been far more limited.
When several groups of professors challenged Florida's new restrictions, the State cast about for an existing case or doctrine that could support its speech ban in the university setting. Finding none, it tried to marry public-employee speech cases with government speech doctrine, resulting in a new rule: if thegovernment pays a professor's salary, it has total control over her classroom speech.
That is not a blessed union. Florida's salary-for-speech rule is a breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse in the very places the State's own statutes recognize as centers of inquiry-classrooms where students are trusted to puzzle through ideas that are good and bad, easy and hard, ideally getting ever closer to the truth. This new rule also runs headlong into the Supreme Court's repeated, if imprecise, endorsements of academic freedom. If the First Amendment offers any boundary of protection at all for public university classrooms, this statute crosses it.
Nor does this Court's leading academic speech precedent,
Bishop v. Aronov, demand the outcome Florida seeks. 926 F.2d 1066 (11th Cir. 1991). In fact, it counsels the opposite. The restriction in that case was imposed by one university, against one professor, relating to speech about one thing— personal religious views that got in the way of the course's well-understood parameters.That precedent makes clear that universities and even other government entities have crucial authority to shape curricular content, discipline teachers, and take other steps to guide and govern postsecondary education. But the speech ban Florida's political leaders seek to impose here is different in both nature and degree from these ordinary concerns. The rule Florida developed for this case does not withstand scrutiny.
11 Case: 22-13992
Document: 156-1 Date Filed: 07/07/2026 Page:
22-13992
Opinion of the Court
5
The ideas Florida targets may well be noxious. Or maybe
not.
Either way, in this context the First Amendment trusts students to figure it out for themselves. We affirm the district court's preliminary injunction.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Scholars Strategy Network @scholars.org · 11/06/2026
"Compliance ceases to be a fixed legal threshold and becomes an ever-narrowing set of assumptions about political risk," write @jackiepedota.bsky.social (@umassboston.bsky.social), @garceslm.bsky.social (@alliancehighered.bsky.social), and Eliza Epstein in @insidehighered.com:
insidehighered.com
How Universities Expand the Reach of Anti-DEI Laws (opinion)
Colleges and universities amplify the impacts of anti-DEI laws through the processes they use to (over-)comply with them.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Annenberg Institute @annenberginstitute.bsky.social · 10/06/2026
📢 A new Inside Higher Ed piece draws on findings from the EdWorkingPaper examining how universities implement anti-DEI legislation and how compliance processes can extend beyond what the law explicitly requires. Essay: bit.ly/3RIxmXT Paper: edworkingpapers.com/ai26-1463
bit.ly
How Universities Expand the Reach of Anti-DEI Laws (opinion)
Colleges and universities amplify the impacts of anti-DEI laws through the processes they use to (over-)comply with them.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 10/06/2026
Echoes in the Quad | No One Is Coming to Save Us The realization can either break you or liberate you. By @bakerdphd.bsky.social : bit.ly/4usRT0d #EDUSky #HigherEd #AcademicSky
The words "Echoes in the Quad" scattered across geometrics shapes overlaid on a photo of students in a university quad with a green filter overlaid.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Nothing says "intellectual freedom" like forcing students to take mandatory conservative indoctrination classes. Shout-out to all the embarrassing academics who believe any of this was in good faith.
chronicle.com
A Flagship’s Civics Center Saw Low Enrollment. Now Students Will Be Required to Take Classes There.
A provision in the Iowa state budget will require all students at the University of Iowa to complete two classes at the Center for Intellectual Freedom to get their degree.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 03/06/2026
Opinion | How Colleges Extend the Reach of Anti-DEI Laws Colleges and universities amplify the impacts of anti-DEI laws through the processes they use to (over-)comply with them. By Jackie Pedota, Liliana M. Garces and Eliza Morse Bentley Epstein: bit.ly/4dNWUeD #EDUSky #AcademicSky
The letters DEI with chains around them.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
American Council of Learned Societies @acls1919.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
BREAKING: Federal Judge Rules to Restore National Endowment for the Humanities Funding In Historic Case This afternoon's ruling declared that the mass termination of more than 1,400 grants by the NEH was “unlawful, unconstitutional, ultra vires, and without legal effect.” bit.ly/4wmbFg8
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Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella) @jackiepedota.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
“DEI” bans do more than just defund or remove programs and structures. . . they restrict and delegitimize the knowledge needed to understand and address racial inequities in society.
usnews.com
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Omar Valerio-Jiménez @omarvaleriojimenez.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
“When academics in more comfortable political climates declare it unethical for the rest of us to remain and to fight, they undercut the solidarity necessary to help move toward the kind of world they want to see.” www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...
insidehighered.com
How Not to Talk About Colleagues in Texas, Florida (opinion)
We’re not fighting a lost cause.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Akil Bello @akilbello.bsky.social · 16/04/2026
Skip the article about/from the employees of the Yale corporation and read this from SUNY Geneseo www.geneseo.edu/enrollment-m...
geneseo.edu
The College Affordability Crisis is Real, but the Media is Looking at the Wrong Schools
Sturges Hall (Photo by Keith Walters ’11) Opinion By Costas Solomou, Vice President, Enrollment Management Published by the Office of Enrollment Management When Yale University released its Committee ...
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Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella) @jackiepedota.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Still wild to see my name among this group of incredible scholars! Excited to get to work!
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Honored to be part of this dedicated crew of scholars
Screenshot of link which lists the fellows: 

Dominique J. Baker is an associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware.

Heather McCambly is an assistant professor of education at the University of Pittsburgh. 

Denisa Gándara is an associate professor of educational leadership and policy at the University of Texas at Austin. 

Cecilia Orphan is an associate professor of higher education at the University of Denver and founding co-director of the Alliance for Research on Regional Colleges. 

Jackie Pedota is an assistant professor of higher education at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. 

Raquel M. Rall is an associate professor and associate dean of strategic initiatives at the University of California, Riverside. 

Victor Ray is the F. Wendell Miller an associate professor of sociology at the University of Iowa.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
W. Carson Byrd @wcbyrdphd.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Important read by @victorerikray.bsky.social about the anti-intellectualism centers popping up at universities across the US. Also critical to point out universities are hypocritically & simultaneously shutting down departments born from ‘movements for broader inclusion in mainstream American life.’
ms.now
Opinion | Beware conservatives promoting “intellectual freedom”
Victor Ray: This conservative lie about schools like mine is furthering authoritarianism
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Texas AFT @texasaft.org · 10/04/2026
Public universities and community colleges across Texas are being used as toys for political games. We're here to tell them: the futures of our students are not things to be played with. @utaustinaaup.bsky.social @texasaaup.bsky.social @handsoffcentraltx.bsky.social
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Zachary Levenson @grundrza.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
On Thursday, Florida's Board of Governors removed sociology from the general education curriculum of every university in the state. Chancellor Ray Rodrigues attacked the @asanews.bsky.social as illegitimate. On behalf of sociologists everywhere, I respond to them in today's @miamiherald.com:
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Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella) @jackiepedota.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
Thrilled to share that we are moving to Boston! I will be joining the University of Massachusetts Boston as a tenure-track Assistant Professor in the Department of Leadership in Education. This accomplishment is truly a reflection of all my friends, mentors, and colleagues who poured into me 💕
Dog sitting on a black couch wearing a Boston Red Sox bandana around its neck
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Scholars Strategy Network @scholars.org · 23/03/2026
In this @hechingerreport.org op-ed, Julie Park (University of Maryland) says the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling has created a "cascade effect" where more Black & Latino students will end up at schools where they are more likely to experience adverse outcomes Read the full op-ed:
hechingerreport.org
Opinion: There’s a ‘cascade effect’ from the Supreme Court’s ban on race-conscious admissions, and it’s hurting Black and Latino students
More will attend schools where they are more likely to experience adverse outcomes.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
AAUP @aaup.org · 23/03/2026
“Ground zero in an unprecedented nationwide assault on academic freedom & diversity.” A film tracking the conservative takeover of New College of Florida, titled “First They Came For Our College” premiered at SXSW.
wmnf.org
Film on the conservative takeover of New College premieres at SXSW, draws pushback from college
A film tracking the conservative takeover of New College of Florida, titled “First They Came For Our College”, has hit the big screens.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
You ever write something and there are so many parts you hope people engage with that you can't figure out which ones to quote? I'll do a wee thread on the 3rd, and final, essay from my Red Scares series www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
insidehighered.com
The Danger of Silence When Academic Freedom Is Under Threat
Inaction from rank-and-file workers enabled government censorship during the Red Scares.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Texas Conference of the AAUP @texasaaup.bsky.social · 03/03/2026
AAUP UT Austin Chapter Pres. Karma Chávez: “It’s going to be bad in every possible way, and students are going to be the biggest losers.” 👇👇 www.thenation.com/article/soci...
thenation.com
What Will Be Left After the University of Texas Destroys Itself?
UT-Austin has collapsed its race, ethnic, and gender studies into a single program while a new policy asks faculty to avoid “controversial” topics. But the attacks won’t end there.
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Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
It is unclear that these classes will continue to be taught given the state is trying to ban many of them. If they were concerned about costs and return on investment, they wouldn’t be funding a right wing propaganda factory that can’t get any students to take their classes.
cbs2iowa.com
'Stop Woke Act' advances in Iowa Legislature, would bar DEI courses in gen ed requirements
A new bill in the Iowa Legislature would ban diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) or critical race theory (CRT) related course from being included in general
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Texas Observer @texasobserver.org · 20/02/2026
New from María Del Carmen Unda: For generations, women of color have shown that “neutrality” is often a way to police whose stories matter and whose expertise counts. Knowledge rooted in lived experience is repeatedly framed as political, while dominant perspectives are treated as universal.
texasobserver.org
The UT System's New 'Controversial Topics' Policy Is About Policing Knowledge
When politically appointed regents and administrators determine which topics are “germane,” academic freedom quietly shifts into political compliance.
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Puff the Magic Hater @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
I'll be joining folks from UT Austin's Native American and Indigenous Studies (NAIS) and Mexican American and Latina/o Studies programs for a convo about Read This When Things Fall Apart on February 23 from 4:00 – 5:30 pm. RSVP to join us: utexas.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...
Flyer for a Feb. 23, 2026 book talk with Kelly Hayes at the Texas Union (UNB 4.206), 4–5:30pm. It features a portrait of Kelly Hayes, the cover of Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activists in Crisis, a short description calling it “a survival guide for the heart,” logos for UT Austin programs, and a QR code to learn more and RSVP.
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AAUP chapter @UT Austin @utaustinaaup.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
Texas AAUP press release: aaup-texas.org/blog/f/ut-au...
aaup-texas.org
UT Austin Closing Ethnic, Gender and Area Studies Departments
Social: X @TexasAaup and Bluesky @texasaaup.bsky.social
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Jessica Luther @jessicawluther.com · 12/02/2026
"Having an official designation as a UT department matters — it allows programs to receive funding for events, faculty and a greater voice in tenure and promotion decisions." www.statesman.com/news/educati...
statesman.com
UT to consolidate gender and ethnic studies programs into one new department
Affected departments include those that focus on African and African Diaspora Studies, Mexican American Studies, Women and Gender Studies and American Studies.
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W. Carson Byrd @wcbyrdphd.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Re the February Dear Colleagues letter that threatened funding for schools & universities over DEI-related efforts: ‘[Ed Dept]…moved to dismiss its appeal. It leaves in place a federal judge’s August decision finding that the anti-DEI effort violated the First Amendment & federal procedural rules.’
apnews.com
Trump administration drops legal appeal over anti-DEI funding threat to schools and colleges
The Trump administration is dropping its appeal of a federal court ruling that blocked a campaign against diversity, equity, and inclusion threatening federal funding to the nation’s schools and colle...
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Scholars at Risk @scholarsatrisk.bsky.social · 14/01/2026
SAR's January 2026 newsletter, available now! See key news updates, opportunities, and resources from across the SAR network this month. Read and subscribe: ow.ly/I8cr50XWpNT
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Miriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 18/11/2025
WE JUST KEEP WINNING. (UC President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program RESTORED!!!!)
On official UC letterhead: 
UNIVERSITY
OF
CALIFORNIA
James B. Milliken President
Office of the President
1111 Franklin Street Oakland, CA 94607
universityofcalifornia.edu
CAMPUSES Berkeley
Davis
Irvine
UCLA
Merced
Riverside San Diego San Francisco
Santa Barbara Santa Cruz
MEDICAL CENTERS
Davis
Irvine
UCLA
San Diego
San Francisco
NATIONAL LABORATORIES Lawrence Berkeley Lawrence Livermore Los Alamos
DIVISION OF AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES
November 18, 2025
Dear Chancellors:
I'm writing with regard to the President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (PPFP) and the program's associated faculty hiring incentive.
As you know, for more than 40 years, PPFP has provided postdoctoral research fellowships, professional development, and faculty mentoring to scholars in all fields whose research, teaching, and service advance the academic and research missions of the University of California.
Since 2003, UC campuses that hire current and former PPFP fellows into ladder-rank positions have been eligible for a hiring incentive funded by the University that provides support for newly hired fellows for five years. Since the creation of the incentive, more than $162 million has been invested by the University to support PPFP faculty hires. This commitment has enabled our campuses to successfully recruit and retain outstanding faculty across a range of disciplines.
Given the myriad challenges currently facing UC - including disruptions to billions of dollars in annual federal support, as well as uncertainty around the state budget- reasonable questions were raised in recent months about whether the University could maintain the commitment to current levels of incentive funding. After considering a recommendation to sunset the incentive program due to these significant fiscal constraints, I consulted with all of you as well as faculty and campus academic administrators and systemwide Academic Senate leadership.
[continued on next image]After learning more about the history and success of the program and weighing the thoughtful perspectives that have been shared, I have concluded that barring extraordinary financial setbacks, the PPFP faculty hiring incentive program will continue while the University continues to assess the program's structure as well as its long-term financial sustainability. As a result of our continuing consultation and review, there may be consideration of some changes to elements of the program including the total number of incentives supported, a number that has fluctuated significantly over the years, and how the awards are distributed among campuses. In the meantime, the University will continue to fund the PPFP faculty hiring incentive program and campuses may continue to take advantage of these incentives. We will have an opportunity to discuss any potential changes prior to adoption.
As we look to the future, I will continue to engage with faculty leaders, program stakeholders, and UC community members about this important program. I especially appreciate the thoughtful perspectives shared in recent weeks by Academic Council Chair Palazoglu and Vice Chair Scott, the Council of Graduate Deans, UC faculty members, and you as our campus leaders.

Sincerely,
James B. Milliken
President
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Veena Dubal @veenadubal.bsky.social · 14/11/2025
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!! We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
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Dr. Tati @drtati.bsky.social · 12/11/2025
UT alumni, sign: Longhorns for Liberty: alumni.standforcampusfreedom.org/petitions/un...
alumni.standforcampusfreedom.org
University of Texas: Reject the federal government’s “Compact”
The federal government’s “Compact” will put the University of Texas at Austin under political control. Join with Longhorns for Liberty before the Board of Regents meeting on November 19-20 and tell Pr...
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Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella) @jackiepedota.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
Much-needed reading in these times
Picture of a dog on a couch behind a person holding a book titled “Read this when things fall apart: letters to activists in crisis” edited by Kelly Hayes
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Ryan Quinn @ryanequinn.bsky.social · 18/10/2025
Dartmouth makes it six colleges and universities to publicly reject Trump's higher ed compact. Three (of original 9) to go! www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
insidehighered.com
UVA, Dartmouth Reject Trump Compact
The University of Virginia is the first public, and Southern, institution to publicly turn down the administration's “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”
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AAUP @aaup.org · 17/10/2025
BOOM! After over a thousand students, faculty, & workers gathered on campus to demand a rejection of Trump’s bribe, UVA SAYS NO LOYALTY OATH! ✊🏼✊🏿✊🏻✊🏾 M.I.T. ☑️ BROWN ☑️ PENN ☑️ USC☑️ UVA ☑️ This is People Power in Action. #DefendHigherEd
We reject the compact.
Large crowd gathered in protestBig crowd with signs reading “Don’t Fold” 

“Don’t Surrender”
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
Texas Conference of the AAUP @texasaaup.bsky.social · 16/10/2025
USC Interim Pres. Kim: “Other countries whose governments lack America’s commitment to freedom and democracy have shown how academic excellence can suffer when shifting external priorities tilt the research playing field away from free, meritocratic competition.” ✊👊👏 www.latimes.com/california/s...
latimes.com
USC rejects Trump education compact aimed at shifting the university to the right
USC interim President Beong-Soo Kim said in a statement that he had sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education turning down the Trump offer.
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Reposted by Jackie Pedota (she/her/ella)
AAUP @aaup.org · 16/10/2025
🚨🚨🚨 And THREE stood up! Penn has joined MIT & Brown in rejecting Trump’s loyalty oath compact. When we join together and fight back, WE WIN! No amount of federal bribery is worth surrendering the freedom to question, explore, and dissent. LET’S GO! #DefendHigherEd @aaup-penn.bsky.social
thedp.com
Penn rejects White House proposal for special funding treatment
With the decision, Penn becomes the third university to decline the offer.
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