Erin Michaels
@erin-michaels.bsky.social
Associate Professor UNC-Wilmington
sociologist, race, education, immigration, neoliberalism, & the carceral state.
PhD CUNY GC
BOOK: https://nyupress.org/9781479823390/test-measure-punish/
sociologist, race, education, immigration, neoliberalism, & the carceral state.
PhD CUNY GC
BOOK: https://nyupress.org/9781479823390/test-measure-punish/
Pinned
Test, Measure, Punish
The risk of closure and repression in schoolsIn the last two decades, education officials have closed a rising number of public schools nationwide related to...
nyupress.org
I'm thrilled to share that my first book is now out!!!
nyupress.org/978147982339...
Many thanks to @ilenekalish.bsky.social & the whole team at @nyupress.bsky.social for helping me bring this into the world!
nyupress.org/978147982339...
Many thanks to @ilenekalish.bsky.social & the whole team at @nyupress.bsky.social for helping me bring this into the world!
Reposted by Erin Michaels
“Short bursts indicate an ICE sighting. Long whistles indicate agents making arrests. If you hear the whistle and you’re undocumented, said [Whitney Hu, a community activist and organizer with South Brooklyn Mutual Aid], ‘you hide. And if you’re somebody who’s not, you go to the street.’”
As ICE Street Raids Ramp Up, New Yorkers Stock Up On Whistles
Taking a cue from Chicago, community groups have distributed thousands of whistles in recent weeks — a grassroots system people in other cities have adopted to help neighbors sound the alarm.
www.thecity.nyc
November 17, 2025 at 1:44 PM
“Short bursts indicate an ICE sighting. Long whistles indicate agents making arrests. If you hear the whistle and you’re undocumented, said [Whitney Hu, a community activist and organizer with South Brooklyn Mutual Aid], ‘you hide. And if you’re somebody who’s not, you go to the street.’”
Reposted by Erin Michaels
If you have to get permission to teach in your area of expertise from people who are definitionally not qualified to adjudicate your expertise then you are no longer working at a university.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Texas A&M adopts policy requiring professors to get OK from school president to discuss certain race and gender issues.
November 13, 2025 at 11:48 PM
If you have to get permission to teach in your area of expertise from people who are definitionally not qualified to adjudicate your expertise then you are no longer working at a university.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
You’re working at a state propaganda factory.
Reposted by Erin Michaels
Increase in productivity since 1979: 87%
Increase in hourly pay since 1979: 32%
Just so happens that ~25% of workers were unionized in 1979. Today? 10%.
As unions declined, the super-rich have taken a larger share of wealth generated by labor. We must build back union power.
Increase in hourly pay since 1979: 32%
Just so happens that ~25% of workers were unionized in 1979. Today? 10%.
As unions declined, the super-rich have taken a larger share of wealth generated by labor. We must build back union power.
November 14, 2025 at 12:31 AM
Increase in productivity since 1979: 87%
Increase in hourly pay since 1979: 32%
Just so happens that ~25% of workers were unionized in 1979. Today? 10%.
As unions declined, the super-rich have taken a larger share of wealth generated by labor. We must build back union power.
Increase in hourly pay since 1979: 32%
Just so happens that ~25% of workers were unionized in 1979. Today? 10%.
As unions declined, the super-rich have taken a larger share of wealth generated by labor. We must build back union power.
Reposted by Erin Michaels
New York millionaires: threatening to flee the city since 2009
November 7, 2025 at 9:36 PM
New York millionaires: threatening to flee the city since 2009
Reposted by Erin Michaels
THIS is what power looks like. Starbucks baristas are standing tall, with their shoulders back and their heads high, and they’re showing the world what it looks like to demand a fair contract.
At SEIU, we see you, we back you, and we’ll be there with you @sbworkersunited.org every step of the way.
At SEIU, we see you, we back you, and we’ll be there with you @sbworkersunited.org every step of the way.
BREAKING: After months of stonewalling by Starbucks, unionized baristas just voted 92% to authorize a ULP strike unless Starbucks finalizes fair contracts & stops union busting.
If forced, our baristas will strike in dozens of cities on November 13 – the company's busiest sales day of the year.
If forced, our baristas will strike in dozens of cities on November 13 – the company's busiest sales day of the year.
Starbucks unionized workers say they'll strike on Nov. 13 if coffee giant doesn't finalize contract
Union members say they are ready to strike on the chain's Red Cup Day if Starbucks doesn't finalize a contract with their union by then.
www.cbsnews.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:33 PM
THIS is what power looks like. Starbucks baristas are standing tall, with their shoulders back and their heads high, and they’re showing the world what it looks like to demand a fair contract.
At SEIU, we see you, we back you, and we’ll be there with you @sbworkersunited.org every step of the way.
At SEIU, we see you, we back you, and we’ll be there with you @sbworkersunited.org every step of the way.
Reposted by Erin Michaels
"Immigrant women have always been the quiet architects of change in NYC. Jewish and Italian garment workers led strikes... Chinese immigrant women organized tenant associations ... Puerto Rican and Dominican mothers built tenant unions ...Caribbean women transformed the city's care economy"
Meet the Aunties Behind Zohran Mamdani's Historic Campaign
The mayoral candidate's meteoric rise was fueled by older immigrant women—long-time, experienced organizers who are often overlooked
www.harpersbazaar.com
November 3, 2025 at 5:49 PM
"Immigrant women have always been the quiet architects of change in NYC. Jewish and Italian garment workers led strikes... Chinese immigrant women organized tenant associations ... Puerto Rican and Dominican mothers built tenant unions ...Caribbean women transformed the city's care economy"
Reposted by Erin Michaels
Gene Nichol, a professor of constitutional law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said Newby had essentially turned the court into an arm of the Republican Party.
“Newby... has become the chief justice who destroyed the North Carolina Supreme Court as an impartial institution.”
“Newby... has become the chief justice who destroyed the North Carolina Supreme Court as an impartial institution.”
NEW: Paul Newby, a born-again Christian, has turned his perch atop North Carolina’s Supreme Court into an instrument of political power.
Over two decades, he’s driven changes that have reverberated well beyond the borders of his state.
By @dougbockclark.bsky.social
Over two decades, he’s driven changes that have reverberated well beyond the borders of his state.
By @dougbockclark.bsky.social
“Biblical Justice, Equal Justice, for All”: How North Carolina’s Chief Justice Transformed His State and America
Paul Newby, a born-again Christian, has turned his perch atop North Carolina’s Supreme Court into an instrument of political power. Over two decades, he’s driven changes that have reverberated well be...
www.propublica.org
October 30, 2025 at 2:07 PM
Gene Nichol, a professor of constitutional law at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, said Newby had essentially turned the court into an arm of the Republican Party.
“Newby... has become the chief justice who destroyed the North Carolina Supreme Court as an impartial institution.”
“Newby... has become the chief justice who destroyed the North Carolina Supreme Court as an impartial institution.”
Reposted by Erin Michaels
In lieu of prepping for the day's lessons, teachers are patrolling the streets to protect children and families from the terror of ICE and MAGA's secret police.
‘This community is not the enemy’: Hillsboro teachers form neighborhood ICE watch
ICE arrested a parent near Eastwood Elementary School last Monday. Teachers and parents have been patrolling the neighborhood every morning since.
www.opb.org
October 30, 2025 at 12:04 PM
In lieu of prepping for the day's lessons, teachers are patrolling the streets to protect children and families from the terror of ICE and MAGA's secret police.
Reposted by Erin Michaels
Take a lesson from the Black Panthers who understood how to feed people
If I were running the DNC, there would be Democratic Party sponsored food relief banks across the country right now that specifically welcomed anyone regardless of party affiliation.
Along with the food, there could be voter registration and links to runforsomething.net
Along with the food, there could be voter registration and links to runforsomething.net
October 26, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Take a lesson from the Black Panthers who understood how to feed people
Reposted by Erin Michaels
I'm not sure you can get more marie antoinette than taking away food stamps before thanksgiving while you build a gold and marble dance hall so the other crooks can bring bribe you over a badly-cooked (argentinian) steak
October 22, 2025 at 11:53 AM
I'm not sure you can get more marie antoinette than taking away food stamps before thanksgiving while you build a gold and marble dance hall so the other crooks can bring bribe you over a badly-cooked (argentinian) steak
Reposted by Erin Michaels
A growing number of universities are using spoken "policies" to scrub transgender identity from course content and scare faculty members into compliance with legally fuzzy rules that violate academic freedom. More at @insidehighered.com: www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
#AcademicSky
#AcademicSky
Unwritten Policies Sow Faculty Fears. Are They Enforceable?
A growing number of institutions are censoring faculty speech and instruction through murky verbal directives that sow fear and confusion. Can they be enforced?
www.insidehighered.com
October 22, 2025 at 3:32 PM
A growing number of universities are using spoken "policies" to scrub transgender identity from course content and scare faculty members into compliance with legally fuzzy rules that violate academic freedom. More at @insidehighered.com: www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...
#AcademicSky
#AcademicSky
Reposted by Erin Michaels
A lot going on here but, every Social Studies teacher knows that the number of school leaders and decision makers who dismiss and have dismissed Social Studies content/standards as not their biggest issues for decades is directly correlated with *how we got here*
NEW: Oklahoma’s social studies standards, written with the help of the right-wing group behind Project 2025, now include roughly 40 points about Christianity that students should learn as well as skepticism about the 2020 election and COVID-19’s origins.
By @jsmithrichards.bsky.social
By @jsmithrichards.bsky.social
This Is Ground Zero in the Conservative Quest for More Patriotic and Christian Public Schools
Oklahoma has spent years reshaping public schools to integrate lessons about Jesus and encourage pride in America’s history. By the time the second Trump administration began espousing its “America Fi...
www.propublica.org
October 22, 2025 at 10:37 AM
A lot going on here but, every Social Studies teacher knows that the number of school leaders and decision makers who dismiss and have dismissed Social Studies content/standards as not their biggest issues for decades is directly correlated with *how we got here*
Reposted by Erin Michaels
Oh High Point, you rascal
I'm quoted in this Wall Street Journal piece on High Point University, which has gone all-in on amenities (a $40,000-per year housing and dining plan!) to attract modest-achieving, high-income students.
How a Small North Carolina College Became a Magnet for Wealthy Students
As Trump slashes funding, schools are trying to attract the limited pool of higher-end families. High Point University is a blueprint.
www.wsj.com
October 21, 2025 at 12:58 PM
Oh High Point, you rascal
Reposted by Erin Michaels
I don't know the author of this storybook about the Portland Frog but it's hilarious and I'd gladly have it read to me every night. 🐸😆
October 20, 2025 at 12:42 AM
I don't know the author of this storybook about the Portland Frog but it's hilarious and I'd gladly have it read to me every night. 🐸😆
Reposted by Erin Michaels
Good job, America!
Second "No Kings Day" protests likely the largest single-day political demonstration since 1970, with 4.2-7.6 million participants www.gelliottmorris.com/p/second-no-...
Second "No Kings Day" protests likely the largest single-day political demonstration since 1970, with 4.2-7.6 million participants www.gelliottmorris.com/p/second-no-...
Second "No Kings Day" protests likely the largest single-day political demonstration since 1970, with 4.2-7.6 million participants
Here are the initial results from our crowdsourced crowd-counting estimates
www.gelliottmorris.com
October 19, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Good job, America!
Second "No Kings Day" protests likely the largest single-day political demonstration since 1970, with 4.2-7.6 million participants www.gelliottmorris.com/p/second-no-...
Second "No Kings Day" protests likely the largest single-day political demonstration since 1970, with 4.2-7.6 million participants www.gelliottmorris.com/p/second-no-...
Reposted by Erin Michaels
In social movement studies, we talk about how marches and protests expand the threshold of acceptable risk so that people take more and bigger social risks IN PUBLIC, EN MASSE. This is extremely important for the bourgeois white folks holding signs and building social rapport.
Not a shitpost: #NoKings is feel-good performative activism for comfortable mostly upper and upper middle class white folks and that’s good, actually. Millions of people in the streets protesting a fascist regime is good. It is good for the normie baseline to be massive displays of public dissent.
October 19, 2025 at 1:44 AM
In social movement studies, we talk about how marches and protests expand the threshold of acceptable risk so that people take more and bigger social risks IN PUBLIC, EN MASSE. This is extremely important for the bourgeois white folks holding signs and building social rapport.
Reposted by Erin Michaels
Sociology professor jobs in Copenhagen 🇩🇰!
Repost: We're hiring! Open rank. At least 2 profs.
More details 👇
Repost: We're hiring! Open rank. At least 2 profs.
More details 👇
We're hiring in wonderful Copenhagen 🇩🇰
Two or more open rank sociology professorships (tt assistant, associate with tenure, or full prof with tenure).
You'll join a leading sociology department in Europe with many core fields represented!
#sociology
More 👇
jobportal.ku.dk/videnskabeli...
Two or more open rank sociology professorships (tt assistant, associate with tenure, or full prof with tenure).
You'll join a leading sociology department in Europe with many core fields represented!
#sociology
More 👇
jobportal.ku.dk/videnskabeli...
Call for two or more open-rank academic positions in Sociology
jobportal.ku.dk
October 15, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Sociology professor jobs in Copenhagen 🇩🇰!
Repost: We're hiring! Open rank. At least 2 profs.
More details 👇
Repost: We're hiring! Open rank. At least 2 profs.
More details 👇
Reposted by Erin Michaels
We're hiring! The Labor and Employment Relations school and Economics department at the University of Illinois are recruiting for a junior labor economist. See ad for details, or reach out with questions.
www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing....
www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing....
American Economic Association: JOE Listings - August 1, 2025 - January 31, 2026
www.aeaweb.org
October 13, 2025 at 9:27 AM
We're hiring! The Labor and Employment Relations school and Economics department at the University of Illinois are recruiting for a junior labor economist. See ad for details, or reach out with questions.
www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing....
www.aeaweb.org/joe/listing....
Reposted by Erin Michaels
Cracks are showing in the resistance
Here for the "emergency" naked bike ride in Portland
October 13, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Cracks are showing in the resistance
Reposted by Erin Michaels
Most of these people are deeply trained, or at least highly educated, in humanities. Knowing isn’t being.
Anyone who claims that Silicon Valley would be better with more humanities education has to grapple with the fact that Peter Thiel was a philosophy major.
October 12, 2025 at 9:48 PM
Most of these people are deeply trained, or at least highly educated, in humanities. Knowing isn’t being.
Portlanders 💗
Portland's famous Unipiper was spotted at the Portland ICE protest where he played his bagpipes in front of Santa, Mr. Potato Head, Garfield and more -- all while surrounded by bubbles.
More on how the tone of Portland's protests has shifted: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...
More on how the tone of Portland's protests has shifted: www.oregonlive.com/crime/2025/1...
October 12, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Portlanders 💗
“This “compact” is more like an invitation to borrow money from the mob, with substantial control and future penalties assured.”
October 9, 2025 at 11:21 AM
“This “compact” is more like an invitation to borrow money from the mob, with substantial control and future penalties assured.”
Reposted by Erin Michaels
Everyone in academia should read this story. I don't know Mark personally but I know his work (wishing him and his family safe passage out of the US)! 👇
Rutgers Professor @mark-bray.bsky.social, who studies & writes about Antifascism,Tries to Flee to Spain After Death Threats
By the time he & his family reached the gate, their tickets were cancelled.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/n... flagrantly & appallingly lawless. Hope he & his family are ok.
By the time he & his family reached the gate, their tickets were cancelled.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/n... flagrantly & appallingly lawless. Hope he & his family are ok.
Rutgers Expert on Antifa Tries to Flee to Spain After Death Threats
www.nytimes.com
October 9, 2025 at 10:36 AM
Everyone in academia should read this story. I don't know Mark personally but I know his work (wishing him and his family safe passage out of the US)! 👇
Reposted by Erin Michaels
