Climate Change: When Will We Stop Moving to the Riskiest Regions? (PBS Terra)

What now for the US Department of Education?

What happens now with the US Department of Education now that Elon Musk claims that it no longer exists? It's hard to know yet, and even more difficult after removing career government workers that we have known for years.  

We are saddened to hear of contacts we know who have been fired: hard working and capable people, in an agency that has been chronically understaffed and politicized. 

We also worry for the hundreds of thousands of student loan debtors who have borrower defense to repayment claims against schools that systematically defrauded them--and have not yet received justice. 

And what about all those FAFSA (financial aid) forms for students starting and continuing their schooling? How will they be processed in a timely manner?

Without funding and oversight, the Department of Education looks nearly dead. But with millions of poor and disabled children relying on Title I funding and IDEA and tens of millions more with federal student student loans, it's hard to imagine those functions disappearing for good.  

Let's see how much slack is taken up by private enterprise and religious nonprofits who may benefit from the pain. With student loans, much of the work has already been contracted out. It would not be out of the question for the student loan portfolio to be sold off to corporations who could profit from it. And that may or may not require Congressional approval.  

The Philosopher Who Discovered The Meaning Of Life: Lev Tolstoy And His Search For Truth (Wise Daily Reflections)

 

Elon Musk says US Department of Education no longer ‘exists’ (MSNBC)

Community College Meltdown: Can It Get Worse?

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has documented the decline in community college enrollment for more than a decade.  And the Higher Education Inquirer has been reporting on the decline for much of that time.  

The question we are asking now is, where is the floor for the community college meltdown?  The answer, from what we gather, is not clear. Folks should not assume the bottom has already been felt, even if there are signs of a rebound. 

The downward path for community colleges is likely the result of several factors related to economics (including the economics of individual states and counties), demographics, and consumer choices.  And we do not see these variables, in general, improving in the near future. Especially in states with declining youth and young adult populations. 

If state-level austerity lies ahead for many states, the floor could be lowered, even though these community colleges provide job training at a fraction of the cost of state universities.  Working class folks, in particular, would have to change the way they think about themselves and their perceptions of community colleges. And community colleges would need to provide stronger returns on investment for those who attend. 

There are some bright spots, including the use of College Promise (low-cost college) in many states and proposed increases in funding in California.  Community colleges have also shored up these declines with dual enrollment (high school students taking courses).  

Public enrollment of schools that offer programs of 2 years but less than 4 years.  

(Source: US Department of Education, IPEDS)

How China Can Respond to America's Tariffs (Michael Hudson)

Social Medicine: Restoring Public Health by Changing Society (Rupa Marya)

We are told that our personal health is our individual responsibility based on our own choices. Yet, the biological truth is that human health is dependent upon the health of nature’s ecosystems and our social structures. Decisions that negatively affect these larger systems and eventually affect us are made without our consent as citizens and, often, without our knowledge. Dr. Rupa Marya, Associate Professor of Medicine at UC San Francisco, and Faculty Director of the Do No Harm Coalition (https://www.donoharmcoalition.org/) , says “social medicine” means dismantling harmful social structures that directly lead to poor health outcomes, and building new structures that promote health and healing. Learn more about Rupa Marya and her work here. (https://profiles.ucsf.edu/rupa.marya)

Higher Education Inquirer Investigating White House, DOGE Communications

 

 

The Higher Education Inquirer (HEI) is investigating email communications between the White House and DOGE regarding the US Department of Education Federal Student Aid (FSA).  HEI has been using FOIA responses for a number of years to expose corruption in the US higher education business. The White House has 20 days to acknowledge receipt. We will let you know if and when we get any responses from the White House.  

Explained: Truth About Congo's Crisis- DRC Vs Foreigners (Dr. Kenneth Ombongi)

Rep. Scholten, Oversight Dems Introduce Bill to Hold Musk, DOGE Accountable to the American Taxpayer

(Press Release)

Today, U.S. Congresswoman Hillary Scholten (MI03) introduced the Consistent Legal Expectations and Access to Records (CLEAR) Act, which clarifies that temporary organizations created under 5 USC 3161, like DOGE, are subject to FOIA. Given the breadth of power these organizations wield, they should be subject to the same standard of scrutiny and public information sharing that other agencies are beholden to. 

As it currently stands, DOGE does not need to comply with FOIA requests from the American public. Scholten is joined by House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member Gerry Connolly (VA11), Dave Min (CA47), and Kweisi Mfume (MD07) as co-leads on her legislation.

“In the first two weeks of Trump’s second term, chaos has reigned and has many asking… what is happening? An unelected businessman with numerous conflicts of interest has been given unprecedented access to government data and Americans' personal information. These are taxpayer dollars he’s controlling, and the American people deserve to know what’s happening. Knowledge is power, and in America, that power belongs to the people. My bill will make sure that no president, Republican or Democrat, can hide their actions from the American people,” said Rep. Scholten.

President Trump created DOGE through an executive order using an authority that allows the president to set up "temporary organizations." Congresswoman Scholten introduced this legislation to make it clear that any organization created this way is automatically subject to FOIA. The bill would apply retroactively, meaning all of DOGE’s records since it was formed would become public if the legislation is signed into law.

[Editor's note: The Higher Education Inquirer has requested digital copies of all emails between the White House and DOGE sent or received on February 5, 2025.] 

Trump is Using Jews, Not Protecting Us (Hank Kalet, Channel Surfing)

His Executive Order on Antisemitism is a Threat to Muslims and Palestinians on Campuses and an Attack on the First Amendment

Antisemitism exists. It has a long and painful history that has embedded fear in our DNA as Jews, a fear that grows when incidents occur, like the one in Australia recently.

Police in New South Wales state, which includes Sydney, said on Wednesday they had found explosives in a caravan, or trailer, that could have created a blast wave of 40 metres (130 feet).

There was some indication the explosives might be used in an antisemitic attack that could have caused mass casualties, police said.

There also was an apparently coordinated set of “graffiti attacks” on Jewish sites that have caused the Australian Jewish community to increase security. Similar security efforts are being ramped up by Jewish groups in Europe as threats of antisemitic acts and the growth of the Far Right stoke fears.

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There have been reports of violent and deadly incidents throughout Europe, as well, with direct attacks on synagogues and other Jewish institutions. And there are leaders like Viktor Orhan in Hungary and political parties like Alternative for Germany who use antisemitic language and tropes, though often sanitized, amid their more targeted attacks on Muslim immigrants.

Syndicate or Reuse

Books by Hank Kalet

The United States is not immune to antisemitism, of course, but American Jews seem unable to focus on the real threats. Rather than keep our eyes trained on an ascendant right wing — including many of the people in President Donald Trump’s immediate circle, including the president himself — much of the Jewish community is focused on Israel and seems intent on conflating criticism of Israel, its war on Gaza, and the occupation with actual systemic anti-Jewish action.

This is the context for Wednesday’s executive order on “combatting antisemitism,” which targets campus protests and continues a Conservative/Republican push to peel Jews away from teh Democratic Party.

The order, as reported by The Washington Post, “is directed at universities where pro-Palestinian protests broke out last year,” and “threatens to revoke student visas of foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests.”

Supporters of the order argue that these protests were antisemitic. They point to some uncomfortable speech — the equation of Israel with the Nazis, for instance — as proof, and then conflate sloganeering and assembly with physical harassment. Jewish students and faculty, the argument goes, were made uncomfortable by the protests and encampments and felt unsafe. That sense of fear, they say, proves that the protests were designed to harass, even if there was no direct harassment. It is a circular argument, but one endorsed by much of the American political establishment and leading Jewish organizations


Marc H. Ellis addresses the underlying issues with these arguments in his 2009 book Judaism Does Not Equal Israel.1 He describes what I’ll call a “triumphalist Judaism” that mixes Holocaust victimhood with Exodus (the novel) power, constructed in “the aftermath of the great Israeli triumph in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war” (6). That narrative posits several myths: that Palestine was empty and underutilized and had to be redeemed, that the “Arabs” were hostile to Jews as Jews, and that the state that was founded and that still exists remains a democratic outpost in a hostile world. This triumphalism, however, was also tied to our very real history as a persecuted minority. “Jews had once been weak and helpless,” he writes, but that was no longer the case. Yet, “our theology was telling us we were still. The fact was just the opposite. We had become empowered” and were acting as a regional power (59).

The current power dynamics in Israel/Palestine and the actual history — the forced removal of Palestinians from what is now the state and the continued usurpation of land — are treated as though they are benign acts. Israel — Jews — has become the victimizer in the region, acting as a colonial power, an occupying force.

What was “psychological,” he writes, has become “strategic.”

“If we owned up to our newfound power, we would have to be accountable for and to it. We would have to relinquish the Holocaust as the backdrop to everything Jewish.”

So Oct. 7 and the ensuing war play out as if they were new and shocking rather than as another battle — the deadliest and most traumatic, to be sure — in a decades-long rebellion by Palestinians against suppress and control by Israel.

The argument is based on an underlying anti-Muslim/anti-Arab bias that mirrors the hate and discrimination that Jews have faced across our history. It is evident in the language we (Americans and Jews) use consistently to refer to Arabs, Muslims, Palestine, and Israel. Arabs and Muslims continued to be seen as terrorists, even as the “not all” modifier is added.

Deena R. Hurwitz and Walther H. White Jr., in an article at the American Bar Association website, cite authors Sahar Aziz and John Esposito’s May 2024 book, Global Islamophobia and the Rise of Populism, to underscore a “disturbing rise of Islamophobia worldwide.”

Blaming Muslim minorities for economic, political, and social problems is an increasingly common rhetorical strategy for politicians in countries globally. A narrative of the “threatening Muslim invader” is prevalent, regardless of whether the targets of such rhetoric are born citizens or new arrivals.

Trump, for instance, mixes Islamophobic and xenophobic language as he calls for closing the borders. At the same time, he and his conservative allies rely on both anti- and philosemitic imagery when talking with and about Jews.

“In the United States, Europe, and India, Islamophobic rhetoric is essentially normalized,” Hurwitz and White write.

The use of this rhetoric reduces the history and diversity within the Muslim and Arab communities (and within the Jewish community) to “a set of stereotyped characteristics most often reducible to themes of violence, civilizational subversion, and fundamental otherness.”

Anti-Palestinian racism silences, excludes, erases, stereotypes, defames, and dehumanizes Palestinians. This is used to deny and justify violence against Palestinians and fails to acknowledge Palestinians as Indigenous people with a collective identity while erasing their human rights and equal dignity and worth.

Trump’s executive order builds on this structure of anti-Muslim/anti-Arab thought, while also endorsing stereotypes of Jews as a model minority in need of special protection — even as he dismantles what he calls the “DEI regime.” Pitting Jewish and Muslim communities against each other creates hierarchies among aggrieved groups, which the right can then use to abrogate our rights of speech, assembly, and petition. It’s also a solution that is out of proportion to the problem.

It creates a threat to international students (mostly Muslim) based purely on their protected speech and assembly, while doing nothing to improve the actual safety of Jewish students. Remember, we already have strong protections in most jurisdictions; prohibiting speech does nothing to address this.

Alex Morey of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a group that defends speech and academic freedom on campus and that has usually been allied with more conservative groups, describes what I’ll call an existential threat. She told the Forward that the order’s language might push universities to crack down on protest, because it functions as an implied threat — to funding and to visas.

Morey said that her organization was already fielding frantic queries from international students at American universities who are worried about being caught in a legal dragnet.

“These are not students that got arrested at a protest or vandalized a building, these are students who just went out and protested,” she said. “What we don’t want to see is schools saying, ‘Hey, Students for Justice in Palestine, I’m going to need a list of everyone in that club and we’re going to comb it for foreign students.’”

What we are talking about is the loss of immigration status and potential deportation as retribution for protest. It is a direct attack on the 14th Amendment’s equal rights clause, which provides “any person within (the United States) the equal protection of the laws,” including the First Amendment’s five basic freedoms.

The order brings together several of Trump’s favorite targets — higher education, Muslims, immigrants and protesters — and is part of a broader effort to undermine the academic freedom and speech rights of faculty and students in higher education. Trump is a wannabe autocrat. He sees these groups as a threat to his control. While fighting antisemitism is the ostensible reason for the order, the larger targets are our democratic institutions.

Channel Surfing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.

‘Father of Environmental Justice’ Robert Bullard on the Work Behind a Movement (Time)

 

 

“This isn’t happenstance,” remarked Gloria Walton, former TIME Earth Award honoree, on the environmental justice movement being recognized as a powerful force. “It is a reality created by the energy and love of frontline communities and grassroots organizations who have worked for decades,” Walton said, as she presented an Earth Award to the man known as the “Father of Environmental Justice,” Robert Bullard. Bullard, who was appointed to the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council in 2021, spoke of the long fight he’s waged for environmental justice in his acceptance speech. He discussed the challenges that he faced in 1979, when he conducted a study in support of the landmark case Bean v. Southwestern Waste Management Corps.— the first lawsuit to challenge environmental racism in the United States. “I am a sociologist and my sociology has taught me that it is not enough to gather the data, do the science and write the books,” he said. “In order for us to solve this kind of crisis, we must do our science, we must gather our data, we must collect our facts, and we must marry those facts with action.”

 

Nils Gilman on Trump's coming assault on universities (Matthew Sheffield, Theory of Change)

The second term of Donald Trump has officially begun, but despite all the things he’s unveiled in the past several weeks, we don’t know fully what his policies are going to be over the next four years. 

That is in part because Trump himself is a very erratic figure who says things that are nonsensical, even by his own standards. And also because while there are documents such as Project 2025 which were created by Trump's ideological allies in the reactionary movement, that document itself is not particularly detailed in a number of ways.

But one thing we can be sure is going to happen in the second Trump administration is that he will conduct a full-scale assault on America's colleges and universities. As a candidate, he did promise to create taxes on private university endowments. And he also talked about removing the funding for universities that don't bow to his various censorship demands.

Unlike a number of other Trumpian boasts and threats, he is very likely to follow through on these ones because Republicans in a number of states and localities have enacted many of the policies that Trump has talked about doing on the campaign trail.

Joining me today to talk about all this is Nils Gilman, a friend of the show who is the chief operating officer at the Berggruen Institute, a think tank in Southern California that publishes Noema Magazine. He is also the former associate chancellor at the University of California, Berkeley, where he saw first-hand just what the [00:02:00] Republican vision for education in the United States is. He’s also the co-author of a new book called Children of a Modest Star, which we discuss at the end of the episode.    

The US Will Lose To China If It Doesn’t Stop (Rogue Rocket)

Freedom of speech in higher education (Future Trends Forum)

 What does academic freedom mean in 2025? We will explore this vital question with the help of Jeremy C. Young, the Freedom to Learn program director at PEN America (and excellent 2023 Forum guest).

 

Thoughts On Trump Signing Executive Orders: Dismantle Of DEI, Mass Deportation (Breakfast Club Power 105.1)

The Working Class vs. Neofeudalism (Daniel Tutt and Jodi Dean)

Political theorist Jodi Dean joins Daniel Tutt to discuss her provocative new book Capital's Grave: Neofeudalism and the New Class Struggle. Jodi Dean is one of the most vocal proponents of the "neofeudal thesis", the idea that capitalism has regressed to a neofeudal arrangement characterized by the delinking of capitalist accumulation from production, the end of competition, rent-seeking, predation and plunder.

Robocolleges 2025

Overall, enrollment numbers for online robocolleges have increased as full-time faculty numbers have declined. Four schools now have enrollment numbers exceeding 100,000 students.  

Here's a breakdown of the key characteristics of robocolleges:

• Technology-Driven: Robocolleges heavily utilize online platforms, pre-recorded lectures, automated grading systems, and limited human interaction.
• Focus on Profit: These institutions often prioritize generating revenue over providing a high-quality educational experience.
• Aggressive Marketing: Robocolleges frequently employ aggressive marketing tactics to attract students, sometimes with misleading information.
• High Tuition Costs: They often charge high tuition fees, leading to significant student debt.
• Limited Faculty Interaction: Students may have limited access to faculty members for guidance and support.
• Questionable Job Placement Rates: Graduates of robocolleges may struggle to find employment in their chosen fields.

Concerns:

• Student Debt Crisis: The high tuition costs and potential for low job placement rates contribute to the student debt crisis.
• Quality of Education: The emphasis on technology and limited human interaction can raise concerns about the quality of education students receive.
• Ethical Considerations: The aggressive marketing tactics and potential for misleading students raise ethical concerns.

Here are Fall 2023 numbers (the most recent numbers) from the US Department of Education College Navigator:

Southern New Hampshire University: 129 Full-Time (F/T) instructors for 188,049 students.*
Grand Canyon University 582 F/T instructors for 107,563 students.*
Liberty University: 812 F/T for 103,068 students.*
University of Phoenix: 86 F/T instructors for 101,150 students.*
University of Maryland Global: 168 F/T instructors for 60,084 students.
American Public University System: 341 F/T instructors for 50,187 students.
Purdue University Global: 298 F/T instructors for 44,421 students.
Walden University: 242 F/T for 44,223 students.
Capella University: 168 F/T for 43,915 students.
University of Arizona Global Campus: 97 F/T instructors for 32,604 students.
Devry University online: 66 F/T instructors for 29,346 students.
Colorado Technical University: 100 F/T instructors for 28,852 students.
American Intercontinental University: 82 full-time instructors for 10,997 students.
Colorado State University Global: 26 F/T instructors for 9,507 students.
South University: 37 F/T instructors for 8,816 students.
Aspen University 10 F/T instructors for 5,195 students.
National American University 0 F/T instructors for 1,026 students

*Most F/T faculty serve the ground campuses that profit from the online schools.

Related links:

Wealth and Want Part 4: Robocolleges and Roboworkers (2024) 

Southern New Hampshire University: America's Largest Robocollege Facing Resistance From Human Workers and Student Complaints About Curriculum (2024)

Robocolleges, Artificial Intelligence, and the Dehumanization of Higher Education (2023)

AI-ROBOT CAPITALISTS WILL DESTROY THE HUMAN ECONOMY (Randall Collins, 2023)

Guild Education: Enablers of Anti-Union Corporations and Subprime College Programs (2021)

The Growth of "RoboColleges" and "Robostudents" (2019)

The Higher Education Assembly Line (2019)

The world will be very different soon... (Pursuit of Wonder)

 

Don't Panic--Organize (Kari Thompson, Labor Notes)

The Trump administration has swept into office with a volley of attacks: Gutting programs that acknowledge race and gender inequality. Freezing funding for a wide swath of programs (though that order has already been rescinded). New work rules. Immigration raids. Replacing career civil servants with political lackeys. A mass email inviting federal employees to resign. The firehose of bad ideas over the past week is alarming and overwhelming. It’s never been more important for organizers to remember: workers do have power.  

Please continue reading at Labor Notes.

President Elect Lowman, PhD - talks about the Association of Black Psychologists (Sincere Media Network)

 

Black History Month (Mutabaruka)

 

The Death of DEI (Margaret Kimberly, Black Agenda Report)

Black people must be discerning about racist attacks on DEI programs while also acknowledging that “diversity” can be a con that damages Black politics, just as it was meant to do.

The sight of Al Sharpton holding a protest at a New York City Costco store is a sure sign that very problematic politics are being practiced. In this instance, Sharpton’s theatrics were inspired by the corporations which discontinued their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. DEI has been in conservative crosshairs with conservative think tanks and activists filing numerous lawsuits claiming that the programs are discriminatory. The same corporations who joined in the performative DEI programs when it was convenient have now run for cover. Costco is one of the few who didn’t and so got the seal of approval from Reverend Al.

Corporate DEI programs came into vogue in 2020 in the wake of nationwide protest after the police killing of George Floyd. The fact that both white police and corporate CEOs were “taking a knee” allegedly in sympathy with protesters should have been a sign that anything emanating from these gestures was a joke at best and a betrayal at worst.

According to a 2023 report , only 4% of chief diversity officer positions in U.S. corporations were held by Black people, who also had the lowest average salaries. DEI mania was a public relations effort intended to stem Black protest while doing nothing to improve the material conditions of Black workers, even for those who were involved in this project. The usual hierarchies remained in place, with white men and women getting the top jobs and the most money. Also Black people were not the only group subject to DEI policies, as other “people of color,” women, and the LGBTQ+ community were also competing for a piece of the questionable action.

In addition to the right wing legal attack, Donald Trump is so obsessed with ending DEI in the federal government that all employees connected with such programs were placed on administrative leave after one of his many executive orders were issued. Federal workers were instructed to report on their knowledge of any DEI activity that hadn’t been ferreted out. The Trump administration DEI ban means that agencies are being told not to even allow for any affinity events or celebrations. Although that idea might not be bad if it prevented the FBI from claiming to honor Martin Luther KIng , a man they surveilled, harassed, and encouraged to commit suicide. Not to be deterred in the Trumpian witch hunt, the Air Force briefly deleted information about the Tuskegee Airmen and Women Army Service Pilots (WASPs) from a basic training curriculum, only to return the information after public outrage emerged when military heroes, usually revered, were getting the usual rough treatment meted out to Black people.

Yet it is difficult to ignore the Trump anti-DEI frenzy. At its core it is an effort to disappear Black people from public life altogether under the guise of protecting a white meritocracy which never existed. However, it would be a mistake to embrace a failed effort which succeeds only at liberal virtue signalling and creating a more diverse group of managers to help in running the ruling class machinery.

DEI was a repackaging of affirmative action, a term which fell into disfavor after years of complaint from aggrieved white people and which was undone by Supreme Court decisions. Like affirmative action, it was a calculated response to serious political action, action which threatened to upend a system in dire need of disrupting and bringing the justice and the democracy that are so often bragged about yet that remain so elusive.

As always, Black people are caught between the proverbial rock and hard place, not wanting to ignore Trumpian antics while also being wary of any connection with the likes of Al Sharpton. The confusion about what to do is rampant and mirrors the general sense of confusion about Black political activity.

When the Target retail outlet ended its DEI programs there were calls for boycotts. Of course others pointed out that Target sold products created by Black owned companies which would be harmed by the absence of Black shoppers. All of the proposals are well meaning, meant to mitigate harm and to help Black people in their endeavors. Yet they all miss the point.

The reality of an oppressive system renders such concerns moot. Racial capitalism may give out a crumb here and another there, and allow a few Black businesses some space on store shelves. If nothing else it knows how to preserve itself and to co-opt at opportune moments. Yet the fundamentals do not change. DEI is of little use. But by ending it, Trump evokes great fear in a group of people whose situation is so tenuous that it still clings to the useless and discredited Democratic Party to protect itself from Trump and his ilk.

It is absolutely necessary to leave the false comfort of denial that gives the impression Trump is offering some new danger to Black people. The last thing Black people need is for the CIA or the State Department to hide their dirty deeds behind King birthday celebrations or Black History Month events. Black History Month should be a time when plans for liberation are hatched, making it unattractive to enemy government agencies to even consider using for propaganda purposes.

The death of DEI should not be mourned. Its existence is an affront to Black peoples’ history and valiant struggles. DEI is just one of many means to keep us compliant and to give legitimacy to what isn’t legitimate. If Al Sharpton is marching anywhere the best course of action is to stay very far away.

Margaret Kimberley is the author of Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents . You can support her work on Patreon and also find it on the Twitter , Bluesky , and Telegram platforms. She can be reached via email at margaret.kimberley@blackagendareport.com

DEI

Donald Trump

Al Sharpton

Black Misleadership Class

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Report from Eloy Detention Center (Rebel Diaz)

A report about mass incarceration in Eloy, Arizona, from Rebel Diaz, the Chilean American political hip hop duo of Rodrigo Venegas (RodStarz) and Gonzalo Venegas (G1). For 18 years, Rebel Diaz has used their music to educate, agitate, and organize working class folks across the globe.  Much of their music is here. 

Un informe sobre el encarcelamiento masivo en Eloy, Arizona, de Rebel Diaz, el dúo de hip hop político chileno-estadounidense formado por Rodrigo Venegas (RodStarz) y Gonzalo Venegas (G1). Durante 18 años, Rebel Diaz ha utilizado su música para educar, agitar y organizar a la clase trabajadora en todo el mundo.

Related links:

Rebel Diaz TV on YouTube

Rebel Díaz’ Rodrigo Starz: Empowering Communities with New FREE FAMILY PORTRAITS Album (Latino Rebels)

Rebel Diaz: A musical legacy of activism

Department of Justice stops federally-funded legal aid, affecting detained Arizona immigrants (AZPM)

Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights (Dylan C. Penningroth)

From the Stanford Humanities Center: 

As part of our online Inside the Center series, Dylan C. Penningroth, a 2013–14 SHC fellow, discusses his latest book, "Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights." Joining him in conversation is historian and Stanford professor James T. Campbell. Through an empirically rich historical investigation into the changing meaning of civil rights, "Before the Movement" seeks to change the way we think about Black history itself. Weaving together a variety of sources—from state and federal appellate courts to long-forgotten documents found in county courthouse basements, from family interviews to church records—the book tries to reveal how African Americans thought about, talked about, and used the law long before the marches of the 1960s. In a world that denied their constitutional rights, Black people built lives for themselves through common law “rights of everyday use.”

Higher Education Inquirer: Increasingly Relevant

The Higher Education Inquirer continues to grow.  Last month the number of views rose to more than 45,000.  And our total number of views has increased to more than 440,000. While we had added advertisements, we have not received any SEO help, and we do not pay Google for ads. 

We believe our growth stems largely from our increasing relevance and in our truth telling, which other higher education news outlets are unwilling to do in these times.

Our devotion to transparency, accountability, and value for our readers guides us. 

We invite a diverse group of guest authors who are willing to share their truths. The list includes academics from various disciplines, advocates, activists, journalists, consultants, and whistleblowers. We back up all of this work with data and critical analysis, irrespective of politics and social conventions. We are willing to challenge the higher education establishment, including trustees, donors, and university presidents.

Our articles covering student loan debt, academic labor, nonviolent methods of protest, and freedom of speech are unparalleled. And we are unafraid about including other issues that matter to our readers, including stories and videos about mental health, student safety, technology (such as artificial intelligence), academic cheating, and the nature of work.  And matters of war, peace, democracy, and climate change. 

Our focus, though mainly on US higher education, also has an international appeal. 

Some of our work takes years to produce, through careful documentation of primary and secondary sources, database analysis, and Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. We share all of this information for everyone to see at no cost.  

Of course, we could not operate without all your voices. We welcome all your voices. Something few other sources are willing to do.    

Trump blames Biden, DEI for D.C. plane crash (Washington Post)

Colombia, first nationals deported under the Donald Trump administration arrived (TeleSur English)

The first flights carrying migrants deported from the United States to Colombia. The Colombian government confirmed on Tuesday that two planes carrying migrants had landed. Some were reportedly shackled. A total of 201 migrants: 110 sent from California and 90 from Texas were on board. Among the deportees were two pregnant women and more than 20 children. The cost to US taxpayers is estimated to be $100,000 to $700,000 per flight. The long-term costs and consequences of this program with Latin America, like many others over the last century, have not been estimated. 

TOMORROW: "Are Working Class Voters Done with Democrats?" (CUNY School of Labor and Urban Stidies)

 

Click here to view as webpage

Fri. January 31 - in-person only @CUNYSLU

Are Working Class Voters Done with Democrats? Class Dealignment & the Two Party System   Friday, January 31 1:30pm - 3:00pm Free and open to all.  Lunch will be served.    *In-person* only: CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies 25 West 43rd Street, 18th floor, NYC 10036 (map)    REGISTER:  slucuny.swoogo.com/31January2025   Why did so many working-class voters support Republicans over Democrats in the 2024 elections?  Was the problem simply 'messaging', or have Democrats entrenched themselves as the party of corporate elites and Wall Street? What can Democrats do to win back this crucial demographic and how do we define (or re-define) the working-class?  Will Democrats make a strong commitment to economic populism to reverse this class dealignment? To delve into these questions join us for a conversation with Jared Abbott, director of the Center for Working Class Politics, and New Labor Forum Editor-at-Large Micah Uetricht.  This program is a live recording for SLU’s podcast Reinventing Solidarity.

Wed. February 5 - virtual via Zoom

What’s at Stake for Labor: Project 2025 and the Department of Government Efficiency      Wednesday, February 5 7:00pm - 8:30pm   Virtual event via Zoom webinar.    Register:   slucuny.swoogo.com/5February2025    Featured Speakers:  James Goodwin - Policy Director, Center for Progressive Reform Diana Reddy - Assistant Professor, UC Berkeley Law Arjun Singh - Senior Podcast Producer, The Lever Moderated by Samir Sonti - Assistant Professor, CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies.   What are the real costs to bear on workers–especially civil service and public sector workers – with Project 2025 and the establishment of Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency? What strategies can labor employ to counter this attack on working people and unions? How can looking back at previous far right policy projects help prepare us in our fight to protect workers? Join us to hear from law & policy experts and journalists as they discuss these urgent questions.

The Stop Campus Hazing Act: What You Need to Know (Clery Center)

UPDATE: The Stop Campus Hazing Act was signed into law by President Biden on December 23, 2024. We have edited the below blog to reflect this update.

The Stop Campus Hazing Act (SCHA) amends section 485(f) of the Higher Education Act, otherwise known as the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). Notably, the bill also changes the name of the Clery Act to the “Jeanne Clery Campus Safety Act”, representing the Act’s evolution in addressing broad campus safety needs.

Clery Center partnered with Gary and Julie DeVercelly, whose son, Gary DeVercelly, Jr. died by hazing in 2007, to begin advocating for federal anti-hazing legislation in 2014. These efforts led to the introduction of the Report and Education About Campus Hazing (REACH) Act in 2017, which was combined with elements of the END ALL Hazing Act to create the Stop Campus Hazing Act.
What will campuses be required to do?

The Stop Campus Hazing Act has three primary components: Inclusion of hazing statistics in annual security reports: Colleges and universities will need to include statistics for hazing incidents that were reported to campus security authorities or local law enforcement, as defined by SCHA, in their annual security reports.

 
Implementation of hazing policies, including those specific to hazing prevention: Colleges and universities will be required to have a hazing policy with information on how to make a report of hazing and the process used to investigate hazing incidents. They must also have a policy that addresses hazing prevention and awareness programs, which includes a description of research-informed campus-wide prevention programs and primary prevention strategies.

 
Compilation of a Campus Hazing Transparency Report: Each institution must compile and publish on a prominent location of their public website a hazing transparency report that summarizes findings concerning any student organization found to be in violation of the institution’s standards of conduct related to hazing. The report will include: The name of the student organization; A general description of the violation that resulted in a finding of responsibility; and Related dates (the date of the alleged incident, the date of the initiation of the investigation, the date the investigation ended with a finding, and the date the institution provided notice to the organization of the finding).

When will implementation start?

The timeline for implementation is as follows: January 1, 2025: Institutions should begin collecting hazing statistics to include in the annual security report.
June 23, 2025: Hazing policies must be in place.
July 1, 2025: Institutions must have a process for documenting violations of the institution’s standards of conduct relating to hazing.
December 23, 2025: The Campus Hazing Transparency Report, which includes the violations that institutions begin documenting in July, must be publicly available. The Campus Hazing Transparency Report must be updated at least two times a year.
October 1, 2026: Hazing statistics will first be included in the 2026 annual security report (2025 statistics).

How can I start planning for these changes?Register for our three-part Stop Campus Hazing Act training series:February 26 - Session 1: Hazing as a Clery Act Crime Statistic
March 5 - Session 2: Hazing Prevention Programming Requirements
March 12 - Session 3:Campus Hazing Transparency Report

Review your process for notifying and training campus security authorities on their responsibilities, as well as forms or systems used for incident reporting. Plan to update these materials to include hazing.

Determine what hazing policies already exist on campus and whether they address hazing prevention and awareness.

 
Bring together roles that will be involved in implementation of these requirements (including conduct professionals, public safety, and prevention educators) to discuss what policies or procedures may need to be updated.

View Clery Center's and StopHazing's free webinar to learn more about the Stop Campus Hazing Act.
Stay tuned for more information about our training series launching this winter.