Texas Conference of the AAUP

When DOGE Unleashed ChatGPT on the Humanities

Huge NYT article on the back story of those two weeks in March/April 2025 when DOGE illegally terminated hundreds of NEH grants. Gift link!!

www.nytimes.com/2026/03/07/a...

Picture of DOGE guy Nate Cavanaugh

Screenshot of my DOGE letter “Dr. Joseph Rezek Dear NEH Grantee, This letter provides notice that the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is terminating your federal grant (Grant Application No. FEL29509824) effective April 3, 2025, in accordance with the termination clause in your Grant Agreement. Your grant no longer effectuates the agency's needs and priorities and conditions of the Grant Agreement and is subject to termination due to several reasonable causes, as outlined in 2CFR§200.340. For instance, NEH has reasonable cause to terminate your grant in light of the fact that the NEH is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the President's agenda. The President's February 19, 2025 executive order mandates that the NEH eliminate all non-statutorily required activities and functions. See Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy, E.O. 14217 (Feb. 19, 2025). Your grant's immediate termination is necessary to safeguard the interests of the federal government, including its fiscal priorities. Any objections or appeals to this termination will be managed in strict accordance with the President's Executive Orders,

Last year, this guy (left) from DOGE used ChatGPT to find NEH grants that were too “DEI” for Trump, and canceled them, including mine, as shown by the letter I received last April (right). Huge new NYT article on the back story link below

UH faculty say overcompliance with course reviews could fuel self-censorship Some faculty say the process has been chaotic, highlighting the difficulty of enforcing a procedure that targets something as vague and divisive as “indoctrination” in the classroom.

“Forcing faculty to necessarily include ‘multiple perspectives’ on every issue is an impermissibly broad intrusion on faculty’s ability to determine how best to teach a given subject to students,” said Graham Piro, faculty legal defense fund fellow at FIRE.

www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston...

Incredible leadership from coaches across the country:

“The unprecedented pressure by the federal and certain state governments on colleges and universities undercuts the values we have sought to instill in student-athletes.” ⬇️

www.coachesforcampusfreedom.org

Censoring Courses Isn’t the Law in Texas. Universities Are Doing It Anyway. Teaching restrictions were removed from Senate Bill 37 after “relentless” lobbying, but board members and administrators have since enacted strikingly similar requirements.

We keep hearing the public university systems saying, ‘We’re following SB 37.’ I’m sorry, no, SB 37 does not give you the mandate to violate people’s academic freedom and free speech.

Shout out to all the Texas professors fighting for democracy.

@texasaaup.bsky.social @aaup.org

We've had enough of the censorship at Texas A&M.

Sign the petition to demand that the Board of Regents end their policy of auditing syllabi & canceling courses that mention race or gender.

The policy prevents faculty from teaching openly & students from learning freely.

Sign & share⬇️

End Academic Censorship at Texas A&M University The Regents have the obligation to uphold academic freedom and encourage, rather than stifle, open inquiry in and out of the classroom.

⭐️👏✊Please add your name to the letter below and join PEN America — and the hundreds who have already signed — in sending a strong message in defense of academic freedom to the Texas A&M Board of Regents.

pen.org/dont-censor-...

Notable A&M alumni warn 'excessive' politics is reshaping campus leadership Some Aggie alumni and supporters are voicing worries about Texas A&M University's independence from partisan politics.

The warnings and worries are correct....

#LetStudentsLearn
#BTHOcensorship

What Will Be Left After the University of Texas Destroys Itself? UT-Austin has collapsed its race, ethnic, and gender studies into a single program while a new policy asks faculty to avoid “controversial” topics. But the attacks won’t end there.

AAUP UT Austin Chapter Pres. Karma Chávez: “It’s going to be bad in every possible way, and students are going to be the biggest losers.” 👇👇

www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Snapshots of Censorship: Taking an Ethical Stand "My class was cancelled because it did not fit neatly into how the Board of Regents preferred classes to address (or skirt around) topics of gender and race."

Dr. Leonard Bright on the censorship of his course: “I encourage my colleagues + allies to continue speaking out against this policy, not just for the Aggies and our community at Texas A&M, but for faculty and students across the state of Texas and for America’s democracy.”

pen.org/taking-an-et...

Texas A&M helped me thrive as a transgender person. Now, it's complicated. A mostly good college experience is hard to square with the school that exists now.

back from my socials sabbatical because for the past few weeks i've been trying to put down words about how it feels to be trans and see what's been happening at my alma mater, texas a&m university.

on being trans, texan, and loving things that can't love you back: www.chron.com/culture/arti...

Texas AAUP-AFT Spring 2026 Meeting Web Site: aaup-texas.org

👀 Check out this summary of our statewide conference meeting this past weekend. Advice + action items below! 👇

Amidst widespread attacks on academic freedom + shared governance in TX, our ranks are growing. Texas AAUP-AFT is now 2,700 members strong on 100 campuses!

aaup-texas.org/blog/f/texas...

How Many Women Teach in FAS? Harvard Won’t Say. | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson Nothing has changed in the composition of Harvard’s faculty to justify abandoning our commitment to racial diversity. The gender ratio in FAS does not suddenly warrant eliminating a modest seminar pre...

Anticipatory compliance at Harvard is hurting higher education everywhere. It must stop. @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social

“Academic freedom —the ability to research, teach, & learn without interference is essential to the quality of education we offer in North Carolina.

Do we want UNC to go in the direction of Texas or Florida or we do we want to uphold the reputation, standards & quality that it has for decades?”

The War on Student Speech Following disruptive pro-Palestinian protests in spring 2024, the federal government, state lawmakers and college officials have imposed sweeping restrictions on student speech, resulting in a wave of...

I finally got time this weekend to read Josh Moody's great story on the war against student free speech (including student journalism). You should read it, too:
www.insidehighered.com/news/student...

UNC-CH Will ‘Scrap’ New Recording Policy, Chancellor Says The move comes less than three weeks after the controversial rules were enacted.

Congrats to @ncaaup.bsky.social & all who fought against this surveillance policy that would've allowed admin to hijack microphones in the classroom for secret recordings.

This move would've chilled classroom discussion & suppressed students' willingness to ask questions & take intellectual risks.

Indoctrination isn’t happening at UT, despite what regents say UT professor argues claims of widespread campus indoctrination are unfounded, citing research showing students feel free to think independently.

An op ed next to mine claimed indoctrination is happening. The problem with that? The author had little evidence, only one weak study that said it “looks like” students are being indoctrinated.

Believe the EVIDENCE. Indoctrination is not a problem for higher ed and no excuse for censorship.

Texas is on the front lines of the fight against government suppression of academic inquiry. We must continue to hold the line against those who wish to control the range of topics that can be taught in the classroom.

Keep fighting. Our democracy depends on it.
@texasaaup.bsky.social
@texasaft.org

Inside Texas A&M’s Scramble to Censor Its Curriculum Documents reveal widespread uncertainty, even among administrators, over what professors could teach.

www.chronicle.com/article/insi...

UT didn’t sign Trump’s “loyalty oath” compact, but it’s acting like it did.

📢 “Trump’s compact would have stifled academic freedom at the risk of weakening the prestige, standing + output of Texas’ flagship university…this apparent de facto implementation of central parts of the agreement puts the institution squarely on that path.”

www.statesman.com/opinion/edit...

Texas Tech regents take no public action on teaching race, gender Some professors are waiting for a final decision on acceptable instruction under a review policy created by the system’s new chancellor.

“Six weeks after the spring semester began, the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents met Thursday but did not publicly answer a central question facing professors: What, exactly, are they allowed to teach about race, gender and sexuality?” 🤨

www.texastribune.org/2026/02/26/t...

They're paying attention in France!


#BTHOcensorship




booksandideas.net/Pl...

Feds Lied Their Way Into Dorm to Arrest Student, Says Columbia President The agents entered the campus at around 6:30 this morning, just before a neuroscience researched posted that “Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help.“

The agents entered the campus at around 6:30 this morning, just before a neuroscience researcher posted that “Dhs illegally arrested me. Please help.“
www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/26/e...

University community sounds alarm after decision to pause Pan-African Studies graduate program Many in higher education are sounding the alarm after a sudden announcement by the University of Louisville to pause the graduate program for the Department of Pan-African studies.

www.wkyt.com/2026/02/26/u...

Homeland Security has abducted another @columbiauniversity.bsky.social student under false pretenses. More information to come.

A photo illustration of the shadow of President Donald Trump is cast on the wall as he selects a new tool from toolbox on a desk with a broken hammer lying discarded on it.

ED’s DEI Guidance Is Dead, but Trump’s Crackdown Isn’t

Diversity advocates say the courts have been clear—Trump has no justification to ban DEI. But other legal experts say the administration has plenty of other tools it can use to accomplish the same goal. https://bit.ly/4aCtZsn

#EDUSky #HigherEd

The president of Texas Tech was hired by the Texas Tech Board of Regents. Every regent was appointed by Greg Abbott.

Texas public universities will continue to deteriorate until administrations are made accountable to all their stakeholders, not just to one person with an ideological agenda.

“Provost William Inboden, the chief academic officer of the university, has advocated for restoring public trust in higher education. At the same time, university leadership has consistently undermined trust on campus…Trust without transparency is impossible.” ⬇️

www.statesman.com/opinion/colu...

He refused to censor his syllabus — so Texas Tech cancelled his class In another blow to academic freedom in the Lone Star state, Texas Tech canceled a psychology class after the professor refused to scrub race and gender from his syllabus.

www.fire.org/news/he-refu...