[AFT Higher Ed Leaders: Please share this message with your members.]
Dear AFT Higher Education Leaders and Members,
Trump’s administration continues to move at breakneck speed to undermine our system of education, our communities, and our democracy. The AFT is working hard to ensure that we resist these hostile attacks and provide support to our communities; below please read more about the ways in which we are working to serve the needs of our members and our communities.
President Weingarten to address international higher education leaders on academic freedom and democracy.
The innovations that we benefit from have happened is because someone had the freedom to think, the freedom to dream, envision and imagine. Yet academic freedom is under attack worldwide, from censorship and program bans to the harassment and detention of scholars. Efforts to silence academics threaten the next generation of progress; together we must defend academic freedom, as it is essential to opportunity and to our democracy.
Hear President Weingarten’s address on academic freedom on Saturday, February 8 at 11a.m. Mountain Standard Time.
Resources for defending our campuses and communities:
- Federal government’s grant freeze. The funding freeze is paused under a temporary restraining order; however, it has had a very direct impact on our members and on the public and could be reinstated. We are continuing to collect stories of how this freeze and other actions by the Trump administration are causing real harms and sharing them with the press. If you have members who have been directly impacted by this freeze and are able to speak out (even if it is off the record), please put them in touch with us at 202-393-5675. We will put them in touch with trusted members of the media. Making our stories heard is an essential step in the resistance.
- AFT’s Defending Higher Ed in 2025 webpage: We continue to update our resources here and have included more resources on immigration and ICE raids: https://www.aft.org/featured-resources/defending-higher-education-in-2025. Our affiliate, the AAUP, has also developed some very helpful resources: https://www.aaup.org/issues/political-attacks-higher-education. AFT and AAUP will be working together to build out more shared resources to defend our campuses and communities. We welcome your feedback on both sets of resources.
- Immigration Townhall: AFT held an immigration townhall last Thursday evening, January 30, that was attended by 3000 people! The webinar not only focused on how best to protect our k-12 students, it also contained a lot of information that is readily applicable to higher education as well. The webinar can be found here: https://sharemylesson.com/webinars/aft/immigration. AFT is working on an immigration townhall and resources for higher ed. More information soon!
- Lawsuit challenging Trump’s anti-DEIA executive orders. The AAUP, an AFT affiliate, has joined a diverse coalition representing the nation’s leading academics and higher education officials, restaurant workers, and the City of Baltimore to file suit against Trump’s two anti-DEIA executive orders. The lawsuit challenges the reckless and unconstitutional executive orders signed by President Trump shortly after taking office that seek to dismantle the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility within the fabric of our federal government and beyond. These orders will undermine higher education’s ability to ensure that students will have the freedom to learn and be exposed to new ideas and the ability to produce knowledge that makes life better for all. Learn more about the lawsuit here.
- DOGE lawsuit. The AFT joined the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE) and government watchdog groups to file suit against the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are violating the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) because DOGE’s members do not have balanced viewpoints, their meetings are held in secret, and its records are not available to the public. DOGE must be ordered to come out of the shadows and comply with the law before the sweeping, self-serving plans of billionaires upend the federal government and cause irreparable damage in the lives of working people,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten.
Learn more about the lawsuit here.
Upcoming events:
We’d like to flag two upcoming events that we believe will be of special interest to our members.
- AFT Higher Education spring webinar series:
‘Emergent Issues in Higher Education: Recent Trump administration directives impact on higher education campuses and communities.’
The change of presidential administrations also ushers in changes in how federal higher education policies are enforced and programs administered. In the past two weeks, administrative action to proposed regulatory changes in key areas of higher education received a great deal of press. This session will focus on the proposed regulatory changes at the NIH and NSF, immigration, and providing services to underrepresented communities on our campuses. Experts will provide an overview of the proposed changes and what is on the horizon for our campuses and communities. - AFT/AAUP Webinar with AAC&U: Exploring Faculty Perspectives on Academic Freedom and Civil Discourse
Academic freedom and civil discourse are essential for enabling faculty to explore controversial topics, encourage diverse perspectives, and maintain environments of open inquiry. However, mounting ideological polarization and legislative actions have made it more important than ever to understand the effects of this climate on faculty attitudes and perceptions regarding their roles as educators, scholars, and colleagues.
This webinar will explore findings from the recent report, Academic Freedom and Civil Discourse in Higher Education: A National Study of Faculty Attitudes and Perceptions. This national survey, conducted by AAC&U, in partnership with the American Association of University Professors and NORC at the University of Chicago, highlights faculty experiences and attitudes on freedom of expression, self-censorship, and civil discourse. The webinar will provide actionable strategies for colleges and universities to deepen their commitment to academic freedom and civil discourse.
Learn more about the event here.
Register here.
In solidarity,
Julie Schmid, Senior Director, AFT Higher Education
AFT, AFL-CIO
555 New Jersey Ave. N.W. | Washington, DC 20001