Higher Education News From Around The Web

Dan Mithcell’s UCLA Faculty Association Blog:

  • No Change?
    From the Daily Cal: A study released by UC Berkeley’s Center for Studies in Higher Education found a correlation between the release of ChatGPT in 2022 and an increased share of A grades for classes with take-home assignments at a selective public university in Texas. However, Berkeleytime data collected by The Daily Californian found no […]
  • Straws in the Wind – Part 397
    From the Spokesman-Review: Nine Eastern Washington University majors – including urban and regional planning and gender, women’s and sexuality studies – will be discontinued following two unanimous votes by school leadership… The decision, made by the board of trustees following recommendations from the provost and president, comes after months of petitions, public testimonies and official […]
  • Avoid Hacking: Just say no
    The New York Times recently ran an op ed titled "It’s Inevitable — You’re Going to Get Hacked." Here is an excerpt:I run a public relations company, and there is one type of crisis no amount of planning can allay. It might start like this: One of my clients — imagine the founder of an […]
  • Good Health to You
    From the Daily Bruin: UCLA will offer a minor in health humanities starting this fall. The minor, housed under the comparative literature department, is an interdisciplinary program that examines how health and medicine are shaped by literature, culture, history and social experience, according to the department’s website….Whitney Arnold, an assistant professor in the Department of […]
  • Straws in the Wind – Part 396
    From Inside Higher Ed: The Florida Board of Governors… took a step toward barring undocumented students from admission to the state system’s 12 public universities. A proposed rule, discussed… by the board’s academic affairs committee, would block these students from enrolling, unless institutions already admitted “all academically qualified applicants,” starting in the 2027–28 academic year. […]

Chris Newfield & Michael Meranze’s Remaking the University

  • How to Make AI Good for the Humanities (Guest Post)
    by Chris Newfield
    Banff, Alberta back country on June 5, 2026  by Dennis M. Hogan, Lecturer on History & Literature, Harvard UniversityThis is the third of the talks from the CHCI panel, "The Humanities We Can Build Right Now" in Banff, Alberta. The others were Chris Nealon’s and Asheesh Kapur Siddique’s is here, along with my introduction to […]
  • A Response to the Report on Scholarship in the Humanities and Social Sciences by One of Its Targets (Guest Post)
    by Chris Newfield
    Landing Santa Barbara Airport on Jan 30, 2026    by Charlie Hale, Dean of Social Sciences and Professor of Anthropology and Global Studies, UC Santa Barbara. This is his response as a scholar, whose writings were called into question by the Report.  The response does not represent the views of the dean's office, or of the […]
  • We Need to Build Actual Political Support for the Humanities (Guest Post)
    by Chris Newfield
    From Tunnel Mtn, Banff on June 6, 2026By Asheesh Kapur Siddique, Associate Professor of History, UMass Amherst  This is the second of the talks from the CHCI panel, "The Humanities We Can Build Right Now" in Banff, Alberta. Chris Nealon’s is here, my introduction to the panel is here. Society needs the cultural knowledge that the […]
  • The Ceiling of Liberalism and the Concept of Capital (guest post)
    by Chris Newfield
    by Christopher Nealon, John Dewey Professor of English, Johns Hopkins UniversityThis is one of talks from the CHCI panel, "The Humanities We Can Build Right Now" in Banff, Alberta. My explanation of the context and my introduction to the panel are here.** Thanks for having me, folks. I had been planning to devote my short presentation to […]
  • Liner Note 54. The Humanities We Can Build Right Now: Introduction
    by Chris Newfield
    Banff, Alberta back country on June 3, 2026  This piece is my introduction to a panel at the Annual Meeting of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes in Banff, Alberta.  CHCI funds research initiatives, among other things–see their Climate Futures call and other initiatives. The theme of this year's meeting was "Building the Future We Want," […]

National higher education blogs of interest, starting with AAUP’s Academe Blog:

  • US Appeals Court Strikes Down Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act”
    by Hank Reichman
    BY HANK REICHMAN In a long-awaited ruling a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, on July 7 ruled that Florida’s “Stop WOKE Act” restricting how race and gender can be taught in colleges and universities violates the free speech rights of professors.  As the AAUP’s Special Committee Report on…
  • The Floor Is Being Removed: SACSCOC, Auburn, and the Dismantling of Faculty Governance
    by Guest Blogger
    BY GRANT A. MINCY Last year, when Tennessee’s HB2194 threatened to eliminate faculty peer review from tenure termination proceedings across the Tennessee Board of Regents system, those of us challenging the bill had a meaningful argument available: The bill created accreditation risk. SACSCOC’s Principles of Accreditation—especially principle 6.4 on academic freedom and principle 6.5 on…
  • First Community College Student Workers Union Formed
    by Guest Blogger
    BY ROBERT OVETZ The wave of unionization in higher education over the past decade has resulted in a new breakthrough. The first exclusive student worker union at a community college has been certified by the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB). While there are some unionized student workers at private colleges and public universities, most…
  • A Big Win for Academic Freedom
    by Hank Reichman
    BY HANK REICHMAN In a major victory for academic freedom and freedom of expression, on June 19 an arbitrator reversed San Jose State University’s despicable decision to dismiss a tenured full professor for her participation in pro-Palestinian protests, ordering her immediate reinstatement. The case of Professor of Justice Studies Sang Hea Kil has gained international attention. …
  • Academic Freedom and Democratic Governance for Learned Societies Too
    by Guest Blogger
    BY DANIEL A. SEGAL We—meaning both faculty and the AAUP—know that when our teaching and research disturb powerful interests, we risk repression on our campuses from administrators, trustees, donors, and elected office holders. This has certainly been the case in recent years in the context of both the second Trump administration and widespread efforts to…

Higher Ed Labor United:

  • June 2026 HELU Chair’s Message
    by Tracy Berger
    Throughout June, we connected with hundreds of HELU member unions, leaders, delegates, at-large members, and fellow workers across the broader higher ed labor movement. At Labor Notes in Chicago, it was incredibly energizing to spend time in person identifying shared concerns, discussing coordinated strategies, and gearing up for federal fights necessary to rewrite the future […]
  • July 25 – Grievance Procedures, Anti-Discrimination Protections & Organizing Strategy in Higher Education
    by Tracy Berger
    The Graduate Labor Organization at Brown University (GLO-AFT Local 6516) and Higher Education Labor United (HELU) invite you to a deep-dive session about grievance procedures, anti-discrimination protections, and organizing to win better and more comprehensive defenses in our workplaces. This is a hybrid event. Please register to attend either online or in-person using this form. […]
  • How California’s Adjunct Pay System Collided with Wage Law: The Long Beach Class Action and the Hidden Structure Behind Adjunct Compensation
    by Tracy Berger
    by Scott Douglas In early 2026, the Long Beach Community College District in Long Beach, California, agreed to an approximately $18 million settlement in a class-action wage-and-hour lawsuit brought by adjunct faculty. The case was backed by the California Teachers Association, which retained outside plaintiff-side employment counsel to litigate the claims. The significance of this […]
  • Donate: Legal Fund of Michigan Students for Palestine
    by Tracy Berger
    From our colleagues at the Graduate Employees’ Organization at the University of Michigan (GEO-AFT Local 3550): On June 10, 2026 between 7 and 8:30am, FBI agents, state police, local police officers, and the University of Michigan Police Department conducted a coordinated raid and arrest of 8 activists across Ann Arbor, Canton, Milwaukee, and Chicago. The FBI […]
  • June 5 – NYC Congressional Town Hall
    by Tracy Berger
    With HELU members PSC-CUNY and Rutgers AAUP-AFT, HELU is co-hosting a NYC-area congressional town hall. Join us in-person at PSC’s Union Hall (25 Broadway, 15th floor) for a town hall featuring candidates running for U.S. Congress in the June 23rd primary. We will spend 15 minutes with each candidate, including Chuck Park (NY-6), Claire Valdez […]