Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
@llassabe.bsky.social
historian, author, speaker, podcaster
Resistance from the Right: Conservatives and the Campus Wars (UNC Press, 2023), Degrees of Liberation (SUNY Press, forthcoming!)
🎧 American Campus Podcast
https://linktr.ee/llassabe
Resistance from the Right: Conservatives and the Campus Wars (UNC Press, 2023), Degrees of Liberation (SUNY Press, forthcoming!)
🎧 American Campus Podcast
https://linktr.ee/llassabe
Pinned
If you're reading this please go to the library right now and ask to plumb the campus archival holdings. Chances are 60+ years ago a white guy wrote A History of This University and it's awful but it's a jumping off point for primary sources
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
More importantly George Leef is also platformed by libertarian/Koch-funded orgs such as John Locke Foundation and James Martin Center ($ from Art Pope...aka "the Charles Koch of NC"). Right-wing ideas about higher ed. pour out of these think tanks, and we pay the price. @kevinmkruse.bsky.social
As near as I can tell, this man was briefly “on the faculty” of a small college devoted to business education but he has big ideas for revamping the entire university system.
This article advocates for the “Faculty Merit Act” that would — get this — require all faculty applicants to submit their *SAT* scores. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Holy shirts that’s hilarious.
January 2, 2026 at 5:03 PM
More importantly George Leef is also platformed by libertarian/Koch-funded orgs such as John Locke Foundation and James Martin Center ($ from Art Pope...aka "the Charles Koch of NC"). Right-wing ideas about higher ed. pour out of these think tanks, and we pay the price. @kevinmkruse.bsky.social
Calling all listeners who like niche things (niche, get it?)
Perhaps a bit more specialized of a podcast, and likely of interest to politically-interested educators who likely follow me...
... I'm impressed with @llassabe.bsky.social 's @americancampus.bsky.social
... I'm impressed with @llassabe.bsky.social 's @americancampus.bsky.social
January 2, 2026 at 2:23 PM
Calling all listeners who like niche things (niche, get it?)
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
Bluesky is a lefty safe space until you say exactly one thing critical of the Democrats, which is not permitted under the terms of service and makes you Hitler.
December 29, 2025 at 4:15 AM
Bluesky is a lefty safe space until you say exactly one thing critical of the Democrats, which is not permitted under the terms of service and makes you Hitler.
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
Screenshotted because I don't want to dump on this person, but a prime example of blaming "polarization" instead of political whim, corporate power, and their dreadful combination in today's authoritarianism.
December 28, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Screenshotted because I don't want to dump on this person, but a prime example of blaming "polarization" instead of political whim, corporate power, and their dreadful combination in today's authoritarianism.
Buckley against liberal universalism (he kinda ate w this)
December 26, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Buckley against liberal universalism (he kinda ate w this)
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
Let me tell y'all something. In the 20s, 30s, and 40s, colleges were just hiring every one of their graduates. None of this "go work somewhere else first and then we'll bring you home" stuff.
December 23, 2025 at 11:17 PM
Let me tell y'all something. In the 20s, 30s, and 40s, colleges were just hiring every one of their graduates. None of this "go work somewhere else first and then we'll bring you home" stuff.
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
Bari Weiss is guilty of many sins but calling herself "punk rock" is the most infuriating.
December 23, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Bari Weiss is guilty of many sins but calling herself "punk rock" is the most infuriating.
Peak woke was when we cancelled baby it’s cold outside
December 23, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Peak woke was when we cancelled baby it’s cold outside
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
I appeared on American Campus podcast to discuss my new book, High School Students Unite!, with historian @llassabe.bsky.social. Check it out: americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com/2396665/epis...
The best representatives of youth dissent? High school activists! with Aaron Fountain - American Campus Podcast
High school organizers have much to teach us about young peoples' political priorities.Make a request for future episodes here!We're prepping for an upcoming mailbag episode, ask us anything here!Refe...
americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com
December 22, 2025 at 5:42 PM
I appeared on American Campus podcast to discuss my new book, High School Students Unite!, with historian @llassabe.bsky.social. Check it out: americancampuspodcast.buzzsprout.com/2396665/epis...
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
I love it when the other side just comes out and says what all of us know to be true.
Zemsky highlights how Beardsley focused on the key role consultants play in choosing college presidents, calling them “king and queen makers.” Consultants do love consultants and I suspect we will see a theme here.
December 22, 2025 at 1:55 PM
I love it when the other side just comes out and says what all of us know to be true.
Liberal pundits get extremely worked up when the right takes steps towards monarchy, but I remember how yall acted when the queen died
Let’s all get on the same page about monarchy = bad
Let’s all get on the same page about monarchy = bad
There is, obviously, no “Presidential Immunity Clause” in the Constitution. The conservative justices’ un-originalist efforts to imagine one into it cannot be supported by text or history. trib.al/riphAUZ
John Roberts and the Cynical Cult of Federalist No. 70
Alexander Hamilton’s treatise on executive power is one of the conservative legal movement’s favorite texts to quote—and misquote.
trib.al
December 21, 2025 at 8:01 PM
Liberal pundits get extremely worked up when the right takes steps towards monarchy, but I remember how yall acted when the queen died
Let’s all get on the same page about monarchy = bad
Let’s all get on the same page about monarchy = bad
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
Great news! @llassabe.bsky.social and I signed a contract for our edited volume, Degrees of Liberation: Public History, Campus Activism, and the Fight for Educational Justice. The book shows how campus activism drives change and advances public history work with communities. @sunypress.bsky.social
December 21, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Great news! @llassabe.bsky.social and I signed a contract for our edited volume, Degrees of Liberation: Public History, Campus Activism, and the Fight for Educational Justice. The book shows how campus activism drives change and advances public history work with communities. @sunypress.bsky.social
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
"The pause [in a faculty diversity initiative] was shared the same day that Hopkins announced its partnership with the American Enterprise Institute to recruit more conservative voices into academia, Makalani remembers. It was also the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr."
At Johns Hopkins, a once-robust diversity office has quietly withered, shrinking from 14 staffers to three, pausing programs for underrepresented scholars and restricting race-based initiatives on campus. The disappearing diversity programs at Hopkins:
www.thebanner.com/education/hi...
www.thebanner.com/education/hi...
The disappearing diversity programs at Johns Hopkins University
Under Donald Trump, Johns Hopkins University has changed policies and scaled back its diversity office.
www.thebanner.com
December 20, 2025 at 7:04 PM
"The pause [in a faculty diversity initiative] was shared the same day that Hopkins announced its partnership with the American Enterprise Institute to recruit more conservative voices into academia, Makalani remembers. It was also the anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr."
If you don’t coddle the men, they will become Nazis
December 20, 2025 at 4:46 PM
If you don’t coddle the men, they will become Nazis
This is one of HNN’s most read pieces in 2025? 🙏
Read @llassabe.bsky.social on the long history of politicians targeting student protesters — and of campus leaders abetting those efforts. www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/whos...
Whose Side Are College Administrators On?
There’s a long history of politicians targeting student protesters — and of campus leaders abetting those efforts.
www.historynewsnetwork.org
December 20, 2025 at 4:44 PM
This is one of HNN’s most read pieces in 2025? 🙏
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
Historians! I'm going to be at AHA, and I'm bringing my recorder. Find me and tell me the most influential writing advice you've ever gotten.
December 19, 2025 at 4:34 PM
Historians! I'm going to be at AHA, and I'm bringing my recorder. Find me and tell me the most influential writing advice you've ever gotten.
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
"universities are being infiltrated by a commercial industry that exploits students+faculty as data mines
frenzy w/o consulting their faculty, collecting empirical data on whether gen AI is pedagogically useful, or pausing to inquire about the long-term impact"
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
frenzy w/o consulting their faculty, collecting empirical data on whether gen AI is pedagogically useful, or pausing to inquire about the long-term impact"
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
Four Frictions: or, How to Resist AI in Education - Public Books
We are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.
www.publicbooks.org
December 16, 2025 at 7:05 PM
"universities are being infiltrated by a commercial industry that exploits students+faculty as data mines
frenzy w/o consulting their faculty, collecting empirical data on whether gen AI is pedagogically useful, or pausing to inquire about the long-term impact"
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
frenzy w/o consulting their faculty, collecting empirical data on whether gen AI is pedagogically useful, or pausing to inquire about the long-term impact"
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
An actual problem
US jobless rate for Blacks and teens surges in November reut.rs/49gilCM
US jobless rate for Blacks and teens surges in November
The unemployment rate for two U.S. groups that are often the most vulnerable to job loss in a softening economy - Blacks and teenagers - surged to the highest levels in more than four years in November, Labor Department data showed on Tuesday.
reut.rs
December 16, 2025 at 8:08 PM
An actual problem
What am I doing on this Saturday night? I’ll tell you what I’m not doing. I’m not writing.
December 13, 2025 at 11:13 PM
What am I doing on this Saturday night? I’ll tell you what I’m not doing. I’m not writing.
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
Many universities including @umassamherst.bsky.social now claim that federal cuts mean that the institution has to defund scholarship & teaching. My colleague Kevin Young recently published a report showing that in the UMass case, at least, this is completely wrong: drive.proton.me/urls/VS9FJ3D...
Proton Drive
Securely store, share, and access your important files and photos. Anytime, anywhere.
drive.proton.me
December 5, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Many universities including @umassamherst.bsky.social now claim that federal cuts mean that the institution has to defund scholarship & teaching. My colleague Kevin Young recently published a report showing that in the UMass case, at least, this is completely wrong: drive.proton.me/urls/VS9FJ3D...
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
Hey I'm on this week's episode of American Campus podcast @americancampus.bsky.social talking about my latest article “The Straight College Strikes Back: 1990s Backlash Against Inclusive Campuses.” Thanks @llassabe.bsky.social for having me!
STRAIGHT at Penn State and anti-gay backlash in the 1990s with Richard S. Price
Podcast Episode · American Campus Podcast · 12/04/2025 · 40m
podcasts.apple.com
December 4, 2025 at 2:54 PM
Hey I'm on this week's episode of American Campus podcast @americancampus.bsky.social talking about my latest article “The Straight College Strikes Back: 1990s Backlash Against Inclusive Campuses.” Thanks @llassabe.bsky.social for having me!
Reposted by Lauren Lassabe Shepherd
The Enrollment Cliff is a Miff
We first note that hand-wringing about the decline in US college enrollments has mistakenly linked such declines to the price of four-year colleges.
But the decline is entirely driven by two-year community colleges (and by for-profit colleges). The four-year sector is the dog that didn't bark.
But the decline is entirely driven by two-year community colleges (and by for-profit colleges). The four-year sector is the dog that didn't bark.
December 1, 2025 at 1:57 PM
The Enrollment Cliff is a Miff