Toby Higbie
@thigbie.bsky.social
I teach U.S. history & labor studies at a public university in California. First 40 years in the Midwest. Posting personal opinions about labor & migration history, worker organizing, higher ed policy, Midwest politics and regionalism. He/him.
These top-down initiatives demonstrate how out of touch university leaders are from what happens in classrooms and what students and faculty might actually need to engage the technical landscape. Just pushing products. Happening in K-12 now as well
The thing that annoys me is how the idea of "AI competency" is either hilariously empty OR an impossible bar for most undergraduate students.
The weak version of this seems to be "showing students how to use ChatGPT and telling them that it can hallucinate." The strong version is an MA in ML.
The weak version of this seems to be "showing students how to use ChatGPT and telling them that it can hallucinate." The strong version is an MA in ML.
It’s been fun while it lasted: “Purdue University will begin requiring that all of its undergraduate students demonstrate basic competency in artificial intelligence starting with freshmen who enter the university in 2026.”
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
December 14, 2025 at 4:23 PM
These top-down initiatives demonstrate how out of touch university leaders are from what happens in classrooms and what students and faculty might actually need to engage the technical landscape. Just pushing products. Happening in K-12 now as well
Fascinating interview w/ field director of NYC DSA, Tascha Van Auken. Among many other things of note: the imprint of Obama 2008 organizing strategy devised by Marshall Ganz. The demobilization of that organizing cadre in the teeth of the Great Recession was a huge tragedy. Lesson learned.
New Dig: guest host @micahuetricht.bsky.social talks w @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social field director Tascha Van Auken. Tascha, architect of @socialists.nyc field program and entire electoral strategy, lays out 100k volunteers on 3 million doors in fascinating detail. www.thedigradio.com/podcast/thre...
Three Million Doors w/ Tascha Van Auken
Featuring Tascha Van Auken on how Zohran’s campaign mobilized an army of 100,000 volunteers to knock three million doors. Van Auken has been an architect of NYC-DSA’s field operation and its general e...
www.thedigradio.com
December 8, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Fascinating interview w/ field director of NYC DSA, Tascha Van Auken. Among many other things of note: the imprint of Obama 2008 organizing strategy devised by Marshall Ganz. The demobilization of that organizing cadre in the teeth of the Great Recession was a huge tragedy. Lesson learned.
Reposted by Toby Higbie
“You may have never heard of a Fusion Center, but a Fusion Center has likely heard about you.”
The state surveillance centers feeding info to the federal government | Opinion
State fusion centers, including two in Sacramento, collect and share mass surveillance data with federal agencies, risking civil liberties.
www.sacbee.com
December 6, 2025 at 3:52 PM
“You may have never heard of a Fusion Center, but a Fusion Center has likely heard about you.”
“The labor movement needs a freedom agenda,” says David Bacon—cities that work for everyone, opposition to wars abroad and anti-immigrant fascism at home, climate justice. Only an expansive social movement can organize the millions needed to rebuild labor power
labornotes.org/2025/12/toda...
labornotes.org/2025/12/toda...
labornotes.org
December 4, 2025 at 4:09 PM
“The labor movement needs a freedom agenda,” says David Bacon—cities that work for everyone, opposition to wars abroad and anti-immigrant fascism at home, climate justice. Only an expansive social movement can organize the millions needed to rebuild labor power
labornotes.org/2025/12/toda...
labornotes.org/2025/12/toda...
Reposted by Toby Higbie
Today is the 70th anniversary of Rosa Parks' arrest. Six myths: 1) She wasn't old or tired. 42 years old that day, she had a "life history of being rebellious" & had spent two decades helping to turn the Montgomery NAACP into a more activist branch alongside ED Nixon and Johnnie Carr.
December 1, 2025 at 3:27 PM
Today is the 70th anniversary of Rosa Parks' arrest. Six myths: 1) She wasn't old or tired. 42 years old that day, she had a "life history of being rebellious" & had spent two decades helping to turn the Montgomery NAACP into a more activist branch alongside ED Nixon and Johnnie Carr.
Power from the Past: Back in '78 organizers and legal advocates in Los Angeles blocked the deportation of over 100 workers rounded up to undermine unionization at a shoe factory. The strategy spread across activists networks to Chicago and other cities--an echo of the fight-back we're seeing today
In 1978, immigrant workers and unions stopped an immigration raid at the Sbicca shoe factory in East Los Angeles, setting a major legal precedent and showing how labor solidarity can defend against deportations.
Labor Solidarity Defends Against Deportations
In 1978, immigrants won a long fight with U.S. Border Patrol after a raid meant to union-bust.
inthesetimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 5:57 PM
Power from the Past: Back in '78 organizers and legal advocates in Los Angeles blocked the deportation of over 100 workers rounded up to undermine unionization at a shoe factory. The strategy spread across activists networks to Chicago and other cities--an echo of the fight-back we're seeing today
What happens when socialists run a major U.S. city? Good things for working people, says @ericblanc.bsky.social. Basic services like municipal water, sewage, parks, public education, safe workplaces, and union power--addressed the "affordability" crisis of the early 20th century. Lessons for NYC
If you want to do mass socialist politics, not just talk about it, good to learn from the biggest and most powerful socialist organization ever seen in America: the "sewer socialists" of Wisconsin
www.laborpolitics.com/p/sewer-soci...
www.laborpolitics.com/p/sewer-soci...
Socialists in City Hall? A New Look at Sewer Socialism in Wisconsin
It’s been done before—we can do it again in New York and beyond
www.laborpolitics.com
November 26, 2025 at 5:12 PM
What happens when socialists run a major U.S. city? Good things for working people, says @ericblanc.bsky.social. Basic services like municipal water, sewage, parks, public education, safe workplaces, and union power--addressed the "affordability" crisis of the early 20th century. Lessons for NYC
Reposted by Toby Higbie
This Day in Labor History: November 19, 1915. Utah executed IWW organizer Joe Hill for a murder he almost certainly did not commit. But he was an Wobbly and dispensable to society, especially in Utah, a starkly conservative western state outraged by the sheer existence of these radicals!!!
November 19, 2025 at 1:59 PM
This Day in Labor History: November 19, 1915. Utah executed IWW organizer Joe Hill for a murder he almost certainly did not commit. But he was an Wobbly and dispensable to society, especially in Utah, a starkly conservative western state outraged by the sheer existence of these radicals!!!
“Hovering over all proposed solutions was the prospect of faculty unionization.… A lot of tenure-track faculty are now where graduate students were a few decades go.”
@cnewf.bsky.social reflects on his recent tour of U.S. universities
utotherescue.blogspot.com/2025/11/line...
@cnewf.bsky.social reflects on his recent tour of U.S. universities
utotherescue.blogspot.com/2025/11/line...
Liner Note 42. Since Your Power is the Story Then Never Interrupt It
Indiana University on November 6, 2025 Critiquing universities is one thing and rebuilding them is another. Getting from the first to...
utotherescue.blogspot.com
November 17, 2025 at 1:29 PM
“Hovering over all proposed solutions was the prospect of faculty unionization.… A lot of tenure-track faculty are now where graduate students were a few decades go.”
@cnewf.bsky.social reflects on his recent tour of U.S. universities
utotherescue.blogspot.com/2025/11/line...
@cnewf.bsky.social reflects on his recent tour of U.S. universities
utotherescue.blogspot.com/2025/11/line...
Great wrap of education news in the recent elections. Turns out defending public education is popular!
Also… Arne Duncan launching a trial ballon for a Rahm Emanuel presidential bid?? I’d rather not.
Also… Arne Duncan launching a trial ballon for a Rahm Emanuel presidential bid?? I’d rather not.
Education played a surprising role in powering this week's blue wave. I wrote about what went down, why it matters and what's next educationwars.substack.com/p/education-...
Education Helped Power the Blue Wave
10 surprising election takeaways
educationwars.substack.com
November 16, 2025 at 6:27 PM
Great wrap of education news in the recent elections. Turns out defending public education is popular!
Also… Arne Duncan launching a trial ballon for a Rahm Emanuel presidential bid?? I’d rather not.
Also… Arne Duncan launching a trial ballon for a Rahm Emanuel presidential bid?? I’d rather not.
”The resolution agreements, which exhibit high degrees of uniformity, are an emerging blueprint for a system of federal surveillance of campus speech and dissent.”
AAUP/MESA report explains how a novel approach to Title VI investigations developed pre-Trump, then took off under Trump II.
AAUP/MESA report explains how a novel approach to Title VI investigations developed pre-Trump, then took off under Trump II.
“This report underscores how the Civil Rights Act of 1964—which passed in response to years of nonviolent civil disobedience against racial injustice—is being misused to squash political dissent & speech that advocates for the human rights of Palestinians.”
— Veena Dubal, AAUP General Counsel
— Veena Dubal, AAUP General Counsel
Power & Pushback: New report details weaponization of antisemitism on campuses
A new report from the American Association of University Professors and the Middle East Studies Association reveals how civil rights law has been used to suppress Palestine activism on U.S. campuses.
mondoweiss.net
November 16, 2025 at 5:41 PM
”The resolution agreements, which exhibit high degrees of uniformity, are an emerging blueprint for a system of federal surveillance of campus speech and dissent.”
AAUP/MESA report explains how a novel approach to Title VI investigations developed pre-Trump, then took off under Trump II.
AAUP/MESA report explains how a novel approach to Title VI investigations developed pre-Trump, then took off under Trump II.
“One way or another, we need to get our hands on the steering wheel of AI.” @tedunderwood.com makes the case for higher ed engagement w/ AI development.
Okay, if ”steering” implies choice of when and how to deploy tools (or not) in research, teaching, management.
www.chronicle.com/article/ai-i...
Okay, if ”steering” implies choice of when and how to deploy tools (or not) in research, teaching, management.
www.chronicle.com/article/ai-i...
Opinion | AI Is the Future. Higher Ed Should Shape It.
If we want to stay at the forefront of knowledge production, we must fit technology to our needs.
www.chronicle.com
November 15, 2025 at 3:57 PM
“One way or another, we need to get our hands on the steering wheel of AI.” @tedunderwood.com makes the case for higher ed engagement w/ AI development.
Okay, if ”steering” implies choice of when and how to deploy tools (or not) in research, teaching, management.
www.chronicle.com/article/ai-i...
Okay, if ”steering” implies choice of when and how to deploy tools (or not) in research, teaching, management.
www.chronicle.com/article/ai-i...
Universities spend gazillions on EdTech software that doesn’t serve faculty or student interests and often doesn’t work well. But what if we got off that path and leveraged internal resources to produce non-profit systems? Here’s a proposal to leverage the CUNY systems platforms.
"Christopher Newfield called for academics to 'seize the means of knowledge production' by working 'step by step ... toward direct control of universities.' ... I think the most imperative, but also the most apparent pressure point for academics looking to act upon his call is education technology."
Mamdani Win Could Be The First Step Towards Seizing The Means of Knowledge Production (Let CUNY Socialize EdTech for All of Us)
by Matt Seybold This essay originally appeared on Matt Seybold’s The American Vandal Substack. We are grateful for his generous permission to republish it here. An understandable response to …
moneyontheleft.org
November 15, 2025 at 3:20 PM
Universities spend gazillions on EdTech software that doesn’t serve faculty or student interests and often doesn’t work well. But what if we got off that path and leveraged internal resources to produce non-profit systems? Here’s a proposal to leverage the CUNY systems platforms.
Much love to our UCLA student leaders who stuck their necks out to support the faculty and staff lawsuit against Trump's attacks on the UC system!
Especially grateful to the brave, steadfast undergraduate students who filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit.
Student organization coalition files amicus brief supporting lawsuit against Trump - Daily Bruin
This post was updated Nov. 5 at 1:02 a.m. A coalition of 25 student organizations filed an amicus brief Thursday in support of a lawsuit against President Donald Trump that alleged research funding su...
dailybruin.com
November 15, 2025 at 7:14 AM
Much love to our UCLA student leaders who stuck their necks out to support the faculty and staff lawsuit against Trump's attacks on the UC system!
Reposted by Toby Higbie
Especially grateful to the brave, steadfast undergraduate students who filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit.
Student organization coalition files amicus brief supporting lawsuit against Trump - Daily Bruin
This post was updated Nov. 5 at 1:02 a.m. A coalition of 25 student organizations filed an amicus brief Thursday in support of a lawsuit against President Donald Trump that alleged research funding su...
dailybruin.com
November 15, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Especially grateful to the brave, steadfast undergraduate students who filed an amicus brief in support of the lawsuit.
Reposted by Toby Higbie
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 14, 2025 at 11:55 PM
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
When we fight, we win! Judge issues injunction against Trump attacks on Univ of California. Faculty with @aaup.org are defending this public university
calmatters.org/education/hi...
calmatters.org/education/hi...
‘Unlawful coercion’: Trump can’t withhold funds or demand payment from UC, federal judge rules
A federal judge ruled Donald Trump cannot demand that UCLA pay a $1.2 billion settlement that would have restricted academic freedoms.
calmatters.org
November 15, 2025 at 2:51 AM
When we fight, we win! Judge issues injunction against Trump attacks on Univ of California. Faculty with @aaup.org are defending this public university
calmatters.org/education/hi...
calmatters.org/education/hi...
"The news comes as the first signs of winter descended on the Chicago area, including several inches of snowfall over the weekend."
U.S. Border Patrol boss Greg Bovino, fellow agents expected to leave Chicago soon
chicago.suntimes.com/public-safet...
chicago.suntimes.com/public-safet...
U.S. Border Patrol boss Greg Bovino, fellow agents expected to leave Chicago soon
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin insists “we aren’t leaving Chicago,” but the feds' immigration campaign is expected to begin winding down.
chicago.suntimes.com
November 11, 2025 at 4:34 PM
"The news comes as the first signs of winter descended on the Chicago area, including several inches of snowfall over the weekend."
Engaging discussion about ICE and the University with UCLA's @lucecaroline.bsky.social and @aaronkrall.bsky.social from U of Illinois Chicago faculty union discussing campus and community responses to Trump's anti-immigrant assault on AAUP TV
www.youtube.com/live/62uji3s...
www.youtube.com/live/62uji3s...
November 11, 2025 at 4:01 PM
Engaging discussion about ICE and the University with UCLA's @lucecaroline.bsky.social and @aaronkrall.bsky.social from U of Illinois Chicago faculty union discussing campus and community responses to Trump's anti-immigrant assault on AAUP TV
www.youtube.com/live/62uji3s...
www.youtube.com/live/62uji3s...
Reposted by Toby Higbie
#OtD 11 Nov 1887 4 of the Haymarket martyrs were executed in Chicago. They were anarchist labour organisers framed for a bombing because of their role in the fight for the 8-hour day. Learn more in this history of May Day, which commemorates them: shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/the...
November 11, 2025 at 5:25 AM
#OtD 11 Nov 1887 4 of the Haymarket martyrs were executed in Chicago. They were anarchist labour organisers framed for a bombing because of their role in the fight for the 8-hour day. Learn more in this history of May Day, which commemorates them: shop.workingclasshistory.com/products/the...
Tentative agreement for 20K @uptecwa.bsky.social workers across Univ of California campuses. Planned strike called off pending ratification of the contract by members.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
www.latimes.com/california/s...
UC reaches contract agreement with 21,000 employees, averting a strike
The University of California and the union representing healthcare, research and technical employees reached a contract agreement, averting a possible strike.
www.latimes.com
November 9, 2025 at 5:13 PM
Tentative agreement for 20K @uptecwa.bsky.social workers across Univ of California campuses. Planned strike called off pending ratification of the contract by members.
www.latimes.com/california/s...
www.latimes.com/california/s...
Trump is demanding $1.2B from UCLA and UC leadership won't fight back or tell the public that they are negotiating in secret. Write to the Board of Regents and UC Office of the President (UCOP) demanding No Negotiation with Trump.
cucfa.solidarity.tech/tell-ucop-an...
cucfa.solidarity.tech/tell-ucop-an...
Tell UCOP and the Regents Not to Negotiate! - Council of UC Faculty Associations
Send a letter to University of California President Milliken and the Regents to ask them to stand up for the UC—to provide interim funding sources and to ensure that the UC is not complying with the T...
cucfa.solidarity.tech
November 8, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Trump is demanding $1.2B from UCLA and UC leadership won't fight back or tell the public that they are negotiating in secret. Write to the Board of Regents and UC Office of the President (UCOP) demanding No Negotiation with Trump.
cucfa.solidarity.tech/tell-ucop-an...
cucfa.solidarity.tech/tell-ucop-an...
Eye-opening boat tour of the Port of LA today with UCLA Labor Studies students and ILWU guides @uclairle.bsky.social
November 7, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Eye-opening boat tour of the Port of LA today with UCLA Labor Studies students and ILWU guides @uclairle.bsky.social
Reposted by Toby Higbie
Wage theft is rampant in the meatpacking industry.
New research findings from the UCLA Labor Center shed light on the experiences of meatpacking and food processing workers in LA county.
📊 Full report: bit.ly/LAMPFP
New research findings from the UCLA Labor Center shed light on the experiences of meatpacking and food processing workers in LA county.
📊 Full report: bit.ly/LAMPFP
November 7, 2025 at 12:16 AM
Wage theft is rampant in the meatpacking industry.
New research findings from the UCLA Labor Center shed light on the experiences of meatpacking and food processing workers in LA county.
📊 Full report: bit.ly/LAMPFP
New research findings from the UCLA Labor Center shed light on the experiences of meatpacking and food processing workers in LA county.
📊 Full report: bit.ly/LAMPFP
Judge blasts Trump’s Chicago border ‘Blitz,’ extends curbs on use of force that ‘shocks the conscience’ chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...
Judge blasts Trump’s Chicago border ‘Blitz,’ extends curbs on use of force that ‘shocks the conscience’
Judge Sara Ellis said Trump's Justice Department lacks credibility, partly because of a lie told by U.S. Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino.
chicago.suntimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:55 AM
Judge blasts Trump’s Chicago border ‘Blitz,’ extends curbs on use of force that ‘shocks the conscience’ chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...