The far-right is gaining traction internationally. Keep yourself in the know about what is happening to universities, research, funding, k-12 schools, and other academic institutions.

As of writing this, Donald Trump has signed an executive order with the aim of dismantling the Department of Education, piece by piece. The order calls for Linda McMahon to shrink the size of the Department, effectively weakening it. This is the same strategy that he has been using against other organizations such as USAID, the US Institute of Peace, and the National Park Services.

Other academic organizations have come under attack. Notably, Columbia University has been targeted by the Trump Administration due to its high-profile protests against the current Palestinian genocide. Several students and faculty members have been wrongfully detained and/or deported, including Mahmoud Khalil, Badar Khan Suri, and Dr. Rasha Alawieh.

Additionally, many schools are having their funding cut for various reasons ranging from "antisemitism" to "DEI" policies. This includes Penn State, The University of California, and Columbia University.

This is not normal. This is not normal at all. Regimes target academics and scholars because fascism thrives on a stance of traditionalism, rejecting modernism and post-Enlightenment thinking. Fascism attacks rationality because it goes against fascist practices, and their push of anti-intellectualism is causing us to be seen as "the intruders" wanting to destroy their agenda. If you'd like to read more about how fascist regimes go after academia, I highly recommend Umberto Eco's essasy "Ur-Fascism", with a downloadable PDF available here.

Many of universities, despite hailing themselves as "beacons of academic freedom", have complied without hesitation to Donald Trump's executive orders. Websites have been taken down, research centers renamed, and activities suspended. This is not what beacons of academic freedom are supposed to do. They are bowing down to this administration in hopes that they will continue to receive funding (and, shortly after writing this, news broke out that Columbia University has made concessions to the Trump Administration and effectively given up in order to maintain any sort of funding). However, I find it unlikely that they'll maintain funding anyways. Academia is fascism's kryptonite, and it will be defunded as a whole, regardless of whether or not they scrub information considered "DEI" or not.

One of the first actions taken by this administration was to scrub papers or send papers in-progress to be reviewed under a close eye if they were found to contain a term or word that was considered "DEI" by this designated list. Papers and articles with these terms will be subject to the following review process:

Papers found to contain these words will be subject to a manual review process to determine whether or not the topic in question actually deals with a DEI-related issue. Seeing as the MAGA movement views white, male, and abled bodies as a "norm" to uphold, papers containing topics related to them will not be subject to the same review process as non-normative bodies. This repositioning of white, male, and abled bodies as a norm also repositions every other body as an "other", which is a foot in the door in terms of creating a national "other" to blame for America's problems. It also perpetuates the belief that non-normative American bodies have no history, no science, and no philosophy. It keeps allyship from furthering, as the common citizen knows no way of defending his neighbor; as well as this, it keeps minorities from knowing a way to defend themselves, leaving them even more vulnerable.

The right to research is directly correlated to the well-being of these minorities, and to protect these researchers is to protect the masses as well.

A large reason as to why many academic institutions are complying with Trump's executive orders is due to the fear of losing funding. As previously mentioned, there is a large list of American universities that have been threatened with cuts to their funding (a list that I am currently in the process of making and will make available as soon as possible). These threats claim to defund these universities for reasons of "antisemitism", claiming that they did not act sufficiently to crack down on pro-Palestinian protests on campuses. While it is important to discuss American ties to the Israeli apartheid regime, I believe that this is solely a cover, and that it is another method of attacking the academic world.

The above bill would prohibit federal funding to any college found to have "DEI" practices.

The above bill attacks the National Endowment for the Humanities and asks that the funds it receives not be used to carry out Section 7 of the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965. This particular section calls for the collaboration of Chairpersons with both individuals and groups to support humanities research, to provide and promote sufficient workshops, research that reflects American diversity, international exchanges, and humanities publications.

I hope to get more information soon. In the meantime, be sure to check out this other (unfinished) page tracking actions towards travel, immigration, visa acceptance, and the like.

The above bill would essentially force the American flag to be displayed in every classroom and require the Pledge of Allegiance to be recited by law.

The above bill calls for the development and implementation of a national strategy to prepare K-12 schools for "acts of terrorism"; the "domestic terrorist" threat alluded to in the bill is vague, but does not include school shootings, as the government has not defined gun violence in schools as being a domestic terrorist threat. It is likely geared towards democratic values instead.