Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialRabih Alameddine @rabihalameddine.bsky.social · 03/10/2026Truth 054197
Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialTressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 17/09/2026These centers are the guy who thinks hot young women aren’t showing up to the bar he stocked with weird dude things because pink-haired woke commie broads won’t let them. 4752159
Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialMatt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 14/09/2026Can't believe "I hate you. You're the dumbest generation. You don't deserve jobs." hasn't been a winning sales pitch. 1139976
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026CSPI, UI's Center for Intellectual Freedom, and the extremists on the Board of Regents and in Des Moines are using public dollars and institutions to not only promote an extremist vision for our society, they're enriching themselves handsomely in the process. prismreports.org/2026/01/27/c...prismreports.orgRight-wing plot to set up ‘intellectual freedom centers’ at public universitiesUNC-Chapel Hill and the University of Florida are part of the effort to push conservative ideology on college students in the guise of civics education 000
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Like the backroom deals that earned CSPI $18k in Iowa, and millions federally, UI's Center for Intellectual Freedom is about grift. It works through "personal contacts", like those that brought in the authoritarian propagandist Chris Rufo to Iowa. www.bleedingheartland.com/2025/12/21/o...bleedingheartland.comOn soup, freedom, and heritage in the heartlandgreg wickenkamp reflects on the University of Iowa's "Center for Intellectual Freedom" and a panel discussion he attended there. 100
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Meanwhile, CSPI claims to be nonpartisan and thus receives tax-exempt status. Former Lt Gov Adam Gregg sits on its board of directors. CSPI is in fact a far-right interest group that uses public dollars and institutions to promote its partisan vision. commonsenseinstituteus.org/iowa/about/b...commonsenseinstituteus.orgBoard of Directors – Common Sense Institute 100
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Lawmakers, basing their decision partially on the influence of CSPI's initial market assessment report, have mandated that all undergrads take the Center's far-right indoctrination courses. www.kcrg.com/2026/06/03/c...kcrg.comCourses will be required at University of Iowa Center for Intellectual FreedomUniversity of Iowa Students will now be required to take classes from the new Center for Intellectual Freedom in order to graduate. 100
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Dr. de Castro, the Center's interim director, claimed credit for the report. It is worth reading. Rather than showing a concerted effort against UI's Center it shows the Center's unwillingness to follow protocol or play by the rules. www.thegazette.com/news/emails-...thegazette.comEmails show Center for Intellectual Freedom power struggleSince lawmakers last year created a new Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa, a behind-the-scenes power struggle has erupted, hindering the center’s progress and deepening politic... 100
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026CSPI also likely authored a report which erringly claimed UI is not supporting the Center. This report actually showed that the Center's leadership is incompetent and unable to follow basic protocols required for all other fields. lylemuller.substack.com/p/iowa-cente...lylemuller.substack.comIowa Center for Intellectual Freedom's start plagued with confusion, mistrustPODCAST: Lyle Muller hosts The Gazette reporter Vanessa Miller 110
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026Board of Regents tried to hide CSPI's report. It said since there is no demand for its far-right courses, that demand should be created. Other fields, with high student demand for their courses but not majors, were cut at UI: Gender studies, Black studies, etc cif.uiowa.edu/news/2026/04...press-citizen.comUI cuts 2 programs a year after cultural analysis school was deniedThe Iowa Board of Regents approved closing several University of Iowa programs, citing low enrollment, including ender, women’s, and sexuality studies 100
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026That's because the Common Sense Policy Institute (CSPI) was hired recently by the University of Iowa's so-called Center for Intellectual Freedom. They were paid $18k in a no-bid contract to assess the market for the Center's offering. www.kcrg.com/2026/08/19/i...kcrg.comi9 Investigation: Iowa Board tried to suppress report on Center for Intellectual FreedomRecords obtained by TV9 show the Iowa Board of Regents tried to block the release of a report showing the Center for Intellectual Freedom needed mandates to survive. 100
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 09/09/2026The Common Sense Policy Institute, was recently shown to be part of the widespread corruption and grifting of the Trump administration. If you're an Iowan or interested in higher ed, the name of this group should sound familiar... 🧵 100
Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialDavid M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 30/08/2026Red State Universities: we believe in indoctrination and job training Students: we hate that is there another option? Blue State Universities: we promise to have no values except job training. It ain’t enough. My latest. Gift link.startribune.comPerry: Republicans fought ‘indoctrination.’ Now they’re telling students what to study.The conservative attack on higher education in states like Iowa is hard to watch. But it also provides an opportunity for blue states like Minnesota. 251283419
Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialTrevon Logan @trevondlogan.bsky.social · 26/08/2026University of Iowa, Northwestern University, University of Georgia, University of North Carolina, and University of Texas are just some of the institutions that have ended or merged their Black Studies/African American Studies departments. I don’t hear much chatter about it…. 16937
Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialChris Jones @theswinerepublic.bsky.social · 14/08/2026Brought to you in Iowa by big corporate agribusiness. Thanks Bayer, Syngenta, Koch, Corteva, Nutrien, Farm Bureau, and the rest of the syndicate that has hollowed out rural Iowa and left us these ruins. Dickens, IA 02311
Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialManisha Sinha @profmsinha.bsky.social · 02/08/2026Historian of abolition here 💯Garrison always called it the slaveholders rebellion, that’s the correct term. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/o...nytimes.comOpinion | The ‘Civil War’ Is a Lie. Let’s Call It the ‘Slaveholders’ Rebellion’ Again. (Gift Article)To face our own history, we must be honest about it. 211019321
Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialVictor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 10/07/2026I wrote about Florida Governor DeSantis' getting rebuked by the 11th Circuit for his tyrannical (and unconstitutional) "Stop WOKE Act." Hopefully, this will serve as a warning to other GOP states (but I doubt it). www.ms.now/opinion/flor...ms.nowFlorida's so-called Stop WOKE Act gets the legal rebuke it deservesVictor Ray: Ron DeSantis' loss in court is a win for education 415553
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 05/07/2026Critical education is a crucial part of ushering in this overdue, necessary third Reconstruction 030
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 03/07/2026Cracking open history to reveal new new futures waiting for us, Hagopian offers searing clarity to today's convoluted spectacle. So. Damn. Good. 011
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 28/06/2026Thank you for this. Its so thoughtfully edited and timely. 010
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 28/06/2026"But if it is childish, if any of this—the outrage, the horror, the belief that something must be done—is childish, it is only because a child could see it. It is only adults who find comfort in the reassuring sobriety of pessimism." 021
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 10/06/2026Why should we all be feminist historians? This incisive piece by @drlmmurillo.bsky.social lays it out plain. 010
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 04/06/2026de Castro stands to steal $400,000 annually if appointed full-time director of this sham. Paraphrasing him, "It's unfortunate students aren't forced to pledge support to an economic system that brought us slavery, Jim Crow, and the theft of whole continents." 020
Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialAAUP @aaup.org · 07/05/2026Conservative “civic centers” are being embedded in public universities to normalize a right-wing version of U.S. history & political thought in order to produce the kinds of knowledge that some politicians & ideologues would prefer. “This civics curriculum is really just propaganda.” #AcademicSkyprismreports.orgFlorida uses public universities to build conservative civics pipeline ahead of ‘America 250’Several civics centers opened in Florida as part of the Department of Education’s America 250 Civics Education Coalition to “renew patriotism” 24726
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 12/04/2026A solid piece worth reading. "This center isn’t a balance for anything. It is, instead, a beachhead for the right’s attempted authoritarian takeover of higher education in the state." 1118
Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialAmanda Finley Digs All the Spooky Things @rubyslippahs.bsky.social · 30/03/2026Huge thank you to everyone who participated in our virtual #NoKings protest. It meant a lot to many people who couldn't go in person. Thanks for bringing the fire! 🔥 @thedrdery.bsky.social @grantstern.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social @mariannedhe.bsky.social www.youtube.com/live/lUJ21CF... 1/2youtube.comNo Kings 3YouTube video by COVID Long Haulers 271
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 18/03/20262/2 Are you finding your documents mostly in the Archives West? The leaders in Des Moines were tied into national networks like those you're finding. Including networks connected to Billy Hargis and Women for Constitutional Government (Dorothy apparently was an editor for their newsletters). 140
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 18/03/20261/2 Fascinating -- thank you! I've recently been looking at the far-right in Des Moines. Apparently two leading figures there, Robert & Dorothy Dilley, published a paper, The American Analyst -- as blatantly authoritarian, fascist, and supremacist as docs you're finding... 150
Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialAmanda Finley Digs All the Spooky Things @rubyslippahs.bsky.social · 10/03/2026Guerilla Advocacy is back! Join us for a virtual No Kings rally focusing on anti-intellectualism and censorship. We have a stellar lineup of speakers. Want to participate but want to go out in person as well? Go for it! We start at 6:30 pm Central. You can register at the link below. 1/6 615392
Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialZinn Education Project @zinnedproject.bsky.social · 05/03/2026Wonderful article by our colleague Greg Wickenkamp about rural educators who, despite censorship campaigns and laws, "take pains to present history in all its complexity, encouraging students to develop their own informed stances through critical thinking." ⬇️ #TeachTruth 01710
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 05/03/2026Deep gratitude to the editors and the truly heroic educators quoted in this piece. “We have to do with the past only as we can make it useful to the present and to the future.” 010
Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialLouise Seamster @louiseseamster.bsky.social · 01/02/2026Attention Iowa folks interested in public schools!! You won’t want to miss this, @schooldaves.bsky.social brings so much expertise and interesting ideas to school finance. 365
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 01/02/2026Barker was recently appointed to the Dept of Ed. UIowa's center has already begun its work eroding democracy. At the opening of UI's center, a different board of regents member flat out said the event (and undoubtedly the center itself) was cooked up in personal (far-right) networks.bleedingheartland.comOn soup, freedom, and heritage in the heartlandgreg wickenkamp reflects on the University of Iowa's "Center for Intellectual Freedom" and a panel discussion he attended there. 000
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 01/02/2026🧵 Glad this is getting coverage, though it deserves more. Over a year before UI's center was founded, I bumped into David Barker, an Iowa board of regents member. Before I realized who he was, he was telling me how he and his network planned to begin a new push around civics education. 101
Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialManisha Sinha @profmsinha.bsky.social · 25/01/2026Historian of abolition here yes worse than the Civil Rights movement when the federal government could be goaded into doing the right thing. right now we are confronting the new Slave Power that controls the government of the United States. 110626
Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialDon Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 23/01/2026One day, if we are lucky, the erasure of American history will itself be remembered as a shameful chapter in American history 10444251364
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 22/01/2026if you're in Iowa City, George's buffet has the best burgers in town. $7 040
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 19/01/2026Grateful for @democracynow.org for always bringing crucial daily news and for today airing excerpts from Dr King's ever-timely speeches. 0122
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 19/01/2026Re-listening to King's Beyond Vietnam speech today it is striking how timely it remains. As Dr Jackson reminds us in this beautiful article, these are still revolutionary times. Tomorrow is already today and we must move with the fierce urgency of now. 010
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 19/01/2026"Abolishing an agency that teargasses two-year-olds and shoots mothers in the street isn’t radical. It is basic human decency" "'Abolish ICE' does not go far enough. We need to move away from a system predicated on violence in favor of one that centers people’s humanity" damn right the time is now 1238
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 16/01/2026Thank you for documenting these important histories! Your book is just excellent and deserves to be widely read. Have you found any evidence of FBI repression of youth activism in Iowa? 110
Reposted by @wickenkamp.bsky.socialZinn Education Project @zinnedproject.bsky.social · 13/01/2026"I could not move, because history had me glued to the seat. . . It felt like Sojourner Truth’s hands were pushing me down on one shoulder & Harriet Tubman’s hands were pushing me down on another shoulder, & I could not move." — Claudette Colvin Claudette Colvin ¡Presente! has died at age 86. 💔zinnedproject.orgMarch 2, 1955: Claudette Colvin Refuses to Give Up Her Bus SeatAt age 15, Claudette Colvin refused to give up her bus seat to a white woman in Montgomery, Alabama. 5269119
wickenkamp.bsky.social @wickenkamp.bsky.social · 13/01/2026One of the best independent journalists in Iowa being denied access to elected officials. 010
