Higher Education Labor United (HELU)
@higheredlabor.bsky.social
1.9K followers 120 following 100 posts
A national coalition from all ranks of higher education workers across the country organizing to guarantee higher education for all.
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higheredlabor.bsky.social
HELU's International Campus Worker Protections (ICWP) Campaign is organizing to pressure our institutions to stand up for international workers. Read more about this campaign in a recent piece by organizer Bobby Huggins higheredlaborunited.org/2025/09/22/t...
higheredlabor.bsky.social
Read about the attack on academic freedom in Louisiana in a September 2025 article by Kimberly Terrell, Ph.D. higheredlaborunited.org/2025/09/22/l...
Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)
aaup.org
AAUP @aaup.org · 12d
WEBINAR ALERT!💻

The AAUP is hosting a webinar exploring the importance of independent accreditation systems for maintaining professional standards & examining threats a politicized accreditation system poses to academic freedom.
▶️October 6, 7PM
Politicizing Accreditation in the South and Beyond
This webinar will explore the historic importance of independent accreditation systems for maintaining professional norms and standards for public higher education and examine the threats a politicize...
www.aaup.org
higheredlabor.bsky.social
What happened to free speech? We've seen at least a dozen political firings in the last week of faculty, staff, and student workers. This isn't just about academic freedom. It's about job security and our right to free speech. It won't stop here. www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
6 More Faculty, Staff Removed for Kirk Comments
Republican politicians and other conservatives are calling for employees, including those in higher ed, to be terminated for their social media posts about Kirk's killing.
www.insidehighered.com
higheredlabor.bsky.social
TRIO programs provide the kinds of support – advising, mentoring, safe spaces, academic support & more – that help first-gen students thrive in college. All students deserve these opportunities. Instead, the administration is taking away TRIO funding. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...
Trump Administration Withholds Millions for TRIO Programs
Nonprofits that advocate for first-gen students say that without the federally funded programs, college could become unattainable for hundreds of thousands of students.
www.insidehighered.com
Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)
annakornbluh.bsky.social
"It is time to resist the injustice that now threatens to be normalized by those who capitulate, sometimes in advance, to powers that are clearly willing to destroy the basic principles that protect the university’s independence against external manipulations." www.chronicle.com/article/when...
Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)
willpjones.bsky.social
The University of Minnesota should listen to Willie Nelson and settle with workers striking for a small wage increase and a fair contract.
Picture of Willie Nelson with statement in support of striking workers at the University of Minnesota
Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)
apason.bsky.social
We had solidarity in Vegas, Reno, and in Elko! Labor in all corners of the state came out in solidarity to say "no" to changing the rules for collective bargaining in the middle of faculty contract negotiations! And the Regents backed down and postponed any changes! @higheredlabor.bsky.social
aftacademics.bsky.social
We're here with the Nevada Faculty Alliance to support the fight to preserve union rights and shared governance for Nevada's higher-ed workers. Solidarity! @nvfa.bsky.social @aft.org @afthighered.bsky.social @aaup.org @thenvindy.com
higheredlabor.bsky.social
"Whether a professor, staff member, student, or community member, we all have the right to our own beliefs, ideas, and values and the right to speak about them openly as private citizens." Sign here: actionnetwork.org/petitions/re...
Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)
actioninhighered.bsky.social
Beloved History professor and Socialist Horizon member Tom Alter was summarily fired on September 10th by
Texas State University President Kelly Damphousse for expressing his ideas at a virtual conference. We Demand Texas State University Give Tom Alter His Job Back chng.it/Lr8fkLfy via @Change
Sign the Petition
We Demand Texas State University Give Tom Alter His Job Back
chng.it
higheredlabor.bsky.social
Read more in @truthout.org: HELU is "focused on building coalitions of different types of workers on campus and working across the unions that represent higher ed workers." If we're battling quietly now, we're going to have to get loud, right? Are you in? truthout.org/articles/har...
Harvard Dominates Headlines, But Other Schools Are Quietly Battling Trump
Faculty at state schools are waging collective action in the face of both federal and state attacks. Will it be enough?
truthout.org
Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)
Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)
sfndhe.bsky.social
Labor activists in coalition of local unions and labor-adjacent orgs. This was new, including the whole workforce of higher ed: faculty, clerical, health care, custodians, librarians, counselors, IT, buildings maintenance, landscapers, dining services, etc.
@higheredlabor.bsky.social
Raising HELU, Wall to Wall and Coast to Coast
When Higher Education Labor United was proposed in 2021, the major issues facing higher education were rising tuition, student debt, widespread reliance on contingent faculty, attacks on tenure, threa...
www.dollarsandsense.org
higheredlabor.bsky.social
Make a statement for higher ed workers this Labor Day with HELU signs! Easily printable from our website, perfect for any kind of Labor Day action. See you in the streets! higheredlaborunited.org/2025/08/28/h...
Download a sign! New For Labor Day – See You in the Streets! With a background of HELU rally signs available to print at link.
higheredlabor.bsky.social
Loving this from @hankgreen.bsky.social on the ongoing attacks on higher education and why our workplaces have become political battlegrounds. Just wanted to mention another reason these attacks will fail: higher ed workers are FIERCE and getting more organized every day. ❤️ youtu.be/FQwhGOhZRyE?...
What Trump is Doing to Universities
YouTube video by vlogbrothers
youtu.be
Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)
returnstosender.bsky.social
A massive attack on several humanities units (Arabic Studies, Judaic Studies, Holocaust Studies, Classics, Religion, German & Scandinavian, Russian/East European/Eurasian Studies) *and* tenure now unfolding at the University of Oregon (a blue state!). Closure of units and faculty layoffs threatened.
I've now been allowed and asked to share more details about what's going down at the University of Oregon, which involves imminent announcement of firings, among others, of tenure-track and tenured faculty. Given the units impacted (see below), please  share this with your professional networks in related disciplines and start getting ready to put pressure (or begin putting pressure already) on the University of Oregon upper admin to abandon this alleged plan before they finalize it.

It appears that, with no prior consultations, the departments of Religion and Classics (two separate units), and the programs in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies, German & Scandinavian, Judaic Studies, Arabic Studies, and Holocaust Studies (the latter five all parts of a previously-consolidated mega unit called the Schnitzer School of Global Studies and Languages) are facing imminent announcement of elimination (expected the week of Sept 7), with layoffs of pre-tenure, tenured, and career faculty in these units. The reason given is "financial exigency" -- upper administrations of several universities across the country (and in blue states like Oregon also) appear to be giddy to use the context of Trump attacks on higher ed to dismantle the humanities.

Faculty at OU won a faculty union not long ago; this may be, in part, a retaliation for that, I've been told. The union is working with AAUP, etc.; my understanding is that the maximum spotlight is needed at this point.
higheredlabor.bsky.social
Join us on Monday for WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD BILL? HIGHER ED FIGHTS BACK!

Together, we'll learn about how the BIG BAD BILL harms higher ed workers & students and how we can unite and fight back!

Register: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
higheredlabor.bsky.social
Join us Monday, August 18 for WHO’S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD BILL? HIGHER ED FIGHTS BACK!

7:30 PM ET/ 6:30 CT / 5:30 MT / 4:30 PT.

Register at bit.ly/HELU_August18
Reposted by Higher Education Labor United (HELU)
sfndhe.bsky.social
"As a college professor, watching the dismantling of America’s education system has been among the most discouraging events of my life."
We agree
@aaup.org @higheredlabor.bsky.social
aimloiselle.bsky.social
Without humanities studies, I would not have been a very good scientist. My humanities classes were a master class in creativity, envisioning new futures and how to think. The skills we learned in our humanities classes brought creativity to all our endeavors.
www.deseret.com/opinion/2025...
Opinion: Gutting humanities signals the end of innovation in business and STEM
Lose the humanities, and you lose the very ground of science and business that depend on it.
www.deseret.com