iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 8h

This entire interview was bananas. The notion that no harm was done on January 6, and the comparison of exploring use of troops against the American people during elections with the decisions made in previous administrations is the what-about-ism necessary to stand with a group assaulting democracy

static.klipy.com

Banana Shake Animation

ALT: Banana Shake Animation

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 9h

Thanks to @apnews.com for covering my take on the Trump administration to strip private institutions of their 501c3 status for attending to racial disparities. This is a pilot to do the same to all organizations and institutions. apnews.com/article/tax-...

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

More now than ever the leaders of organizations have to be brave and stand for humans and humanity, which means diversity. There are real world consequences for not doing so.

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Important: Take one minute to sign this petition. Some context: “The new rules by the Treasury Department are the latest twist of the administration’s economic vise to force colleges and universities to comply with its highly partisan political agenda." www.ipetitions.com/p/protect-th...

ipetitions.com

Oppose the New IRS Rule Threatening Nonprofit Independence

Urge the Treasury Department to reject the proposed IRS rule that threatens the tax-exempt status of nonprofits based on political judgments. Sign now.

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

This was an engaging episode to be a part of--I was honored to join such great colleagues in the discussion of higher education, and community colleges especially.

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

Brian Soucek. Our solution at the Alliance is to form coalitions that recognize the entire sector, its strengths, and how it can serve the entire public good--not just part of it.

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The Chronicle of Higher Education outlines the current conditions impacting higher education perfectly--citing @alliancehighered.bsky.social fellows @Cecilia Orphan, @victorerikray.bsky.social @bakerdphd.bsky.social members of our knowledge collective @cantb.bsky.social and

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

There are 4,000 colleges in America. But when only a certain slice of those hold the public imagination of what college means, and policy makers consider only these in their work, all are impacted. Karin Fischer's piece in www.chronicle.com/article/high...

chronicle.com

Higher Ed’s Harvard Problem

An exclusive club of colleges commands the public narrative. Does that come at a cost?

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

“Leading with Purpose in an Age of Political Warfare” Hosted by Alliance for Higher Education and The EDU Ledger Thursday, September 17. If you care about the future of independent higher education and the leaders steering it through this moment, this is a conversation you won’t want to miss.

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

The new rules by the Treasury Department are the latest twist of the administration’s economic vise to force colleges and universities to comply with its highly partisan political agenda,” he said in a statement.

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Glad my statement is included in @politico.com's piece on proposed rule: "The proposed rule the Trump administration’s “most blatant attack to keep working class Americans and people of color from accessing higher education and a better life.”

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Share my thoughts with @apnews.com about the Trump proposed rule to rescind 501c3 status of higher education institutions seeking to serve all students. It is the Trump admin's “most blatant attack to keep working class Americans and people of color from accessing higher education and a better life”

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Reposted by Mike Gavin

Alliance For Higher Education @alliancehighered.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

The administration’s new rules threaten the tax exempt status of schools that aid minority students. It’s the latest effort to keep working class Americans and people of color from college and a better life. Read: www.nytimes.com/2026/09/03/b...

nytimes.com

Trump Moves to Strip Tax Exemption From Schools That Aid Minority Students

The Treasury Department released rules that would prevent schools with race-based programs from qualifying for tax-exempt status, a threat to both higher education and other private schools.

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

The anniversary of Charlie Kirk’s assassination is next week. Higher education is poised to play a much more significant role in our democracy if we into the controversies surrounding these flashpoints rather than default to policies and procedures. substack.com/home/post/p-...

substack.com

Charlie Kirk and How Academic Leaders Should Consider Policy and Culture

There is a racialized pattern developed in cultural flashpoints and how higher education leaders respond to those flashpoints

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

New Accreditation rule puts at stake: • Students’ freedom to learn • Faculty and staff’s freedom to teach and research • College leaders’ freedom to manage their schools without government overreach. See our toolkit on what you can do. here. allianceforhighered.org/resources/pu...

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Attempts to 'balance' research and teaching on campus with more 'conservative' viewpoints begin with a point of view that the lenses we look at higher education through are political (right/left) in the first place, rather than academic and truth-seeking. www.chronicle.com/article/cons...

chronicle.com

Conservative Scholars Are Rare. Johns Hopkins Wants More of Them.

Ronald J. Daniels says the ideological imbalance is bad for the academy and for the country.

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Alliance For Higher Education @alliancehighered.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

The Education Department seeks to stifle the freedom to teach, learn, and research through a process not often paid attention to: accreditation rule changes. As CEO and president Mike Gavin told @insidehighered.com: “defining academic freedom is a role the government should not take." Read more:

insidehighered.com

3 Key Changes in Trump’s New Accreditation Rule

The administration accused accreditors of neglecting their “positions of public trust.”

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Politicians do not belong in higher ed, as I mentioned to @insidehighered.com: “defining academic freedom is a role the government should not take." Use the tools The Alliance for Higher Education has for you to make a difference. allianceforhighered.org/resources/pu...

allianceforhighered.org

Public Comment Regarding the Education Department's Proposed Rules for Accreditation

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Public comment on proposed rules for accreditation will be necessary to preserve free thought, and maintain the integrity of higher education. Check out @alliancehighered.bsky.social for tools and guidance.

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PEN America @penamerica.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

PEN America today joined the alliancehighered.bsky.social in responding to the latest letter from Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon. Now is the time to stand strong and ensure academic freedom for all. pen.org/press-releas...

pen.org

PEN America Joins Alliance for Higher Education in Defending Academic Freedom and Institutional Autonomy

PEN America joins Alliance for Higher Education in response to administration efforts advancing their agenda interfering with academic freedom

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

Again, the very notion that these claims are made and then somehow needing verification a rhetorical strategy of the movement against black, brown, and LGBTQ people in and outside of academia. Over and again, lies become truth and truth does not matter even in death.

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Knight First Amendment Institute @knightcolumbia.org · 19/08/2026

In a new essay for our Reconstructing Free Expression project, @michaelhgavin.bsky.social of the @alliancehighered.bsky.social calls on higher ed institutions to band together to weather a barrage of authoritarian attacks on free academic inquiry at the state and federal level. bit.ly/4zr1isD

knightcolumbia.org

How to Fight Authoritarian Attacks on Higher Education

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Jane Rosenberg LaForge @elrosenberglaforge.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

#Colleges, #universities "need to band together to...protect one another" from authoritarianism, says @alliancehighered.bsky.social's @michaelhgavin.bsky.social "...we need a data-based approach that intertwines w/efforts to enforce #FreeSpeech protections." knightcolumbia.org/blog/how-to-...

knightcolumbia.org

How to Fight Authoritarian Attacks on Higher Education

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

investigations claimed to protect.”

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

opponents and gut academic freedom. That betrays the very people these

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Project, a Jewish watchdog group working to battle antisemitism while protecting free speech and civil rights, issued a statement saying the whistleblower report “describes a gross exploitation of Jewish Americans’ legitimate fears — using our community’s safety as a pretext to punish political

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

This whistleblower articulates exactly what we already knew, but in direct language. "The goal of the investigations was to punish universities disfavored by the administration and secure their preemptive compliance with the Trump administration’s demands. The Nexus www.chronicle.com/article/univ...

chronicle.com

Universities Were Forced to Pay Up Despite Little Evidence of Antisemitism, Trump Whistleblowers Say

A leading House Democrat on Tuesday called for an investigation into new allegations that the administration forced universities it deemed politically incorrect into settling cases.

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Studies and programs supporting study of race and supporting black students are cut. DOJ seeks to eliminate our ability to track impact of these choices. The @alliancehighered.bsky.social sees all as part of the democracy; the executive branch & some states disagree. thegrio.com/2026/08/15/n...

thegrio.com

Northwestern reportedly set to close Program of African Studies, ending an near eight-decade chapter in higher education

Northwestern is reportedly set to close the United States' oldest program dedicated to African Studies, according to The Purple Wire.

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

A call to action should include a plan with a vision and bring us together for that vision. Our call is for the sector to be unified in its work to improve student outcomes and innovation; don't mistake softer tone with a change. @alliancehighered.bsky.social and @penamerica.bsky.social

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Reposted by Mike Gavin

Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

After the "S.T.O.P. Woke Act" was found to violate the First, Amendment, The Alliance for Higher Education asks what we should do as a sector next. Patricia Okker, former New College president, Leah Watson, Senior Staff at ACLU, and 📅 Tuesday, August 4. 12-1pm ET 🔗 bit.ly/4fJQ9eF

bit.ly

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: What’s Next for the Freedom to Think and Learn After the Florida Ruling?. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webinar...

In a landmark decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit struck down key higher education provisions of Florida's "Stop W.O.K.E. Act," concluding that the law's restrictions on class...

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

President Trump’s influence in sports and sporting events is anything but apolitical. Trump and his movement’s focus on sport of late seems to match the attacks on higher education, legal, media, voting, and other sectors than they do cultural debates. open.substack.com/pub/michaelh...

open.substack.com

Sports is next for Authoritarians

No sector is safe, and all signals are that sports will be the next sphere focused on to pit Americans against each other.

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Sports will be the next cultural sphere authoritarians seek to control: the 'shut up and dribble' crowd is now focusing on ways to use sports to re-segregate us. Building off work from @pablo.show and more. substack.com/home/post/p-...

substack.com

Sports is next for Authoritarians

No sectors is safe, and all signals are that sports will be the next sphere focused on to pit Americans against each other.

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Reposted by Mike Gavin

Alliance For Higher Education @alliancehighered.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

"Rebuilding public trust in higher ed goes beyond saying more positive things more frequently to more audiences" says Alliance President @michaelhgavin.bsky.social. We have to also reject the false narrative that access and inclusion are bugs, instead of assets. www.theeduledger.com/institutions...

theeduledger.com

Americans’ Confidence in Colleges Continues Long-Term Slide

A new Gallup-Lumina survey shows faith in higher education has dropped sharply since 2015, especially among Republicans and, more recently, Democrats.

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

As usual, higher education leaders shouldn't change operations. The rhetoric in this letter is meant to incite fear based on false accusations. If only there was a place in America where deep study of race and institutions would reveal best practices. 🙃 www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

insidehighered.com

Dear Colleague Letter Asks Colleges to End Affinity Housing

The Trump administration alleges that housing that caters to minority students violates the Fair Housing Act. Experts say the guidance is unlikely to withstand legal challenges.

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Continued taking away of rights and the acrobatics to claim the primary focus was not race are breathtaking. www.bloomsbury.com/us/new-white...

bloomsbury.com

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Alliance For Higher Education @alliancehighered.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

On the Future Trends Forum, @edufuturist.bsky.social and @michaelhgavin.bsky.social discussed the new OMB proposal: "It's bad for the country. It's bad for knowledge. It's bad for democracy." Join us and @standupforscience.net to submit pub comment: fight2win.standupforscience.net/campaign/omb...

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

For the sports should stay out of politics crowd this tracks: we have seen politicians attend events, but not events come to them. And just as has happened with curriculum, citizenship, voting, segregationist rhetoric is being amplified by politics in sport culture.

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

This article gets it right...I would only add the other major glaring error is the omission of institutions like community colleges (to name one kind) from the report--despite that they teach over 50% of humanities in higher ed. Glaring omission. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

insidehighered.com

The Question Haunting the Vanderbilt/Wash U Report (opinion)

A new report criticizes a turn toward politicized scholarship in the humanities. But could it be that a more diverse academy is asking different questions?

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

For those of us who study sports, this moment was unique. In the past, when the nation is in peril, a president's presence brings unity. But when an authoritarian creates that peril the audience protests--in the past it was also often the athletes protesting. www.bloomsbury.com/us/sports-in...

bloomsbury.com

Sports in the Aftermath of Tragedy

In an era characterized by news that caters to extreme ends of the political spectrum, sporting events are one of the last refuges to which people of divergent…

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

able to secure employment. As I’ve learned from the activist and organizer Mariame Kaba, that realization can either break you or liberate you. If most of us are going to stay, then it’s up to us to find allies and work together to save ourselves."

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 09/06/2026

@bakerdphd.bsky.social Dominique Baker--a member of Alliance for Higher Education's Knowledge for Democracy Collective--does it again. "No other country will come and save U.S. higher education. A minority of faculty, of those willing to leave, will be www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

insidehighered.com

No One Is Coming to Save Us

The realization can either break you or liberate you.

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

A lot can be said for how sports has allowed groups from disparate view points enter into conversations about race, gender, sexuality, and more. Can it do the same with authoritarianism? @espn.com

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Much of sports and society analysis rightly focuses on protests of black and women athletes in particular moments: 1968 with Tommie Smith & John Carlos; Ali & Vietnam War, eg. What happens when an authoritarian comes to see the @ny-knicks.bsky.social play a team with a coaching legacy of Popovich

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Mike Gavin @michaelhgavin.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Too much of higher ed is focused on gatekeeping rather than net building. We need to bring more students in and find ways to fund them. The current federal budget proposals are threatening to keep students out. The @alliancehighered.bsky.social has tools to advocate for all.

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Bryan Alexander @edufuturist.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

President @michaelhgavin.bsky.social was a superb guest today: thoughtful, direct, inspiring. Recording coming soon. @alliancehighered.bsky.social

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