Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 16h

It’s the 1920s all over again

Trump Considers Overhaul of Refugee System That Would Favor White People

www.nytimes.com

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 16h

Hearing from professors, historians, college and seminary courses👇

“Fascinating”

“I really enjoyed your book”

“Terrific book that helped me understand my own churchly disillusionments”

“It’s their favorite reading”

Purchased Sep 2025

The Church Must Grow or Perish:
Robert H. Schuller and the Business of American Christianity (Library o...
by Mark T. Mulder and Gerardo Martí

Part of: Library of Religious Biography
(LRB) (36 books)
Options: 2 formats

5.0 *****

Paperback
$4.73 List: $32.99
Two-Day
FREE delivery
+ Cart

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 21h

“When knowledge gets in the way of profits, destroy knowledge.”

Jason Read @jasonread.bsky.social · 21h

Michel Foucault was born on this day all of his investigations into the relations of power and knowledge would have never prepared him for our new episteme of powerful people getting away with saying stupid stuff.

www.unemployednegativity.com/2025/05/do-y...

Do Your Own Damn Research: The New Episteme of Trump 2.0

www.unemployednegativity.com

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Jason Read @jasonread.bsky.social · 21h

Michel Foucault was born on this day all of his investigations into the relations of power and knowledge would have never prepared him for our new episteme of powerful people getting away with saying stupid stuff.

www.unemployednegativity.com/2025/05/do-y...

Do Your Own Damn Research: The New Episteme of Trump 2.0

www.unemployednegativity.com

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Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 21h

I spoke with @insidehighered.com
@kathrynpalmer.bsky.social about OSU’s decision to cancel conference funds for racially marginalized students.

Under Anti-DEI Pressure, Ohio State Limits Conference Funds

The Education Department recently criticized Ohio State University’s involvement with a nonprofit that encourages people from underrepresented backgrounds to pursue doctorates. Now, OSU is rethinking ...

www.insidehighered.com

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 1d

Received today

38 LONDRES STREET
On Impunity,
Pinochet in England, and a Nazi in Patagonia
PHILIPPE SANDS

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 1d

NEW BOOK on Post-Nazi Germany

How Protestant theologians, intellectuals, and activists reconstructed West German national identity and secular democracy by relying upon an older language of religious concepts stemming from Protestant theology and political thought 👇

When Theology Became Political: An Interview with Brandon Bloch

by Jacob Saliba

www.jhiblog.org

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 2d

Dialogue between Senators Amy Klobuchar and Thom Tillis, facilitated by Doug Hicks, President of Davidson College @davidsoncollege.bsky.social

Onstage are Senators Amy Klobuchar and Thom Tillis, sitting with Doug Hicks, President of Davidson College

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 2d

Now have an article forthcoming with The Christian Century

John Fea @johnfea1.bsky.social · 5d

"No university can present every possible outlook in equal measure, nor should it." thewayofimprovement.blog/2025/10/10/s...

Should a university provide a platform for “every perspective”?

Davidson College sociologist Gerardo Marti reflects on Donald Trump’s “compact” with higher education institutions. Here is a taste of his piece at Inside Higher Education: &#8230…

thewayofimprovement.blog

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John Hawthorne @jwhawthorne.bsky.social · 5d

With A Little Help From My Friends
open.substack.com/pub/johnhawt...

@angeladenker.bsky.social @nappnazworth.bsky.social @hollybfletcher.bsky.social @gerardomarti.bsky.social

With A Little Help From My Friends

Some great SubStacks you should read

open.substack.com

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Inside Higher Ed @insidehighered.com · 5d

Opinion | Curators of Knowledge, Not Chaos

Universities cannot—and should not—platform every perspective, Gerardo Martí writes. https://bit.ly/3KK8CuU

#EDUSky #HigherEd #AcademicSky

A photo of a microphone at the front of an empty lecture hall.

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 5d

“At the center of this struggle lies a persistent illusion: that the university should provide a platform for ‘every perspective.’ The mission of higher education is more demanding: to cultivate, critique & transmit knowledge while attending to perspectives that have shaped history and public life.”

Universities Are Curators of Knowledge, Not Chaos (opinion)

Universities cannot—and should not—platform every perspective, Gerardo Martí writes.

www.insidehighered.com

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John Fea @johnfea1.bsky.social · 5d

Should a university provide a platform for “every perspective”?

Davidson College sociologist Gerardo Marti reflects on Donald Trump's "compact" with higher education institutions. Here is a taste of his piece at Inside Higher Education: ...a proposed “compact” with higher education…

Should a university provide a platform for “every perspective”?

Davidson College sociologist Gerardo Marti reflects on Donald Trump's "compact" with higher education institutions. Here is a taste of his piece at Inside Higher Education: ...a proposed “compact” with higher education institutions would seek to condition federal funding on requirements that colleges ensure a “broad spectrum of viewpoints” in each academic department and that they abolish “institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”

thewayofimprovement.blog

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 7d

Enjoying this

LONGLISTED FOR THE 2025 BOOKER PRIZE
"A spectacular literary achievement." —ANN PATCHETT
The Loneliness of Sonia
and
Sunny
Kran Desai
BOOKER PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF THE INHERITANCE OF-LOSS

Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 7d

Leadership of the State Senate in Virginia have sent a detailed letter to UVA leadership to reject The Compact.

<too long for complete text>
SENATE OF VIRGINIA
SCOTT A SUROVELL
HOUNT VERONA 23121
October 7, 2025
President Paul Mahoney
University of Virginia
P.O. Box 400224
Charlottesville, VA 22904
Rector Rachel Sheridan
University of Virginia Board of Visitors
Office of the Board of Visitors Charlottesville, VA 22904
Proposed Trump Administration "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education"
Dear President Mahoney and Rector Sheridan:
We write to you today with grave concern regarding reports that the University of Virginia has been invited to sign the Trump Administration's "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education." As the leadership of the Virginia Senate, we are compelled to express our unequivocal opposition to this proposal and to make clear the potential consequences should the University proceed with signing this compact.
This latest federal overture must be viewed in the context of the Trump Administration's recent
and unprecedented interference in University operations. Just months ago, the Department of Justice forced the resignation of President James Ryan through what can only be described as extortionate tactics-threatening hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding and the livelihoods of employees, researchers, and students unless he stepped down. The Administration demanded his removal not for any failure of leadership, but because they disagreed with the University's approach to diversity and inclusion. President Ryan, who had led the University to record fundraising success and navigated it through extraordinary challenges, was sacrificed to federal political pressure.
The proposed compact represents an unprecedented federal intrusion into institutional autonomy and academic freedom. The conditions outlined-mandating sweeping changes to admissions and hiring practices, imposing so-called "institutional neutrality," freezing tuition for five years, capping international enrollment, and suppressing viewpoints-are fundamentally inco…

<too long for complete text>

Having already demonstrated its willingness to force out a university president who would not bend to its will, the Trump Administration now seeks to formalize its control through this compact. The pattern is clear: capitulation invites further interference, not protection. President Ryan's resignation was meant to spare the University from federal retaliation, yet here we are again, facing even more aggressive demands on institutional autonomy. The lesson is unmistakable-appeasing this Administration only emboldens further encroachment.
The University of Virginia was founded by Thomas Jefferson on principles of free inquiry and intellectual independence. To surrender these core values in exchange for preferential federal funding would betray not only Jefferson's vision but also the faculty, students, alumni, and citizens of the Commonwealth who have supported and sustained this institution for more than two centuries.
Beyond the fundamental assault on autonomy, the compact itself is rife with internal contradictions and operationally unworkable provisions that would cripple the University's ability to function. The document simultaneously demands that universities ban "belittlement" of "conservative ideas" while in the very next sentence proclaiming protection for "academic freedom in classrooms, teaching, research, and scholarship." These provisions are logically incompatible and would subject faculty, departments, and the University to arbitrary federal enforcement based on undefined and politically malleable standards.
Consider the practical impossibility: Under this compact, if a UVA economics professor teaches established free-trade principles-positions championed by Ronald Reagan and supported by rigorous empirical analysis-would that "belittle" the current administration's protectionist policies? Would the Department of Justice determine that such teaching violates the compact, triggering loss of all federal funding? The compac…

<too long for complete text>

The principle remains clear: decisions about the University's academic policies, admissions standards, and institutional values belong to the University and the Commonwealth-not to federal bureaucrats pursuing a political agenda. Having failed to protect President Ryan from federal extortion, we must now draw a firmer line. The General Assembly will not stand by while the University surrenders its independence through this compact.
Therefore, we call upon you to immediately cease all consideration of signing this compact.
Furthermore, we want to be explicitly clear: if the University of Virginia signs this compact, there will be significant consequences in future Virginia budget cycles. As the leadership of the Senate with responsibility for appropriations affecting higher education, we will work with our colleagues to ensure that the Commonwealth does not subsidize an institution that has ceded its independence to federal
doltical control
The University has difficult decisions to make regarding federal funding, but compromising your
core mission is not a viable path forward. We urge you instead to join with other leading institutions in resisting this federal overreach and protecting the academic freedom and institutional autonomy that are essential to genuine higher education. As multiple scholars have noted, this compact is incoherent, contradictory, and drafted by officials who demonstrate no understanding of how universities operate or are funded. It is not a partnership—it is a trap that would subject the University to arbitrary federal enforcement with catastrophic financial consequences.
Moreover, signing this compact would violate the University's fiduciary duty to its students, faculty, and the Commonwealth. The vague and contradictory terms create legal exposure far exceeding any promised benefits. No responsible board could expose the institution to such unlimited and undefined federal control.
We expect the University to im…

Governor Glenn A. Youngkin
Secretary Aimee R. Guidera
Senator Ghazala F. Hashmi, Chair, Senate Education and Health Committee Senator R. Creigh Deeds, 11" District
Speaker Don Scott
Delegate Charniele Herring
Delegate Sam Rasoul, Chair, House Education Committee Delegate Katrina E. Callsen, 54° District
Porter N. Wilkinson, Vice Rector UVA Board of Visitors:
Daniel M. Brody, Member, UVA Board of Visitors Marvin W. Gilliam, Jr., Member, UVA Board of Visitors Hon. Paul C. Harris, Member, UVA Board of Visitors Stephen P. Long, M.D., Member, UVA Board of Visitors Paul B. Manning, Member, UVA Board of Visitors John L. Nau IlI, Member, UVA Board of Visitors David O. Okonkwo, M.D., Member, UVA Board of Visitors Amanda L. Pillion, Member, UVA Board of Visitors David F. Webb, Member, UVA Board of Visitors Douglas D. Wetmore, Member, UVA Board of Visitors James H. Lambert, Faculty Representative, UVA Board of Visitors Gregory D. Perryman, Jr., Student Representative, UVA Board of Visitors

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 8d

In case you missed it 👇

“…when spiritual conviction claims civic authority, how should a democracy respond?”

Leveraging Belief

In the canon of American innovation, Joseph Smith stands alongside Edison, Bell, and the Wright brothers—not for technology, but for theology.

www.commonwealmagazine.org

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 10d

George Orwell, April 1946

Politics and the English Language | The Orwell Foundation

"Political language... is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind."

www.orwellfoundation.com

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 10d

“Blessed are the peacemakers”

CNN
now
President Trump says Hamas faces 'complete obliteration' if the group refuses to cede
power

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 11d

Tonight’s reading

Academic Writing
as if
Readers Matter
Leonard
<Princeton 2025>

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 11d

“While Democrats are brandishing thermometers, Republicans power up flamethrowers.”

Bringing a Survey to a Gun Fight

“Pollingism” Has Failed Democrats and Voters. Here’s Why, and What to Do Instead.

open.substack.com

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 11d

5.0 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Purchased Sep 2025

Church Must Grow
or Perish

Robert H. Schuller and the Business of American Christianity

FOREWORD BY RICHARD J. MoUW
MARK T. MULDER AND GERARDO MARTÍ

Biography
(LRB) (36 books)
Options: 2 formats

5.0 ***** (1)

Paperback
$473 List: $32.99
You Earn: 5 pts vprime Two-Day
FREE delivery Sat, Oct 4

1

🪷MsGrumpyBunny🪷 @msgrumpybunny.bsky.social · 12d

Fun facts:
Charles Shultz was my ice skating coach when I was a kid 🥰 He was truly one of the kindest souls. And yes, I had a Dorothy Hamill haircut.

When Charles Schulz's distributor pressured him to eliminate Franklin from "Peanuts" because he might offend pro-segregation Southerners he told him: "Either you print it just the way I draw it or I quit. How's that?"

INCLUSIVENESS IS WHAT MAKES AMERICA GREAT

Peanuts cartoon is of Franklin (on the left) and Pigpen (on the right) shaking hands.

60 500 2K

Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 12d

Part of my reading today

SEARCH BOOK: SHEED AND WARD
$2.45

The Black Messiah

The religious roots of Black Power-a strong and uncompromising presentation by America's most influential and controversial black religious leader.

Albert B. Cleage, Jr.

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 14d

An expansive 10-point memo, the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education, a wide-ranging set of terms the administration says are intended to elevate university standards & performance. Universities that sign on will get “multiple positive benefits.”

WSJ 👉 apple.news/AJw8ckda3Q5-...

The memo demands that schools ban the use of race or sex in hiring and admissions, freeze tuition for five years, cap international undergrad enrollment at 15%, require that applicants take the SAT or a similar test, and quell grade inflation.

The compact asks universities to ensure a
"vibrant marketplace of ideas on campus" and to bar employees from expressing political views on behalf of their employer, unless the matter affects the school.

Letters on Wednesday were going out to solicit agreement and feedback from Vanderbilt Univer-sity, Dartmouth College, the University of Penn-sylvania, the University of Southern California, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Texas, the University of Arizona, Brown University and the University of Virginia, according to an administration official.

The White House chose the schools because it believed they are, or could be, "good actors,"
Mailman said.

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 14d

Started today — very rich in detail

Harriet Tubman, the Combahee River Raid, and Black Freedom during phe Civil War
WINNER of the
Pulitzer
Prize
EDDA L. FIELDS-BLACK
<Oxford University Press 2025>

Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 14d

Part of my reading today

SIMON SCHAMA

THE
EMBARRASSMENT
OF RICHES

An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 14d

“Spiritual Warfare”👇

“The proliferation of this kind of language is a sign of the growing momentum of a movement often known as the New Apostolic Reformation, which has become the vanguard of the broader Christian right, and whose ideas Kirk had begun to embrace before his death.”

Charlie Kirk and the ‘Third Great Awakening’

MAGA is embracing the language of a rising Christian movement.

www.theatlantic.com

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Gerardo Martí @gerardomarti.bsky.social · 15d

“Neoliberalism and Race shows that racial themes have always pervaded neoliberal thinking… neoliberal thought is constitutively racialized—its racial motifs cannot be extracted from neoliberalism without rendering it theoretically and politically incoherent.”

Neoliberalism and Race | Stanford University Press

Lars Cornelissen argues that the category of race constitutes an organizing principle of neoliberal ideology. Using the methods of intellectual history and drawing on insights from critical race studi...

www.sup.org

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