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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 12h

We already have a landscape of conservative universities that a MAGA billionaire could choose to fund.
But to buy an existing, high-prestige one and flip it has proven too difficult for most.
New College in Florida and University of Austin show the challenges.

Opinion | Ron DeSantis’s New College Coup Is Doomed to Fail

History offers useful lessons for conservative colleges. The Florida governor is ignoring them.

www.chronicle.com

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Reposted by Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats

Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 1d

I guess that's why they didn't do much Halloweening in 1852.

Their regular lives were creepy enough.

"Sit still for the daguerreotype, dear, or the Demon Haggraotaz will invest your soul...."

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you, this is great. If I may, there's one other big factor that coverage of Vought leaves out: Like a lot of MAGA types, he was formed intellectually by his experience as a "real conservative" at Wheaton College. Wheaton is a (relatively) diverse place, but it has always nurtured this type.

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 1d

I guess that's why they didn't do much Halloweening in 1852.

Their regular lives were creepy enough.

"Sit still for the daguerreotype, dear, or the Demon Haggraotaz will invest your soul...."

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 1d

Thank you!

Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 1d

Maybe not? I'm not at all surprised that parents will keep photos of lost children, but I thought the actual photo-of-the-dead-child thing ended in the late 19th century, like hair jewelry.

I'm told, though, that it's not too uncommon these days for parents to take this kind of photo. News to me.

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 1d

I just keep thinking of how this would have played in like, 1987. The mom brings the little corpses to Sears at the Mall for their photo.....?

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 2d

Wow, it's the "Jerk Store" episode, but in the Oval Office....

Denise Wheeler @denisedwheeler.bsky.social · 2d

Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst noticed that Bondi flipped open a file during the Senate hearing and he zoomed in.

Inside were her crib notes for attacking the senators.

The GOP now practicing Cliff's Notes Fascism

In other words, under oath Bondi was purely a performance.

Bondi senate hearing had a folder full of notes for attacking the senators

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 2d

Did no one in the room watch Bob's Burgers?
bobs-burgers.fandom.com/wiki/Wharf_A...

Wharf Arts Center

Wharf Arts Center is an arts center which plays host to Cake in "Bad Tina," the young magicians competition in "Presto Tina-o," a charity ball in "I Get Psy-chic Out of You," an art exhibition in "Bob...

bobs-burgers.fandom.com

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 2d

How has it worked? I'm a former high-school teacher and I wondered if 17-year-olds would understand the dilemma of adult siblings. I do a lot of work with adult teachers now and they seem to dig the analogy.

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 2d

It's a powerful analogy. Here's another one that one of my students told me once:

Imagine a group of adult siblings.

One says, "We need to talk about Mom's drinking problem."

Another says, "Fuck you I love Mom."

...we ALL love Mom. That's WHY we need to talk about her problems.

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 2d

Here *it* is. Sorry.

Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 2d

The weird thing about this is that it echoes exactly the strategies of white supremacists like Bob Jones in the 1970s and 1980s. They gave up their tax-exempt status rather than desegregating.

Conservative universities like Hillsdale and Grove City have never taken federal $$$, either.

Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 2d

Here is is, from Bryan Stevenson @eji.org.
What's wrong with "heroic history?"
"It’s like saying, 'I’m going to the doctor, but I’ve already instructed my doctor, Don’t give me any bad news' ... if you don’t want to be sick... you have to be willing to hear the truth of your condition."
[gift link]:

Civil Rights Lawyer Bryan Stevenson on How America’s Story Should Be Told

www.nytimes.com

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 3d

Michael Scott: "I'd like to start today by inspiring you..."

Michael Scott Inspires The Next Generation - The Office US

YouTube video by The Office

www.youtube.com

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 4d

Okay, everything sucks, but here's some student art from New York City's African Free School, 1812-1828:

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 5d

Thank you!

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 5d

Thank you! I assume the announcement of the final winner in Providence will look something like this: :)

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 5d

Thank you!

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 5d

Feels weird to announce good news in the midst of all this, but I just learned Mr. Lancaster's System is a finalist for the Robert L. Hampel Outstanding Book Award from the History of Ed Society.

Wish me luck, and thanks to the judges and @gmbritton.bsky.social!

Mr. Lancaster’s System: The Failed Reform that Created America’s Public Schools

[UPDATE: It is out in the world! Get your copy today.] There’s no doubt something big happened. Historians know it. People at the time knew it. When it came to the startling changes sweeping their …

adamlaats.net

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 5d

So 100 years ago they banned ideas from colleges and museums. States like AR, MS, and TN all banned a broad set of ideas they called "evolution."

What happened? A journalist investigated and found that many colleges suffered. Students left. Budgets fell.

But the teaching went on...

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 6d

Oh, no.

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 6d

Research universities can't negotiate about science. It's not possible to give up, like, half or 2/3 of science.

It's not even about doing the right thing (which MIT should absolutely do.)

This is an old one: When you cut the baby in half, it dies.

Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 6d

“They’re asking us to sacrifice science. They’re asking us to sacrifice international students. They’re asking us to sacrifice our trans students. They’re asking us to sacrifice our whole idea of shared governance.No amount of money is worth that great long list"

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/10/04/b...

Trump makes MIT an offer, one many on campus hope the school can refuse - The Boston Globe

President Trump issued terms to MIT and other schools; many on campus urge them to push back.

www.bostonglobe.com

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Reposted by Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats

Jeff Sharlet @jeffsharlet.bsky.social · 6d

It appears that my employer, Dartmouth, one of the Trump 9, has said no to the compact. All the better given that our president is cited within it. But she’s saying no. Count the small victories when they come.

Office of the President
Dear Dartmouth community,

As many of you know, Dartmouth was one of nine universities asked by the White House to give feedback by Oct. 20 on a draft of its “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.”

I am deeply committed to Dartmouth’s academic mission and values and will always defend our fierce independence.

You have often heard me say that higher education is not perfect and that we can do better. At the same time, we will never compromise our academic freedom and our ability to govern ourselves.

Best,
Sian Leah Beilock
President

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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 6d

I feel like we need a seminar for university leaders on the lessons of the 1920s and 1940s/50s. When presidents like Harry Chase of the Univ of NC fought back, they won. When they caved, they lost it all.

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