BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL There has always been a historic tension between America’s colleges and universities and the government, whether at the state or federal level. It’s unavoidable. Once the government began to fund students and institutions in the late 20th century, its leaders believed that they had a right and responsibility to oversee the…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The following news release has been issued by the Committee to Protect Journalists: As U.S. President Donald Trump announces his “Fake Media” awards, the Committee to Protect Journalists names its global Press Oppressors—world leaders who use rhetoric, legal action, and censorship to try to silence their critics. The list features leaders…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The New York Times Editorial Board has published a lengthy editorial on the Trump administration’s persistent efforts to deny scientific consensus and to place in positions of power people who share that disdain for scientific truths that conflict with narrow corporate interests and Far-Right ideological talking points. The editorial begins by…
POSTED BY MARTIN KICH The Trump administration has been designating a theme for each week—most recently, Infrastructure Week, Workforce Development Week, and, this week’s rendition, Technology Week. (I recognize that Workforce Development Week involved a much-publicized visit to a community college, but I doubt that Trump, DeVos, or anyone else in his administration would see…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL On June 1, President Trump announced that he was taking the United States out of the Paris Climate Accord, making the U.S., Syria, and Nicaragua (which felt the deal was not sufficiently ambitious), the only nations not to support the agreement. The Paris Agreement sets a series of goals and is…
BY KELLY HAND We already knew from the Trump administration’s initial “skinny” budget proposal, released in March, that higher education would be on the chopping block. The fleshed-out budget proposal released on May 22 details cuts that would have a devastating impact on student aid, the arts and humanities, scientific research, and international education. Following up…
BY BRIAN C. MITCHELL In post-industrial America, the roles played by large nonprofits – especially its hospitals and universities – power the economic engines in many regional economies. What would cities like San Francisco, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Boston look like without their large educational and medical research complexes? Would other cities, such as Houston, Chicago,…
POSTED BY HANK REICHMAN The following letter by forty-eight US university presidents and chancellors was sent to President Trump on February 2. President Donald J. Trump The White House United States of AmericaDear President Trump: We write as presidents of leading American colleges and universities to urge you to rectify or rescind the recent executive…
BY LAURA MARKWARDT The AAUP issued the following statement today calling for the reversal of the Muslim ban executive order and praising widespread citizen resistance over the weekend. You can add your name in solidarity against the ban here. The AAUP strongly opposes Donald Trump’s unconstitutional and discriminatory ban on entry into the United States…
BY STEVE MUMME The author of this guest post is Steve Mumme, Co-President of the Colorado Conference of AAUP. One week into Donald Trump’s presidency it is clear that the new administration intends the harshest attack on American universities since the McCarthy Era. Enamored of Alt-Facts and an unhealthy skepticism of science itself, the new administration has…