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Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 1m

We fall short sometimes, as I have undoubtedly done on some occasion or another, but that is the true north.

Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 1m

I sent a note to the author of this lovely reflection on my book. I feel a special duty to humanizing history. It's impossible to capture a full-person, but if we are able to capture enough of them that our work is fair, then we have done our part. stanforddaily.com/2025/10/08/l...

“The State Must Provide: Why America’s Colleges Have Always Been Unequal―and How to Set Them Right” by Adam Harris — Adeline Lee

In “The State Must Provide,” Adam Harris traces the history of racial inequality in American higher education and the systemic exclusion of Black Americans from education. He explores the establishment and development of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs), which emerged from a post-Civil War push for agricultural education. Harris also examines the HBCUs’ struggles for survival as state legislatures withheld funding and as activists and plaintiffs fought legal battles for education equality.

This book was eye-opening and humbling to read for me as a student pursuing higher education. Harris’ writing stood out for how powerfully it humanizes history; his portrayal of activists and plaintiffs not only through their work but also through their personal fears and struggles was devastating yet inspiring. It forced me to reflect on my own privileges and to reconsider the true purpose of my education — an opportunity that others fought so desperately for. I now feel a stronger obligation to use my access to education to advocate for greater equity and inclusion in academic spaces.

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Reposted by Adam Harris

Adam Serwer @adamserwer.bsky.social · 1d

This remains the most important piece i’ve written about the goals and ideological principles of the second Trump administration www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

bsky.app/profile/jame...

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Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 1d

“Suppressing speech about gender does not eliminate “gender ideology”—it is gender ideology, one that seeks to entrench a singular, restrictive vision of gender while denying the very real plurality of human experience.“

read @morganpolk.bsky.social: www.newamerica.org/the-thread/t...

Texas A&M Firing Over Gender Identity Raises Alarms in Higher Education

Texas colleges are firing educators as federal and state bans target recognition of trans and nonbinary people. Higher ed is under attack.

www.newamerica.org

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Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 2d

a note of gratitude: wrote two free pieces last week, and 100 people have since decided they’d like to read more. no one owes our work attention. I am grateful every time someone finds mine worthy of theirs.

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Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 2d

almost exclusively listen to the radio broadcast cause it’s just so much more vivid 😭

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Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 3d

it's* (the morning, etc. etc.)

Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 3d

always talking about the south.

A screen capture of the HBCU braintrust conversation

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Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 3d

It was a pleasure to join this conversation on HBCUs during CBC week. If you missed it, its now available on C-SPAN: www.c-span.org/program/publ...

Congressional Black Caucus Discussion on HBCU Challenges

Advocates for historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU's) participated in a panel discussion on challenges facing the colleges and universities. Among the topics discussed were underfunding ...

www.c-span.org

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Reposted by Adam Harris

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 3d

eventually politicians need to start advocating for criminal and civil penalties for people involved in fabricating stories to get citizens incarcerated.

or, put another way: a society that would like to keep functioning has to discourage baldfaced lying, especially by authorities

Chicago Sun-Times @chicago.suntimes.com · 3d

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government’s claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed.
trib.al/9Sxu9IN

Attorney for woman shot by Border Patrol claims officer said 'Do something b-----' before shooting

Body-camera video appears to contradict the government's claim that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire at her late Saturday morning in Brighton Park, her attorney claimed. A judge ordered Martinez and a co-defendant released pending trial.

trib.al

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Reposted by Adam Harris

Education and Work @educationwork.newamerica.org · 4d

"Washington imagined a university to form citizens bound by a shared devotion to preserving democratic principles.

Trump’s plan imagines a network to train America in a conservative image."

Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 4d

Now published @newamerica.org: newamerica.org/education-po...

A New Raw Deal: The Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education

The “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” turns a manifesto of conservative grievances into policy and violates the very principles it claims to protect.

newamerica.org

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Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 4d

Now published @newamerica.org: newamerica.org/education-po...

A New Raw Deal: The Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education

The “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” turns a manifesto of conservative grievances into policy and violates the very principles it claims to protect.

newamerica.org

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Reposted by Adam Harris

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 4d

BREAKING: "For all of the reasons" given in Saturday's TRO, Immergut grants plaintiffs' second motion for a TRO.

"Based on the conduct of the defendants, ... in direct contravention" of Saturday's TRO, the second TRO bars relocation or federalization of National Guard from "any state or D.C."

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Reposted by Adam Harris

ghostly gwen howerton @kissphoria.bsky.social · 4d

One of the largest school districts in the nation, which was taken over by the state of Texas, deciding to shut out local media (us at chron.com and the Houston Chronicle included) should be a bigger story imo

Chron.com @chron.com · 4d

Get ready for the news, straight from the source.

HISD plans to shut out outside media, hire its own news crew

Get ready for the news, straight from the source.

bit.ly

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Reposted by Adam Harris

Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 4d

With alt

Screenshot from the article linked in the quoted post that reads: “Treating certain groups as categorically incapable of performing—and therefore in need of preferential treatment—perpetuates a dangerous badge of inferiority,” the document says. But accepting that premise means accepting a lie about why race-conscious admissions were created in the first place.

In my 2021 book, The State Must Provide: Why America’s Colleges Have Always Been Unequal—and How to Set Them Right, I argued that America’s open secret has always been that it never gave Black students an equal chance at success. For most of U.S. history, they were systematically excluded from higher education. From Harvard’s founding in 1636 to Brown v. Board of Education’s declaration that separate was inherently unequal, institutions treated Black people as incapable of performing—sometimes even more harshly after Black firsts proved otherwise. The North was no less guilty than the South: in 1831, a proposal for a Black college in New Haven sparked open rioting. Jim Crow then codified exclusion, barring Black students from the best-resourced schools by force of law.

America could have chosen to open its colleges to all students—like John Fee did with Berea College in 1855, founded on the belief that God has made of one blood all people of the earth—but it didn’t.

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Reposted by Adam Harris

Brian Goldstone @brian-goldstone.bsky.social · 4d

Grateful to Jacksonville's NPR station, WJCT, for having me on this week to talk about There Is No Place for Us.

First Coast Connect: There is No Place for Us: Working and Homelessness in America author Brian Gol

YouTube video by WJCT Public Media

www.youtube.com

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Reposted by Adam Harris

Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 7d

Setting aside the philosophical questions about the relationship between higher ed and democracy, accepting this compact is to accept lies about the history of higher education. I wrote a whole book about it. adamhsays.substack.com/p/a-raw-new-...

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Reposted by Adam Harris

Dominique Baker @bakerdphd.bsky.social · 4d

I told y'all that this last line in particular stood out to me because it means you can lose more than you got from the feds

Screenshot of the article that reads: Adherence to this agreement shall be subject to review by the Department of Justice. Universities found to have willfully or negligently violated this agreement shall lose access to the benefits of this agreement for a period of no less than 1 year. Subsequent violations of this agreement shall result in a loss of access to the benefits of this agreement for no less than 2 years. Further, upon determination of any violations, all monies advanced by the U.S. government during the year of any violation shall be returned to the U.S. government. Finally, any private contributions to the university during the year(s) in which such violation occurred shall be returned to the grantor upon the request of the grantor.

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Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 5d

A gift link, for those so inclined to read: www.theatlantic.com/education/ar...

The Undoing of a Tennessee Town

Jo Ann Allen Boyce and 11 other students desegregated their high school in Clinton, Tennessee. Then the riots came.

www.theatlantic.com

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Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 5d

Yeah, the paywall can be frustrating. I tried to share as many reflections on the piece as possible in the thread. Here‘s a gift link, though, if you’re still interested in reading the full article. (And thanks for reading!) www.theatlantic.com/education/ar...

The Undoing of a Tennessee Town

Jo Ann Allen Boyce and 11 other students desegregated their high school in Clinton, Tennessee. Then the riots came.

www.theatlantic.com

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Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 6d

“The administration is inviting universities to voluntarily put on a yoke and hand it the keys.“

From @kevincarey1.bsky.social: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

A Deal That Would End Universities’ Independence

The free-speech provisions of the so-called compact are an exercise in contradiction.

www.theatlantic.com

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Reposted by Adam Harris

Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 6d

Just writing about this for tonight's newsletter. Here's the published version - facultysenate.virginia.edu/resolution-o...

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Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 6d

administration’s*

Reposted by Adam Harris

Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 7d

The Trump administration compact with higher education turns a manifesto of conservative grievances into policy, sprinkled with cost-cutting measures, and violates the very principles it claims to protect. I wrote about it here. It's free: adamhsays.substack.com/p/a-raw-new-...

A Raw New Deal

The administration’s proposed compact would seek to remake higher education in its own image

adamhsays.substack.com

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Reposted by Adam Harris

Adam Harris @adamhsays.com · 7d

George Washington articulated a vision for higher ed shortly after the nation's founding. A national uni. to form citizens bound by a shared devotion to preserving democratic principles. Trump’s plan imagines a network to train America in a conservative image. adamhsays.substack.com/p/a-raw-new-...

A Raw New Deal

The administration’s proposed compact would seek to remake higher education in its own image

adamhsays.substack.com

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