News Roundup: Resistance Edition
The people aren't helpless in the face of unprecedented attacks.
It seems clear that the initial shock and awe of the Trump administration’s general attempt to dismantle government institutions and specific attacks on higher education has worn off, and the resistance has been engaged.
For sure, this is going to be an extended struggle, but there are strong signs that once they understand the full consequences of Trump’s actions, people do not support what he’s attempting to do.
One of the reasons it’s important to not obey in advance and to resist giving in to mass capitulation out of uncertainty or fear is that it makes it much harder to generate the kind of widespread popular resistance that will be necessary to turn back the tide of authoritarianism which is threatening the country.
This resistance will require much more than issuing strong statements condemning the actions or articles detailing the depth of harm these actions are causing. Making ourselves visible and our point of view clear is a good starting place because if nothing else, it shows others who feel similarly that they are not alone in their feelings.
In this news round-up, I wanted to share some of the things I’ve been reading that have proved either inspiring or clarifying (or both) as we confront these challenges.
AAUP President: ED's Office of Civil Rights Has Declared War on American Civil Rights in Education
Straight fire from AAUP president Todd Wolfson:
In a letter released last Friday, the acting assistant secretary for the US Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights threatened to annihilate sixty years of advancements in equal opportunity by eliminating all federal funding for schools that support and celebrate students from diverse backgrounds. This wildly broad overreach is the latest blatant attempt by the Trump administration to punish educators, target communities of color, and undermine decades of hard-won progress toward a multiracial democracy.
Trump’s Agenda to Hurt Higher Education
Writing at the Chronicle of Higher Education, Kevin Carey unpacks some of the ideological origins of the threat and the specific people who intend to carry them out.
Colleges need to be disciplined and persistent in defending their scholars and students for the next four years. The Trump administration can’t be bargained with — only defeated with every legal and political defense higher education can muster.
Standing Up to the New Segregationists
At Inside Higher Ed, Subini Annamma and David Stoval warn against universities allowing themselves to be used as instruments of segregation.
To be clear, the opposite of welcoming diversity is supporting segregation. The opposite of moving toward equity is hoarding resources. The opposite of being more inclusive is exclusion. Universities need to decide if they will capitulate to demands for segregation by excluding targeted communities from opportunities in order to hoard resources by those using anti-DEIA rhetoric.
Higher Education Groups Sue Trump Over Dismantling of DEI
There have been numerous lawsuits against the Trump administration for what appear to be clear violations of existing statutes.
The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) are seeking an injunction against President Donald J. Trump’s executive orders that require the dismantling of diversity, equity and inclusion programmes (DEI) at universities and colleges and that create a chilling effect, threatening academic freedom.
A Dear Colleague Letter in Defense of DEI
In response to the Office of Civil Rights “Dear Colleague” letter which attempts to shut down any activities aimed at helping students succeed in their college journeys, Shaun Harper of the University of Southern California gives specific steps for not just resisting Trump but advancing the university mission.
I am writing to publicly furnish guidance that I have privately offered to principals, superintendents, college and university presidents, education governing board members, and journalists over the past seven days. But before doing so, I start with a question that I posed in this Forbes article more than a year ago: “What sense does it make to know something is a lie and to have examples of what’s actually true, yet deliberately hide those truths for fear of what liars might do?” Much of what was conveyed in the department’s letter was largely untrue—at best based on anecdotes, not on credible evidence systematically collected from surveys of students and employees, or from rigorous analyses of discrimination reports disaggregated by race.
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What actions or statements of resistance have you seen that you think more people should know about? Please share them in the comments.
The views expressed in this newsletter are those of individual contributors and not those of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) or the AAUP’s Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom.