Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

Coalition for Action in Higher Ed @actioninhighered.bsky.social · 4d

Sign the "No Loyalty Oaths in Education!" petition started by Sunrise and sponsored by @higheredlabor.bsky.social actionnetwork.org/petitions/un...

University Administrations: Reject Trump's "Loyalty Oath" Compacts

The Trump administration is trying to blackmail schools to let him and his unqualified bureaucrats run our schools. They want to dictate what schools teach, who they admit and hire, what researchers s...

actionnetwork.org

4 5

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

Angela Pashia, ACC @angelapashia.com · 3d

And also, if you can’t stand on principle, stand on self preservation. Signing won’t stop this regime from attacking. Signing signals weakness, that you’re an easy target.

There is absolutely nothing to be gained by signing this.

Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 3d

More of this. Signing this authoritarian devil’s bargain would betray higher education’s independence and the pursuit of knowledge.

Jay D. Aronson @jaydaronson.bsky.social · 3d

MIT rejects "the Compact"
orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

8 29

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

UAW @uaw.org · 3d

"If we are to live in a world in which universities emerge from the current moment as sites of thought, learning, and community... we cannot let higher education unions be defeated."

http://www.publicbooks.org/our-right-to-our-union-graduate-student-workers-under-threat/

Our Right to Our Union: Graduate Student Workers Under Threat - Public Books

University leaders may make a show of opposing Trump when funding is under threat, but they will happily align themselves with him in confronting graduate student workers.

www.publicbooks.org

4 14

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

Texas Conference of the AAUP @texasaaup.bsky.social · 3d

Prof. Karma Chavez: “I think UT’s good enough just to compete on the regular marketplace and still win.” That’s right! UT doesn’t need to trade its independence and autonomy for vague promises of “preferential” federal grant funding! 👏🧡✊ #LonghornPride

AAUP chapter @UT Austin @utaustinaaup.bsky.social · 3d

pilot.latakoo.com/asset/219723... Dr. Karma Chavez, the new president of the AAUP chapter at UT Austin, on the elimination of democracy in Texas public education and dangers of Trump’s compact. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

latakoo | Faster File Transfer | Automated Media Workflows

Fast file transfer. latakoo is the fastest video workflow on the market today. Patented technology combines with smart automation.

pilot.latakoo.com

5 15

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

University of Denver Chapter of the AAUP @udenveraaup.bsky.social · 3d

ICYMI our Cultural Center, which included the Pride Lounge, BIPOC lounge, & Pride Closet, is no more. Any remaining functions have been merged, along with Native American and Indigenous Initiatives and Black Community Initiatives, into a "Community Connections Team"
www.instagram.com/p/DPmz6xxEQF...

Login • Instagram

Welcome back to Instagram. Sign in to check out what your friends, family & interests have been capturing & sharing around the world.

www.instagram.com

1 4 6

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

Texas Conference of the AAUP @texasaaup.bsky.social · 3d

MIT rejects the compact! 👏👏👏👏

AAUP chapter @UT Austin @utaustinaaup.bsky.social · 3d

orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

“The document also includes principles w/ which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression & our independence as an institution. And [it] is inconsistent w/ our core belief that scientific funding shld be based on scientific merit alone.”

Regarding the Compact | MIT Organization Chart

orgchart.mit.edu

23 72

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

Todd Wolfson @proftwolf.bsky.social · 3d

I am proud to say that MIT has rejected Trump's poison compact. MIT President Sally Kornbluth: "Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education."
@aaup.org @aft.org @higheredlabor.bsky.social @uaw.org
links.mit.edu/nl3/N5Jy2cKq...

Regarding the Compact

links.mit.edu

3 58 220

Higher Education Labor United (HELU) @higheredlabor.bsky.social · 4d

Trump is demanding nine colleges and universities sign a "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education." These demands will come to all of higher ed if we don't stand together and fight back now. Tell our college and university administrations: Reject the Compact! tinyurl.com/rejectthecom...

8 14

Higher Education Labor United (HELU) @higheredlabor.bsky.social · 6d

HELU's International Campus Worker Protections (ICWP) Campaign is organizing to pressure our institutions to stand up for international workers. Read more about this campaign in a recent piece by organizer Bobby Huggins higheredlaborunited.org/2025/09/22/t...

6 5

Higher Education Labor United (HELU) @higheredlabor.bsky.social · 12d

Read about the attack on academic freedom in Louisiana in a September 2025 article by Kimberly Terrell, Ph.D. higheredlaborunited.org/2025/09/22/l...

4 6

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

AAUP @aaup.org · 17d

WEBINAR ALERT!💻

The AAUP is hosting a webinar exploring the importance of independent accreditation systems for maintaining professional standards & examining threats a politicized accreditation system poses to academic freedom.
▶️October 6, 7PM

Politicizing Accreditation in the South and Beyond

This webinar will explore the historic importance of independent accreditation systems for maintaining professional norms and standards for public higher education and examine the threats a politicize...

www.aaup.org

16 39

Higher Education Labor United (HELU) @higheredlabor.bsky.social · 28d

What happened to free speech? We've seen at least a dozen political firings in the last week of faculty, staff, and student workers. This isn't just about academic freedom. It's about job security and our right to free speech. It won't stop here. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

6 More Faculty, Staff Removed for Kirk Comments

Republican politicians and other conservatives are calling for employees, including those in higher ed, to be terminated for their social media posts about Kirk's killing.

www.insidehighered.com

5 7

Higher Education Labor United (HELU) @higheredlabor.bsky.social · 28d

TRIO programs provide the kinds of support – advising, mentoring, safe spaces, academic support & more – that help first-gen students thrive in college. All students deserve these opportunities. Instead, the administration is taking away TRIO funding. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

Trump Administration Withholds Millions for TRIO Programs

Nonprofits that advocate for first-gen students say that without the federally funded programs, college could become unattainable for hundreds of thousands of students.

www.insidehighered.com

2 5

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · Sep 13

"It is time to resist the injustice that now threatens to be normalized by those who capitulate, sometimes in advance, to powers that are clearly willing to destroy the basic principles that protect the university’s independence against external manipulations." www.chronicle.com/article/when...

1 35 96

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

Coalition for Action in Higher Ed @actioninhighered.bsky.social · Sep 12

CAHE on the (ab)use of antisemitism by the House Education and Workforce Committee to attack organized labor. Who will speak out? Please read and share! academeblog.org/2025/09/12/t...

The New McCarthyism Reaches Organized Labor: Who Will Speak Out?

By The Coalition for Action in Higher Education On Tuesday this week, a subcommittee of the House Education and Workforce Committee held a hearing titled “Unmasking Union Antisemitism.” Subco…

academeblog.org

2 11 34

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

Will Jones @willpjones.bsky.social · Sep 13

The University of Minnesota should listen to Willie Nelson and settle with workers striking for a small wage increase and a fair contract.

Picture of Willie Nelson with statement in support of striking workers at the University of Minnesota

1 47 170

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

Amy Pason @apason.bsky.social · Sep 12

We had solidarity in Vegas, Reno, and in Elko! Labor in all corners of the state came out in solidarity to say "no" to changing the rules for collective bargaining in the middle of faculty contract negotiations! And the Regents backed down and postponed any changes! @higheredlabor.bsky.social

AFT Academics @aftacademics.bsky.social · Sep 12

We're here with the Nevada Faculty Alliance to support the fight to preserve union rights and shared governance for Nevada's higher-ed workers. Solidarity! @nvfa.bsky.social @aft.org @afthighered.bsky.social @aaup.org @thenvindy.com

2 5

Higher Education Labor United (HELU) @higheredlabor.bsky.social · Sep 13

"Whether a professor, staff member, student, or community member, we all have the right to our own beliefs, ideas, and values and the right to speak about them openly as private citizens." Sign here: actionnetwork.org/petitions/re...

6 8

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

Coalition for Action in Higher Ed @actioninhighered.bsky.social · Sep 13

Beloved History professor and Socialist Horizon member Tom Alter was summarily fired on September 10th by
Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse for expressing his ideas at a virtual conference. We Demand Texas State University Give Tom Alter His Job Back chng.it/Lr8fkLfy via @Change

Sign the Petition

We Demand Texas State University Give Tom Alter His Job Back

chng.it

17 20

Higher Education Labor United (HELU) @higheredlabor.bsky.social · Sep 8

Read more in @truthout.org: HELU is "focused on building coalitions of different types of workers on campus and working across the unions that represent higher ed workers." If we're battling quietly now, we're going to have to get loud, right? Are you in? truthout.org/articles/har...

Harvard Dominates Headlines, But Other Schools Are Quietly Battling Trump

Faculty at state schools are waging collective action in the face of both federal and state attacks. Will it be enough?

truthout.org

4 6

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

Daniel Denvir @danieldenvir.bsky.social · Sep 6

Trump is waging war on higher ed to advance his project to construct a fascist authoritarian regime. Campus workers are uniquely positioned to articulate an alternative vision and wage a united struggle to win it. New Dig w @higheredlabor.bsky.social’s Ian Gavigan www.thedigradio.com/podcast/clas...

Class Struggle for the University w/ Ian Gavigan

Featuring Ian Gavigan on how the bipartisan neoliberalization of higher education laid the groundwork for Trump’s all-out assault. Workers must unite on every campus, articulate an alternative vision for the university, and fight to win it.

www.thedigradio.com

39 80

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

Scholars for a New Deal for Higher Ed @sfndhe.bsky.social · Aug 29

Labor activists in coalition of local unions and labor-adjacent orgs. This was new, including the whole workforce of higher ed: faculty, clerical, health care, custodians, librarians, counselors, IT, buildings maintenance, landscapers, dining services, etc.
@higheredlabor.bsky.social

Raising HELU, Wall to Wall and Coast to Coast

When Higher Education Labor United was proposed in 2021, the major issues facing higher education were rising tuition, student debt, widespread reliance on contingent faculty, attacks on tenure, threa...

www.dollarsandsense.org

6 15

Higher Education Labor United (HELU) @higheredlabor.bsky.social · Aug 29

Make a statement for higher ed workers this Labor Day with HELU signs! Easily printable from our website, perfect for any kind of Labor Day action. See you in the streets! higheredlaborunited.org/2025/08/28/h...

Download a sign! New For Labor Day – See You in the Streets! With a background of HELU rally signs available to print at link.

6 12

Higher Education Labor United (HELU) @higheredlabor.bsky.social · Aug 21

Loving this from @hankgreen.bsky.social on the ongoing attacks on higher education and why our workplaces have become political battlegrounds. Just wanted to mention another reason these attacks will fail: higher ed workers are FIERCE and getting more organized every day. ❤️ youtu.be/FQwhGOhZRyE?...

What Trump is Doing to Universities

YouTube video by vlogbrothers

youtu.be

6

Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)

Sasha Senderovich 🌻 @returnstosender.bsky.social · Aug 18

A massive attack on several humanities units (Arabic Studies, Judaic Studies, Holocaust Studies, Classics, Religion, German & Scandinavian, Russian/East European/Eurasian Studies) *and* tenure now unfolding at the University of Oregon (a blue state!). Closure of units and faculty layoffs threatened.

I've now been allowed and asked to share more details about what's going down at the University of Oregon, which involves imminent announcement of firings, among others, of tenure-track and tenured faculty. Given the units impacted (see below), please share this with your professional networks in related disciplines and start getting ready to put pressure (or begin putting pressure already) on the University of Oregon upper admin to abandon this alleged plan before they finalize it.

It appears that, with no prior consultations, the departments of Religion and Classics (two separate units), and the programs in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, German & Scandinavian, Judaic Studies, Arabic Studies, and Holocaust Studies (the latter five all parts of a previously-consolidated mega unit called the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages) are facing imminent announcement of elimination (expected the week of Sept 7), with layoffs of pre-tenure, tenured, and career faculty in these units. The reason given is "financial exigency" -- upper administrations of several universities across the country (and in blue states like Oregon also) appear to be giddy to use the context of Trump attacks on higher ed to dismantle the humanities.

Faculty at OU won a faculty union not long ago; this may be, in part, a retaliation for that, I've been told. The union is working with AAUP, etc.; my understanding is that the maximum spotlight is needed at this point.

48 770 1K