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Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
The Atlantic
Excerpt: A decade ago, when the government of Singapore announced its decision to pulp every copy of our picture book, And Tango Makes Three, in the nation’s libraries, we felt profoundly lucky. Not for the pulping—that was alarming—but for the fact that the First Amendment guaranteed that this could never happen in America.
We’re not feeling quite so lucky anymore. In 2023, our book was one of thousands pulled from library shelves around the country, and as we write, an evolving legal strategy being used to defend many such bans threatens to upend decades of precedent preserving the right to read. The danger this doctrine poses to free speech should worry us all—even those who would rather their children not learn about gay penguins.
Robert Shibley
FIRE
Excerpt: Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services accused Harvard of violating Title VI, which bans discrimination based on race or nationality at any school that takes federal funding. Last week, it was reported that Harvard is nearing a $500 million settlement with the administration to end legal battles.
In the past two years alone, HHS noted, Harvard has accepted nearly $800 million from the government. But the threat to Harvard’s funding is just the headline. The sweeping theory of “harassment” HHS used to justify its claim has the potential to cause huge damage, not just at Harvard but across the nation, by collapsing protected speech and misconduct into a single charge that could turn campus protest into a civil rights violation.
Sarah McLaughlin
The Next Move, Substack
Excerpt: For years, I’ve been sounding the alarm about foreign authoritarians’ pernicious influence on higher education in America and other countries. Especially concerning are the Chinese government’s efforts, which have harmed students and academics and incentivized universities to put their core values on the backburner.
But now, the call is coming from inside the house, too. Over the past six months, the Trump administration has undertaken efforts, ranging from illiberal to blatantly unconstitutional, to exact punishment on students, academics, and the universities they attend.
Eyal Press
New Yorker
Excerpt: In 2005, a “working definition” of antisemitism was posted on the website of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia, a research institute founded by the European Union. It described antisemitism, somewhat vaguely, as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.”
On July 23rd, Columbia reached a settlement with the Administration which required it to pay the government two hundred million dollars over the next three years and to broaden its “commitment to combating antisemitism,” in exchange for having hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants reinstated. Ten days earlier, Columbia had incorporated the I.H.R.A. definition of antisemitism into both its anti-discrimination policies and the work of its Office of Institutional Equity.
Jessica Blake
Inside Higher Ed
Excerpt: One of the Trump administration’s attempts to terminate diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives on college campuses and in K–12 classrooms has been struck down by a federal district court judge who previously put the guidance on hold.
Judge Stephanie Gallagher declared in the Thursday ruling that the Department of Education broke the law when it tried to withhold grant funding from institutions that practiced DEI based on one of the president’s executive orders and a related guidance letter.
Francie Diep and Eric Kelderman
Chronicle of Higher Education
Excerpt: Across the country, faculty activism is surging — a “direct result” of the federal government’s “attacks” on higher education, said Kelly Benjamin, a spokesperson for the national AAUP. Between January 1 and July 31 of 2025, the AAUP saw membership in its nonunion chapters, like Harvard’s, grow by 57 percent.
Interest in the AAUP seems especially intense at some of the most recognizable brand-name colleges, including those in the Ivy League. All of those chapters grew in 2025 — all but two of them faster than the national average. Columbia’s membership more than doubled. Princeton’s more than tripled.
