Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 2h

The leaves are turning. A new day is coming.

Citizen of Somewhere Else @citizense.bsky.social · 2h

Sunrise coming. Time to rise up! Eh, @higheredlabor.bsky.social @sunrisemvmt.bsky.social ?

actionnetwork.org/petitions/un...

University Administrations: Reject Trump's "Loyalty Oath" Compacts

The Trump administration is trying to blackmail schools to let him and his unqualified bureaucrats run our schools. They want to dictate what schools teach, who they admit and hire, what researchers s...

actionnetwork.org

3 5

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 2h

If not now, when?

Citizen of Somewhere Else @citizense.bsky.social · 3h

Time to stand together for higher ed.

www.standtogetherhighered.org/statement-on...

1

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 2h

Who’s with me?

Citizen of Somewhere Else @citizense.bsky.social · 3h

Time to draw a line in the sand.

www.defendingourcampuses.org

Defending Our Campuses and Communities

The AFT and the AAUP are working with allies in higher education and the labor movement to defend and advance higher education that is accessible and affordable for all who want it, and to protect the...

www.defendingourcampuses.org

1 2

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 2h

Time to pick sides, Senators! Where does UFS stand?

Citizen of Somewhere Else @citizense.bsky.social · 8d

We will always fight for Public Good U over Grift U, Police U, and, now, Vichy U

dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu/server/api/c...

Erik Linstrum @eriklinstrum.bsky.social · 8d

UVA invited to join select group of collaborationist universities

1

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 2d

Thank you, ACLS

www.acls.org/news/acls-st...

ACLS Statement Regarding White House “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”

ACLS stands firmly against this latest White House effort to divide faculties by giving special privileges to students in “hard science programs” and its demand that institutions abolish “units that p...

www.acls.org

3 5

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 2d

Everybody who knows somebody in higher education, or anybody who benefited from it, should sign this petition.

actionnetwork.org/petitions/un...

University Administrations: Reject Trump's "Loyalty Oath" Compacts

The Trump administration is trying to blackmail schools to let him and his unqualified bureaucrats run our schools. They want to dictate what schools teach, who they admit and hire, what researchers s...

actionnetwork.org

2 3

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 2d

Hey, kids, there’s no better time to reread this Independence Day declaration from 10 current and former SUNY and CUNY governance leaders and add your John Hancock! Pass it on!

dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu/server/api/c...

1 1

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 2d

A great essay, well-pitched to a broad audience. Wait, the Mutual Assured Destruction Compact would end big-time college sports?

newrepublic.com/article/2013...

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down

How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

newrepublic.com

2 1

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 2d

Not one faculty member at USC saw any bright side or silver lining to the Mutual Assured Destruction Compact. I love the suggestion to counter with a Mutual Academic Defense Compact. Our #MADC is the best response to the Upside Down/Bizarro World Mailman Compact.

Stephen Shapiro @stephenshapiro.bsky.social · 3d

www.latimes.com/california/s...

USC faculty members denounce Trump compact that would shift university to the right

The USC Academic Senate held a special meeting to discuss the Trump administration's education compact, which was presented to the school last week.

www.latimes.com

1 4

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 2d

Challenge: convince these students they’re wrong!

Texas Conference of the AAUP @texasaaup.bsky.social · 3d

Students at the 9️⃣universities: “If any one of our universities agrees to this compact, it risks creating a chain reaction for the #HigherEd system at-large to side with tyrants over students. We demand that our universities do not fold + do not sign.” 👏

www.commondreams.org/opinion/trum...

Our Universities Must Not Fold to Trump's Authoritarian Compact | Common Dreams

This compact goes against every democratic principle our country and our schools should uphold, and we reject the Trump administration’s attempt to cajole universities into compliance through explicit...

www.commondreams.org

1 2

Reposted by SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon

AFT Connecticut @aftct.bsky.social · 3d

"We are living through a multi-decade moral panic that’s been manufactured against higher education." @aaup.org @isaackamola.bsky.social

Panelists sound alarm about state of academic freedom at Democracy Project event

At Friday’s event, four panelists discussed current threats to academic freedom.

www.browndailyherald.com

23 72

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 2d

Teacher working conditions are, and have always been, student learning conditions.

Lumina Foundation @luminafoundation.bsky.social · 3d

Freedom to learn depends on freedom to teach, but when that's at risk, transparency, inquiry, and trust erode.

These campaigns distract from the real work of helping students learn and thrive, and could prevent students from the education they need to build a fair, secure, and prosperous future.

Local colleges targeted amid growing campus culture wars

National media and conservative groups are seeking syllabi and student information from public colleges; professors say they feel targeted and harassed.

www.wgbh.org

1 3

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 3d

Here’s a thread evaluating arguments by someone (at Harvard, of all places) that the Mutual Assured Destruction Compact is not all bad.

bsky.app/profile/pard...

This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · 3d

The argument presented by Allen is both politically naive and historically erroneous. Accepting a compact *for higher education at this point in time* is suicidal. A 🧵

Mary Lewis @profmarylewis.bsky.social · 4d

Danielle Allen has proposed many good things for Harvard, so I’m puzzled by her reading of the word “compact” here, as if this would be an agreement freely entered into. She rightly says that, as written, this shouldn’t be agreed to. Maybe leave it there? therenovator.substack.com/p/why-im-exc...

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 3d

In times like these, @sheeoed.bsky.social continues doing what they do best: essential research for understanding higher education as a public good.

State Higher Education Executive Officers Association @sheeoed.bsky.social · 7d

NEW BLOG: In the 2025 legislative session, state lawmakers considered nearly 400 bills related to financial aid for postsecondary education. Read our latest blog post to learn about what bills crossed the finish line: https://ow.ly/t01Z50X5NUU

1 2

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 3d

We need an entire alphabet soup of condemnation of the Mutual Assured Destruction Compact! Academic freedom, institutional autonomy, and our democratic system of shared governance must never be for sale.

American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U) @aacu.org · 6d

AAC&U Statement on the Trump Administration’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” https://bit.ly/3VOEJvx

2 3

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 3d

Good overview of responses to the Mutual Assured Destruction Compact here, although I would have appreciated a better summary of criticisms and concerns from the folks I’ve been featuring on this feed.

www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

Higher Ed Sounds Off on Proposed Compact

The sector has overwhelmingly panned Trump’s plan to give preferential treatment to universities that commit to his policies. So have some conservative leaders.

www.insidehighered.com

1 2 4

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 4d

More on the Mutual Assured Destruction Compact, again confirming what I ran on this spring, that this administration is out to control or destroy us. We need to take the initiative back through another compact, one focused on mutual academic defense. #MADC

texasedequity.blogspot.com/2025/10/the-...

The Danger of a Mephistopheles Bargain: Why the “Compact for Excellence” Is a Threat to Democracy and the University, by Angela Valenzuela, Ph.D.

texasedequity.blogspot.com

2 3

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 4d

Every trustee or regent or governor on every higher education board needs to read this.

Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 5d

I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below.

It's especially for journalists covering this story!

Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.

Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal

A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics

balkin.blogspot.com

10 14

Reposted by SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon

Sam Bagenstos @sbagen.bsky.social · 4d

This is a really outstanding post. "That’s the point of the compact. .... It is about control. Specifically it is about turning existing federal law, over which the administration has limited control, into terms of a 'deal' that offers the government much more control."

Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 5d

I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below.

It's especially for journalists covering this story!

Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.

Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal

A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics

balkin.blogspot.com

7 96 270

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 4d

You can read the 2025 UFS Annual Report online here:

dspace.sunyconnect.suny.edu/server/api/c...

Citizen of Somewhere Else @citizense.bsky.social · 17d

Hot off the presses! PDF will be available for download soon. Stay tuned!

3 4

Reposted by SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon

Brian Soucek @brsoucek.bsky.social · 6d

Strong statement today from UC's Academic Senate:

18 370 1.1K

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 5d

When I was sworn in as a SUNY Trustee, my oath was to uphold the United States Constitution, New York State Constitution, and SUNY.

Gregg Gonsalves @gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 5d

Sound familiar? Trump and Mussolini are two peas in a pod. "Only twelve out of some 1200 university professors refused to swear [their allegiance to Mussolini] in 1931." Who will bow down to fascism a century later? blognostrumuva.wordpress.com/2017/04/11/t...

The Italian university professors’ oath of allegiance to fascism (1931)

«I swear fidelity to the King, to his Royal successors and to the Fascist regime, and I swear to respect the [National Fascist Party’s] Statute and the other laws of the State, and to fulfil …

blognostrumuva.wordpress.com

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 5d

Anyone out there making the case for the Mutual Assured Destruction Compact being a good thing?

blog.dividedargument.com/p/the-uncons...

The Unconstitutional Conditions Doctrine and the Compact for Excellence

Members of the Trump administration love to say that federal funding is a privilege not a right and therefore something that can be granted or withheld based on changing administrative priorities.

blog.dividedargument.com

1

Reposted by SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon

Lauren Eastwood @leeastwood.bsky.social · 6d

#MADC
@sunyufspresident.bsky.social

Genevieve Lakier @genevievelakier.bsky.social · 6d

The Trump Administration’s “Compact of Excellence” for Universities is... far from excellent! Indeed, it’s unconstitutional. In this post, let me count the ways.

blog.dividedargument.com/p/the-uncons...

The Unconstitutional Conditions Doctrine and the Compact for Excellence

Members of the Trump administration love to say that federal funding is a privilege not a right and therefore something that can be granted or withheld based on changing administrative priorities.

blog.dividedargument.com

1 2

SUNY UFS President Bruce Simon @sunyufspresident.bsky.social · 6d

Our hosts at Onondaga Community College were incredible! Many many many thanks to everyone there who stepped up, made this first barnstorming tour event possible, and did everything they could to make us welcome and productive today!

3