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Adam "I Was Hoping We Could Keep It" Laats @adamlaats.bsky.social · 47m

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 · 1h

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 · 19h

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 · 1d

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 · 2d

Thank you!

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

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 · 2d

Thank you!

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

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 · 2d

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 · 3d

Oh, no.

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

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 · 4d

“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 · 4d

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 · 3d

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

"I caught it."

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

And just in case people missed it, stop your doomscrolling and check out the glories of Brewers Fever, c. 1978:

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

"It is never too late to abandon the disgusting cub." From your lips to Craig Counsell's ears.

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

Donovan Schaefer @feelingtheory.bsky.social · 4d

Religious Studies folks: If you know any students thinking about applying for the PhD program at Penn, please send them this invitation to our online information session on Oct. 13!

Penn Religious Studies @upennrels.bsky.social · 5d

Interested in applying for the PHD program in Religious Studies at Penn? Join graduate chair Donovan Schaefer and graduate coordinator Katelyn Stoler for this online information session and Q&A on Oct. 13!

No registration required. Details at this link!

rels.sas.upenn.edu/events/2025/...

RELS Information Session for Prospective Doctoral Students | Department of Religious Studies

rels.sas.upenn.edu

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

The takeaway?

University leaders have to fight back hard. They will win.

Trump's "Compact" will not succeed in protecting "conservative ideas," but it will inflict great harm on universities.

They will all end up like Florida's New College, with no students, soaring costs, and crappy outcomes.

Spending Soars, Rankings Fall at New College of Florida

Student outcomes and rankings are slipping at the liberal arts college while spending is up. Critics believe the college is at risk of implosion, and some are calling for privatization.

www.insidehighered.com

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

NC and KY almost banned "evolution" from their public colleges. But they were defeated by activism by university presidents.

At NC, Harry Chase sent legislators a detailed list of the faculty who would leave, and where they would go (Johns Hopkins and Wisconsin mostly).

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

In the 1920s, MS, TN, and AR all banned the teaching of "evolution" from their public colleges.

It hurt those colleges immensely. Students left. So did faculty and admin.

And here's the thing: professors reported that they still taught basically the same, just sneakier.

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

We actually know a lot about what happens when conservatives embargo ideas at public universities.

In the 1920s, they called it "evolution," but conservatives really targeted a broad range of ideas, including modern science but also ideas about racial equality.

What happened back then? A 🧵

The Conservative War on Education That Failed

A full century ago, the most effective school-ban campaign in American history set the pattern: noise, fury, rancor, and fear, but not much change in what schools actually teach.

www.theatlantic.com

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

Maybe worst of all, there was no surprise.
This is a 100-year-old pattern that was obvious two years ago:

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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AAUP @aaup.org · 5d

The Trump admin’s offer to give preferential treatment to institutions that toe the party line reeks of bribery in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological agenda.

This is corruption.

Adherence to ‘loyalty oaths’ would usher in a new era of thought policing in American higher education.

Universities Must Reject Trump Admin 'Loyalty Oath' Compacts

The AAUP and AFT warn that the Trump administration’s offer to give preferential treatment to colleges and universities that court government favor in exchange for allegiance to a partisan ideological...

www.aaup.org

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

In lighter news, people not from Illinois might not know how much awesome homemade Abe art there is.

From a not-to-be-named diner, I give you......

The Missing Lincoln:

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

Just a reminder that a central "conservative idea" for the past 60 years has been that dinosaurs lived at the same time as humans.

Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 5d

The Compact says "Signatories commit... to transforming or abolishing institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas."

What does this mean for units teaching evolution, history, or climate change?
www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/u...

"Signatories commit themselves to revising governance structures as necessary to
create such an environment, including but not limited to transforming or abolishing institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas."

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