Zach Samalin
@zachsamalin.bsky.social
antediluvian new yorker; english prof at nyu; vp, aaup-nyu; wrote a history of disgust, The Masses Are Revolting; now writing about anticolonial theories of civilization; censorship; the “Controversial Discussions”
When I went to college a hundred years ago (2000-4), my school was actively recruiting humanities majors, w scholarships etc. Institutions incentivize areas of study in order to grow them. And they underfund them intentionally to strangle them. It’s not a random natural phenomenon.
one of the great, pernicious myths perpetrated about higher ed—which media, higher ed administrators, politicians, and a number of faculty are complicit in spreading—is that humanities departments close due to some combination of cratering student demand and unjustifiable cost. It’s not true
My humanities dept was relevant. Majors were up. Courses were 100% enrolled. Revenue positive, GE serving, etc etc. We were still eliminated.
The problem is ideological administrative destruction. Couldn’t write a report, a self study, or a spreadsheet against that.
The problem is ideological administrative destruction. Couldn’t write a report, a self study, or a spreadsheet against that.
December 16, 2025 at 12:56 AM
When I went to college a hundred years ago (2000-4), my school was actively recruiting humanities majors, w scholarships etc. Institutions incentivize areas of study in order to grow them. And they underfund them intentionally to strangle them. It’s not a random natural phenomenon.
Reposted by Zach Samalin
Calling all students, parents, and friends of the New School! Send the Board a letter TODAY - the deadline for us to enroll in voluntary separation and early retirement approaches!
Tell them to stop the cuts and chop from the top!
To send a quick letter go to linktr.ee/aauptns
Tell them to stop the cuts and chop from the top!
To send a quick letter go to linktr.ee/aauptns
December 14, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Calling all students, parents, and friends of the New School! Send the Board a letter TODAY - the deadline for us to enroll in voluntary separation and early retirement approaches!
Tell them to stop the cuts and chop from the top!
To send a quick letter go to linktr.ee/aauptns
Tell them to stop the cuts and chop from the top!
To send a quick letter go to linktr.ee/aauptns
Reposted by Zach Samalin
AAUP-TNS explains how the New School is vanguard in its approach to cuts, but its a model that will be rolled out elsewhere. Our fight is your fight!
Solidarity is the only way forward, and no data or consultant can control or manipulate it.
Join our struggle today: linktr.ee/aauptns
Solidarity is the only way forward, and no data or consultant can control or manipulate it.
Join our struggle today: linktr.ee/aauptns
The fight against austerity at The New School is connected to other fights in higher ed challenging admins that hire Huron, a consulting firm that offers data to justify budget cuts & faculty layoffs.
Ujju Aggarwal of AAUP-TNS says that solidarity across AAUP chapters & unions is the way forward.
Ujju Aggarwal of AAUP-TNS says that solidarity across AAUP chapters & unions is the way forward.
December 14, 2025 at 6:18 PM
AAUP-TNS explains how the New School is vanguard in its approach to cuts, but its a model that will be rolled out elsewhere. Our fight is your fight!
Solidarity is the only way forward, and no data or consultant can control or manipulate it.
Join our struggle today: linktr.ee/aauptns
Solidarity is the only way forward, and no data or consultant can control or manipulate it.
Join our struggle today: linktr.ee/aauptns
Reposted by Zach Samalin
Thank you @bradlander.bsky.social!
Please take two minutes and join our letter writing campaign, demanding the Board of Trustees take immediate action to STOP the MAGA-inspired violent austerity at The New School: actionnetwork.org/letters/stop...
Please take two minutes and join our letter writing campaign, demanding the Board of Trustees take immediate action to STOP the MAGA-inspired violent austerity at The New School: actionnetwork.org/letters/stop...
Stop the Cuts at the New School
The restructuring proposed by the New School’s upper administration
will harm faculty, students and the larger New School community. Faculty
and staff—who have given decades of their lives to the un...
actionnetwork.org
December 15, 2025 at 9:04 PM
Thank you @bradlander.bsky.social!
Please take two minutes and join our letter writing campaign, demanding the Board of Trustees take immediate action to STOP the MAGA-inspired violent austerity at The New School: actionnetwork.org/letters/stop...
Please take two minutes and join our letter writing campaign, demanding the Board of Trustees take immediate action to STOP the MAGA-inspired violent austerity at The New School: actionnetwork.org/letters/stop...
Reposted by Zach Samalin
The New School is a beacon of higher education thanks to the labor of its faculty & staff.
I strongly urge @thenewschool.bsky.social to extend the deadline for faculty to consider separation packages, engage in good faith & protect the programs that make New School a globally renowned institution.
I strongly urge @thenewschool.bsky.social to extend the deadline for faculty to consider separation packages, engage in good faith & protect the programs that make New School a globally renowned institution.
December 15, 2025 at 8:32 PM
The New School is a beacon of higher education thanks to the labor of its faculty & staff.
I strongly urge @thenewschool.bsky.social to extend the deadline for faculty to consider separation packages, engage in good faith & protect the programs that make New School a globally renowned institution.
I strongly urge @thenewschool.bsky.social to extend the deadline for faculty to consider separation packages, engage in good faith & protect the programs that make New School a globally renowned institution.
Reposted by Zach Samalin
Higher ed workers at The New School are rejecting the admin's strategies of divide and conquer to mount a unified challenge to austerity.
In this AAUP TV episode, Laura Liu of AAUP-TNS talks about how faculty, students & staff come together despite weaponized employment contracts that divide them.
In this AAUP TV episode, Laura Liu of AAUP-TNS talks about how faculty, students & staff come together despite weaponized employment contracts that divide them.
December 13, 2025 at 9:15 PM
Higher ed workers at The New School are rejecting the admin's strategies of divide and conquer to mount a unified challenge to austerity.
In this AAUP TV episode, Laura Liu of AAUP-TNS talks about how faculty, students & staff come together despite weaponized employment contracts that divide them.
In this AAUP TV episode, Laura Liu of AAUP-TNS talks about how faculty, students & staff come together despite weaponized employment contracts that divide them.
Reposted by Zach Samalin
Democracy Now! is looking for early-career journalists to join our team as one-year fellows in the video and digital departments. All fellowships are paid, full-time positions with benefits. More details at democracynow.org/jobs
December 12, 2025 at 11:11 AM
Democracy Now! is looking for early-career journalists to join our team as one-year fellows in the video and digital departments. All fellowships are paid, full-time positions with benefits. More details at democracynow.org/jobs
Reposted by Zach Samalin
This year, I set out to chronicle free speech under the Trump admin. No small feat. Trump attacks dissent & leverages the White House to go after critics constantly. But how? Read our bombshell new @freepress.bsky.social report. I'm proud & horrified: www.freepress.net/attack-on-fr...
Chokehold: Donald Trump’s War on Free Speech & the Need for Systemic Resistance
This Free Press report examines the Trump administration’s hostile relationship with dissent and free expression in 2025. It analyzes how Trump and his political enablers have sought to undermine and ...
www.freepress.net
December 8, 2025 at 3:33 PM
This year, I set out to chronicle free speech under the Trump admin. No small feat. Trump attacks dissent & leverages the White House to go after critics constantly. But how? Read our bombshell new @freepress.bsky.social report. I'm proud & horrified: www.freepress.net/attack-on-fr...
Reposted by Zach Samalin
Speaking as a private citizen on a matter of public concern, yes leadership is apparently planning to cut 50% of the faculty at the New School for Social Research in order to eliminate social research and replace scholarship with a trendy MA degree mill For the 21st Century 1/
December 6, 2025 at 4:24 PM
Speaking as a private citizen on a matter of public concern, yes leadership is apparently planning to cut 50% of the faculty at the New School for Social Research in order to eliminate social research and replace scholarship with a trendy MA degree mill For the 21st Century 1/
Reposted by Zach Samalin
anatomy of a smear campaign gone bad.
a 🧵about what happened when #MA @aaup.org chapters organized against a pressure campaign designed to smear & shut down a @bostonu.bsky.social webinar on antisemitism.
1/5
a 🧵about what happened when #MA @aaup.org chapters organized against a pressure campaign designed to smear & shut down a @bostonu.bsky.social webinar on antisemitism.
1/5
November 26, 2025 at 7:04 PM
anatomy of a smear campaign gone bad.
a 🧵about what happened when #MA @aaup.org chapters organized against a pressure campaign designed to smear & shut down a @bostonu.bsky.social webinar on antisemitism.
1/5
a 🧵about what happened when #MA @aaup.org chapters organized against a pressure campaign designed to smear & shut down a @bostonu.bsky.social webinar on antisemitism.
1/5
Reposted by Zach Samalin
everyone is talking about getting copies of University Keywords (or other JHU Press books) for all their friends, students, and comrades for the holidays, especially when it is 40% off with the code HHOL25.
November 24, 2025 at 2:03 PM
everyone is talking about getting copies of University Keywords (or other JHU Press books) for all their friends, students, and comrades for the holidays, especially when it is 40% off with the code HHOL25.
Reposted by Zach Samalin
The New School is now a place where students cannot major in History, Anthropology, Sociology, Global Policy & International Affairs, Global Studies, Urban Studies, or Environmental Studies. And more pauses, closures, and mergers coming down the pike this week. The future is uncertain.
November 19, 2025 at 1:15 PM
The New School is now a place where students cannot major in History, Anthropology, Sociology, Global Policy & International Affairs, Global Studies, Urban Studies, or Environmental Studies. And more pauses, closures, and mergers coming down the pike this week. The future is uncertain.
Reposted by Zach Samalin
B’Tselem presents: Our Genocide
Thursday, November 20, 2025
4:30-6pm
Silver Center, Room 300
31 Washington Place
B'Tselem will come to NYU to engage in a critical conversation about its new report & its implications.
Thursday, November 20, 2025
4:30-6pm
Silver Center, Room 300
31 Washington Place
B'Tselem will come to NYU to engage in a critical conversation about its new report & its implications.
November 18, 2025 at 1:49 PM
B’Tselem presents: Our Genocide
Thursday, November 20, 2025
4:30-6pm
Silver Center, Room 300
31 Washington Place
B'Tselem will come to NYU to engage in a critical conversation about its new report & its implications.
Thursday, November 20, 2025
4:30-6pm
Silver Center, Room 300
31 Washington Place
B'Tselem will come to NYU to engage in a critical conversation about its new report & its implications.
Reposted by Zach Samalin
🎷Get up and get down for higher ed 🎷
Our coalition rejects the compact!
We believe that higher education should be free from partisan interference and billionaire influence including that of Marc Rowan, who spearheaded Trump’s dangerous loyalty oath compact!
@aft.org
Our coalition rejects the compact!
We believe that higher education should be free from partisan interference and billionaire influence including that of Marc Rowan, who spearheaded Trump’s dangerous loyalty oath compact!
@aft.org
November 7, 2025 at 5:29 PM
🎷Get up and get down for higher ed 🎷
Our coalition rejects the compact!
We believe that higher education should be free from partisan interference and billionaire influence including that of Marc Rowan, who spearheaded Trump’s dangerous loyalty oath compact!
@aft.org
Our coalition rejects the compact!
We believe that higher education should be free from partisan interference and billionaire influence including that of Marc Rowan, who spearheaded Trump’s dangerous loyalty oath compact!
@aft.org
Reposted by Zach Samalin
Important new report out from AAUP & MESA, “The data…offers a detailed account of how landmark civil rights legislation – and particularly Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act – has become a primary tool to restrict speech on campus.”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Surge in antisemitism investigations at US universities after October 7 attacks, data shows
A report shared exclusively with the Guardian documents how a civil rights law has become a tool to impose ideological priorities on US schools
www.theguardian.com
November 5, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Important new report out from AAUP & MESA, “The data…offers a detailed account of how landmark civil rights legislation – and particularly Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act – has become a primary tool to restrict speech on campus.”
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Zach Samalin
Reposted by Zach Samalin
if Mamdani PR is listening I humbly request a victory speech cut to Mobb Deep
November 5, 2025 at 2:32 AM
if Mamdani PR is listening I humbly request a victory speech cut to Mobb Deep
Reposted by Zach Samalin
The hundreds of thousands of Black & Latino men who were subjected to stop-and-frisk did not have the option to “leave NYC.” They endured the reign of Bloomberg - the beloved choice of elite New Yorkers - who even supported changing the law to give Bloomberg a 3rd term.
November 4, 2025 at 3:20 AM
The hundreds of thousands of Black & Latino men who were subjected to stop-and-frisk did not have the option to “leave NYC.” They endured the reign of Bloomberg - the beloved choice of elite New Yorkers - who even supported changing the law to give Bloomberg a 3rd term.
Reposted by Zach Samalin
Andrew Cuomo has been endorsed by the Chambers Street subway station.
November 4, 2025 at 2:55 AM
Andrew Cuomo has been endorsed by the Chambers Street subway station.
I've lived my whole life in NYC + Chicago. As far back as I can remember, I've only ever detested, loathed, despised, abhorred, cursed, reviled or been outright horrified by the mayor. not sure I'm ready for this strange new chapter. what will I even call these unsettling feelings of admiration?
November 4, 2025 at 3:01 AM
I've lived my whole life in NYC + Chicago. As far back as I can remember, I've only ever detested, loathed, despised, abhorred, cursed, reviled or been outright horrified by the mayor. not sure I'm ready for this strange new chapter. what will I even call these unsettling feelings of admiration?
Reposted by Zach Samalin
Complicity of liberal institutions with the crackdown on student protest paved the way for the crisis of academia. To defend our work we must sever the link with the security state. Come join us at U of C tomorrow, where we will discuss how to confront the hiring of the inveterate liar John Kirby.
November 2, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Complicity of liberal institutions with the crackdown on student protest paved the way for the crisis of academia. To defend our work we must sever the link with the security state. Come join us at U of C tomorrow, where we will discuss how to confront the hiring of the inveterate liar John Kirby.
Reposted by Zach Samalin
“All across NYU, students and colleagues have been undeterred in their organizing. NYU leadership should follow the example of their courage and tell the Trump administration and grifters like Rowan to keep their hands off higher education.”
— @zachsamalin.bsky.social,
NYU AAUP
#DefendHigherEd
— @zachsamalin.bsky.social,
NYU AAUP
#DefendHigherEd
Guest Essay: NYU must reject Trump’s coercive ‘compact’ - Washington Square News
Zachary Samalin is the president of NYU’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors and an associate professor of English. NYU senior leadership should unequivocally reject the “Com...
nyunews.com
November 1, 2025 at 4:04 PM
“All across NYU, students and colleagues have been undeterred in their organizing. NYU leadership should follow the example of their courage and tell the Trump administration and grifters like Rowan to keep their hands off higher education.”
— @zachsamalin.bsky.social,
NYU AAUP
#DefendHigherEd
— @zachsamalin.bsky.social,
NYU AAUP
#DefendHigherEd
Reposted by Zach Samalin
I just don’t think we’re freaking out enough about this SNAP cut. I have spent my whole career working with people who rely on SNAP for food. People who work multiple jobs. Who have kids. What do you think happens when 1/8th of the population can’t buy food anymore? Everything is going to collapse.
October 30, 2025 at 11:20 PM
I just don’t think we’re freaking out enough about this SNAP cut. I have spent my whole career working with people who rely on SNAP for food. People who work multiple jobs. Who have kids. What do you think happens when 1/8th of the population can’t buy food anymore? Everything is going to collapse.
Reposted by Zach Samalin
They don’t even know who they’re killing. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/u...
October 30, 2025 at 11:41 PM
They don’t even know who they’re killing. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/30/u...
Reposted by Zach Samalin
1st Circuit in Stand with Us v. MIT: "[O]ur Constitution bars the government from forcing a private university to prohibit students from voicing vehement support for, or opposition to, the policies and conduct of the United States and its allies."
www.ca1.uscourts.gov/sites/ca1/fi...
www.ca1.uscourts.gov/sites/ca1/fi...
www.ca1.uscourts.gov
October 28, 2025 at 9:16 PM
1st Circuit in Stand with Us v. MIT: "[O]ur Constitution bars the government from forcing a private university to prohibit students from voicing vehement support for, or opposition to, the policies and conduct of the United States and its allies."
www.ca1.uscourts.gov/sites/ca1/fi...
www.ca1.uscourts.gov/sites/ca1/fi...