Ali Watts
@aliwatts13.bsky.social
She/her. Asst Prof of Higher Ed, big old nerd. Social movement learning. Playful/resistant pedagogy. Politics of funding. And dog pics
Reposted by Ali Watts
Faculty leaders at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln delivered an unprecedented rebuke to Chancellor Rodney Bennett, passing the institution's first no-confidence resolution against a chancellor in its 157-year history. https://bit.ly/43GyZbC
November 21, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Faculty leaders at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln delivered an unprecedented rebuke to Chancellor Rodney Bennett, passing the institution's first no-confidence resolution against a chancellor in its 157-year history. https://bit.ly/43GyZbC
Reposted by Ali Watts
Harvard AAUP fights to extend free speech protections to international students & faculty!
“We look forward to seeing the remedy Judge Young will put in place to protect our community — and campuses across the country — from the government’s unconstitutional conduct.”
- Kirsten Weld, AAUP Harvard
“We look forward to seeing the remedy Judge Young will put in place to protect our community — and campuses across the country — from the government’s unconstitutional conduct.”
- Kirsten Weld, AAUP Harvard
Harvard AAUP Asks Judge To Extend Speech Protections to International Students, Faculty Nationwide | News | The Harvard Crimson
After winning a court victory against the Trump administration in September, a Harvard faculty group is asking a federal judge to extend protections for noncitizens’ speech nationwide.
www.thecrimson.com
November 15, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Harvard AAUP fights to extend free speech protections to international students & faculty!
“We look forward to seeing the remedy Judge Young will put in place to protect our community — and campuses across the country — from the government’s unconstitutional conduct.”
- Kirsten Weld, AAUP Harvard
“We look forward to seeing the remedy Judge Young will put in place to protect our community — and campuses across the country — from the government’s unconstitutional conduct.”
- Kirsten Weld, AAUP Harvard
Reposted by Ali Watts
Reposted by Ali Watts
🚨🚨 RED ALERT — #Ohio's Republican supermajority is trying to rush several harmful bills through the Statehouse next week before anyone notices
Click on a bill or two and take action: OhioBills.wtf
Click on a bill or two and take action: OhioBills.wtf
November 14, 2025 at 11:01 PM
🚨🚨 RED ALERT — #Ohio's Republican supermajority is trying to rush several harmful bills through the Statehouse next week before anyone notices
Click on a bill or two and take action: OhioBills.wtf
Click on a bill or two and take action: OhioBills.wtf
Reposted by Ali Watts
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
Reposted by Ali Watts
TODAY: Students and workers at 100+ schools are walking out of class and rallying to demand their administrations reject fascism.
Here's the crowd at Duke.
Here's the crowd at Duke.
November 7, 2025 at 7:22 PM
TODAY: Students and workers at 100+ schools are walking out of class and rallying to demand their administrations reject fascism.
Here's the crowd at Duke.
Here's the crowd at Duke.
Reposted by Ali Watts
(🚨) With the Zohran Mamdani win in New York City, we can now say that Trump and his Republican Party won a total of ZERO of the major candidate races on Election Day 2025.
It was an utter blowout.
(Some ballot issues, including a key one in California, have not reported any votes yet.)
It was an utter blowout.
(Some ballot issues, including a key one in California, have not reported any votes yet.)
November 5, 2025 at 2:08 AM
(🚨) With the Zohran Mamdani win in New York City, we can now say that Trump and his Republican Party won a total of ZERO of the major candidate races on Election Day 2025.
It was an utter blowout.
(Some ballot issues, including a key one in California, have not reported any votes yet.)
It was an utter blowout.
(Some ballot issues, including a key one in California, have not reported any votes yet.)
Reposted by Ali Watts
Happy pub day! A book for our times and beyond. Get a copy for yourself and 2 for others who might need it.
It's publication day for Read This When Things Fall Apart! So grateful to our contributors and to @akpress.org for making this book a reality. This is a strange time to be promoting a book, but I believe it's a text that has the potential to help us right now. Please get yourself a copy. ❤️
Read This When Things Fall Apart: Letters to Activists in Crisis
Letters to Activists in Crisis
bookshop.org
November 4, 2025 at 2:44 PM
Happy pub day! A book for our times and beyond. Get a copy for yourself and 2 for others who might need it.
Reposted by Ali Watts
There hasn't been a lot of empirical evidence yet -- here's a start from Kim + Hamilton.
Faculty hiring of URMs decreases after state introduction (not passage) of anti-DEI legislation. Impact greater for teaching-focused schools, and increases with state revenue dependence. osf.io/preprints/so...
Faculty hiring of URMs decreases after state introduction (not passage) of anti-DEI legislation. Impact greater for teaching-focused schools, and increases with state revenue dependence. osf.io/preprints/so...
October 29, 2025 at 11:18 PM
There hasn't been a lot of empirical evidence yet -- here's a start from Kim + Hamilton.
Faculty hiring of URMs decreases after state introduction (not passage) of anti-DEI legislation. Impact greater for teaching-focused schools, and increases with state revenue dependence. osf.io/preprints/so...
Faculty hiring of URMs decreases after state introduction (not passage) of anti-DEI legislation. Impact greater for teaching-focused schools, and increases with state revenue dependence. osf.io/preprints/so...
Reposted by Ali Watts
Make your jokes about Faculty Senate meetings (we do!) but governance structures prevent costly fad-chasing! Small-d democratic procedures esp union workplace democracy *should* deflate overinvestment in the latest "innovation"
The centrist democratic position between 2006-2016ish was all “lean orgs!” And I kept saying, “oh yes sure make it easier for stable institutions to break.” We need to own how much our bleating about bureaucratic efficiencies created an easier-to-capture university.
Everyone wants to streamline bureaucracy, but maybe we'd get better results by making it *harder* for university admins to chase fads. Imagine the money we'd save with a mandatory cooling-off period before launching a "Center for Blockchain Studies" or dumping millions into the latest edtech toy.
October 20, 2025 at 1:22 PM
Make your jokes about Faculty Senate meetings (we do!) but governance structures prevent costly fad-chasing! Small-d democratic procedures esp union workplace democracy *should* deflate overinvestment in the latest "innovation"
Reposted by Ali Watts
Working on the book series this morning, and realizing I should post it here. We're interested in projects focused on contingent/precarious academic labor. Books are virtual open-access with print available.
First two books are available for download.
#AcademicSky
First two books are available for download.
#AcademicSky
Precarity & Contingency - The WAC Clearinghouse
wac.colostate.edu
October 18, 2025 at 2:05 PM
Working on the book series this morning, and realizing I should post it here. We're interested in projects focused on contingent/precarious academic labor. Books are virtual open-access with print available.
First two books are available for download.
#AcademicSky
First two books are available for download.
#AcademicSky
Reposted by Ali Watts
The more quickly and publicly prestigious institutions reject this, the easier it is for the rest to do the same (and, indeed, the more embarrassing it becomes to consider folding)
Penn joins MIT and Brown in saying “no” to Trump extortion move.
Penn rejects White House proposal for special funding treatment
With the decision, Penn becomes the third university to decline the offer.
www.thedp.com
October 16, 2025 at 5:28 PM
The more quickly and publicly prestigious institutions reject this, the easier it is for the rest to do the same (and, indeed, the more embarrassing it becomes to consider folding)
Reposted by Ali Watts
Student government leaders of MIT, UVA, U of AZ, Dartmouth, UPenn, Brown, and Vanderbilt united in their opposition to the "compact" proposed by the Trump administration.
October 13, 2025 at 9:28 PM
Student government leaders of MIT, UVA, U of AZ, Dartmouth, UPenn, Brown, and Vanderbilt united in their opposition to the "compact" proposed by the Trump administration.
Reposted by Ali Watts
My publisher’s been very patient. I’m not doing everything I said I’d do to promote this book (out in a few weeks) because I’m an organizer in a city under federal attack. My days are full and emotionally exhausting. Any help getting the word out means a lot. It's a book people need right now.
Read This When Things Fall Apart by Kelly Hayes | Pilsen Community Books
A bundle of letters to activists and organizers on the frontlines in catastrophic times from Let This Radicalize You co-author Kelly Hayes In social movements, some heartbreaks are all but inevitable.
www.pilsencommunitybooks.com
October 11, 2025 at 2:59 PM
My publisher’s been very patient. I’m not doing everything I said I’d do to promote this book (out in a few weeks) because I’m an organizer in a city under federal attack. My days are full and emotionally exhausting. Any help getting the word out means a lot. It's a book people need right now.
Reposted by Ali Watts
The Virginia Senate just told UVA it’s not getting state funding if it accepts the compact since UVA exists to serve Virginia, its residents, & their interests—not be a tool of the federal govt. Scoop from our student newspaper, who’ve been doing vital reporting www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...
October 10, 2025 at 9:45 PM
The Virginia Senate just told UVA it’s not getting state funding if it accepts the compact since UVA exists to serve Virginia, its residents, & their interests—not be a tool of the federal govt. Scoop from our student newspaper, who’ve been doing vital reporting www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...
Reposted by Ali Watts
The “compact” for higher ed is an unserious document written by unserious people from a position of spectacular ignorance. No one should take it seriously. Sadly, my bosses are taking it seriously.
newrepublic.com/article/2013...
newrepublic.com/article/2013...
Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down
How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education
newrepublic.com
October 8, 2025 at 3:03 PM
The “compact” for higher ed is an unserious document written by unserious people from a position of spectacular ignorance. No one should take it seriously. Sadly, my bosses are taking it seriously.
newrepublic.com/article/2013...
newrepublic.com/article/2013...
Reposted by Ali Watts
Teachers & public employees—know your rights online.
🗣️💻 Join @aft.org’s @rweingarten.bsky.social + experts from @penamerica.bsky.social & @ncacensorship.bsky.social for a webinar on free speech, digital safety & protecting yourself online.
REGISTER here 👉 sharemylesson.com/webinars/fre...
🗣️💻 Join @aft.org’s @rweingarten.bsky.social + experts from @penamerica.bsky.social & @ncacensorship.bsky.social for a webinar on free speech, digital safety & protecting yourself online.
REGISTER here 👉 sharemylesson.com/webinars/fre...
October 6, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Teachers & public employees—know your rights online.
🗣️💻 Join @aft.org’s @rweingarten.bsky.social + experts from @penamerica.bsky.social & @ncacensorship.bsky.social for a webinar on free speech, digital safety & protecting yourself online.
REGISTER here 👉 sharemylesson.com/webinars/fre...
🗣️💻 Join @aft.org’s @rweingarten.bsky.social + experts from @penamerica.bsky.social & @ncacensorship.bsky.social for a webinar on free speech, digital safety & protecting yourself online.
REGISTER here 👉 sharemylesson.com/webinars/fre...
Reposted by Ali Watts
I wrote about an under-appreciated aspect of AAUP v. Rubio. It is the first case of the Trump Era to explicitly identify and reject the primary and most pernicious form of speech suppression employed by this Administration: Chill.
balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/aaup...
balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/aaup...
Balkinization: AAUP v. Rubio and the Big Chill
A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics
balkin.blogspot.com
October 7, 2025 at 2:21 PM
I wrote about an under-appreciated aspect of AAUP v. Rubio. It is the first case of the Trump Era to explicitly identify and reject the primary and most pernicious form of speech suppression employed by this Administration: Chill.
balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/aaup...
balkin.blogspot.com/2025/10/aaup...
Reposted by Ali Watts
⭐️ A great interview with AAUP President Todd Wolfson and AAUP-UPenn chapter vice-president Lorena Grundy breaking down how Trump’s loyalty oath will destroy our colleges and universities. Leaders at all 9 institutions MUST SAY NO!
youtube.com/live/RB1FLkR...
youtube.com/live/RB1FLkR...
Breaking Down Trump's New Higher Ed Loyalty Oath Compacts and Why We Must Resist
YouTube video by TheAAUP
youtube.com
October 5, 2025 at 1:01 PM
⭐️ A great interview with AAUP President Todd Wolfson and AAUP-UPenn chapter vice-president Lorena Grundy breaking down how Trump’s loyalty oath will destroy our colleges and universities. Leaders at all 9 institutions MUST SAY NO!
youtube.com/live/RB1FLkR...
youtube.com/live/RB1FLkR...
Reposted by Ali Watts
BREAKING: A federal judge kept a New Hampshire law blocked that banned diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in K-12 public schools and universities.
Students have the right to an inclusive education — and we'll keep fighting this discriminatory law until it's stopped for good.
Students have the right to an inclusive education — and we'll keep fighting this discriminatory law until it's stopped for good.
October 2, 2025 at 9:54 PM
BREAKING: A federal judge kept a New Hampshire law blocked that banned diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in K-12 public schools and universities.
Students have the right to an inclusive education — and we'll keep fighting this discriminatory law until it's stopped for good.
Students have the right to an inclusive education — and we'll keep fighting this discriminatory law until it's stopped for good.
Reposted by Ali Watts
🧵 In 2025, book censorship in the United States is rampant and common. Never before in the life of any living American have so many books been systematically removed from school libraries across the country.
October 2, 2025 at 4:18 PM
🧵 In 2025, book censorship in the United States is rampant and common. Never before in the life of any living American have so many books been systematically removed from school libraries across the country.
Reposted by Ali Watts
There have been two hosts in the history of Reading Rainbow. The Legend of Literacy, LeVar Burton! And... me, Mychal Threets, a librarian 🥹🤯
I am a reader, a librarian because LeVar Burton and Reading Rainbow made us believe and see we belong in books, we belong everywhere ✨
youtu.be/e7es7qdWVnU
I am a reader, a librarian because LeVar Burton and Reading Rainbow made us believe and see we belong in books, we belong everywhere ✨
youtu.be/e7es7qdWVnU
October 1, 2025 at 5:51 PM
There have been two hosts in the history of Reading Rainbow. The Legend of Literacy, LeVar Burton! And... me, Mychal Threets, a librarian 🥹🤯
I am a reader, a librarian because LeVar Burton and Reading Rainbow made us believe and see we belong in books, we belong everywhere ✨
youtu.be/e7es7qdWVnU
I am a reader, a librarian because LeVar Burton and Reading Rainbow made us believe and see we belong in books, we belong everywhere ✨
youtu.be/e7es7qdWVnU
Reposted by Ali Watts
Ohio State just advised all staff and students not to attend the SACNAS (Society for the advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) annual meeting of 6000+ scientists -- which is in Columbus, OH this year! -- saying it may be exclusionary, even though it is open to all.
September 29, 2025 at 8:57 PM
Ohio State just advised all staff and students not to attend the SACNAS (Society for the advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science) annual meeting of 6000+ scientists -- which is in Columbus, OH this year! -- saying it may be exclusionary, even though it is open to all.
Reposted by Ali Watts
We are excited to announce Labor's Big Book Forum for 2025! Scheduled for Fri 10/17, 2-4pm ET via Zoom, this year we feature Rudi Batzell's (@rbatzell.bsky.social) new book: Organizing Workers in the Shadow of Slavery (@uchicagopress.bsky.social)
September 24, 2025 at 2:57 PM
We are excited to announce Labor's Big Book Forum for 2025! Scheduled for Fri 10/17, 2-4pm ET via Zoom, this year we feature Rudi Batzell's (@rbatzell.bsky.social) new book: Organizing Workers in the Shadow of Slavery (@uchicagopress.bsky.social)
Reposted by Ali Watts
"The report traces the AAUP's long history of opposing discrimination while defending academic freedom, dating back to support for desegregation in the 1950s. The organization has consistently argued that antidiscrimination efforts and academic freedom can and should coexist." #HigherEd
AAUP Report: Trump Administration 'Weaponizing' Title VI Against Higher Education
The report condemns the administration's "weaponization" of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to target campus speech and diversity programs.
www.theeduledger.com
September 23, 2025 at 11:03 AM
"The report traces the AAUP's long history of opposing discrimination while defending academic freedom, dating back to support for desegregation in the 1950s. The organization has consistently argued that antidiscrimination efforts and academic freedom can and should coexist." #HigherEd