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Texas just gutted free speech on college campuses. Is your state next?
Texas just gutted free speech on college campuses. Is your state next?

Washington Post

time14-07-2025

  • Politics
  • Washington Post

Texas just gutted free speech on college campuses. Is your state next?

Laura Benitez is state policy manager and Jonathan Friedman is Sy Syms managing director for PEN America's U.S. free expression programs. As thousands of students return to college campuses this fall, they will find themselves stepping into an environment reshaped by political and ideological mandates. Across the country, state legislators have been racing to exert new influence over free expression in higher education. Now, Texas has surged to the forefront, closing its 2025 legislative session by passing two alarming laws that take effect Sept. 1.

Utopian Dreamers Founded This Alabama City. Now, a Fight Over Books Is Dividing It.
Utopian Dreamers Founded This Alabama City. Now, a Fight Over Books Is Dividing It.

New York Times

time04-05-2025

  • Politics
  • New York Times

Utopian Dreamers Founded This Alabama City. Now, a Fight Over Books Is Dividing It.

The public library is one of the biggest civic buildings in Fairhope, Ala. Almost every day across its 40,000 square feet in the heart of downtown, retirees gather for book club in the auditorium, teenagers play chess upstairs, and toddlers learn their letters at story time. Its light-filled reading room features a vaulted ceiling that rises above a stained glass depiction of two owls poring over a book. The library records more than 180,000 annual visits, one of the highest figures in Alabama, in a city of 25,000. It has been called Fairhope's Taj Mahal. Now, it is also a battleground. Residents have packed meetings of the City Council and the library board, debating books with sexual content or L.G.B.T.Q. themes. Some demand that those books be moved to the adult section. Others argue that amounts to censorship and discrimination. The acrimony resembles fights playing out in libraries across the country, as conservative parents and activists challenge such books. In March, the conflict in Fairhope escalated when the state's library board voted to pause funding to the library unless it moved certain books. Although some localities and counties in the country have moved to defund their own public libraries, the decision in Alabama may have been the first time a local public library was targeted for defunding by a state government, said Jonathan Friedman, who directs U.S. free expression programs at the nonprofit PEN America. The conflict has created a heated divide in the city, which is about a half-hour drive from Mobile in Baldwin County, on Alabama's gulf coast. 'We have people who are passionate on both sides of this topic — on a lot of different topics, to be honest,' Mayor Sherry Sullivan said. 'And I think when they're passionate about what they do, they don't really give up.' The fight in Fairhope is particularly charged given its history. The city was established in 1894 with the aim of creating a utopian community. Fairhope's founders were devotees of Henry George, a 19th-century economist who saw private land ownership as the driver of economic inequality. They established a colony in line with his proposal for land to be owned by the community and leased to residents, businesspeople and farmers. They wrote and received so many letters that their post office was known for handling a heavy volume of mail. And they opened one of the first public libraries in Alabama. Today, Fairhope votes Republican in deeply red Alabama — President Trump won more than three-quarters of the votes cast in the city in November. But the settlers' belief in the value of public goods and embrace of independent thinkers remain woven into the character of the city, which continues to attract artists, eccentrics and writers. One local novelist, Sonny Brewer, insists Fairhope claims more published authors per capita than anywhere else in America. Fairhope's library battle began about two years ago, when some parents became concerned about a display of books for Pride month in the teen section. Conservative groups organized and people began submitting forms asking for a review of titles like 'Water for Elephants,' 'Parts and Hearts: A Kids (and Grown-Ups) Guide to Transgender Transition' and 'The Kite Runner.' Brian Dasinger, a co-founder of the Faith Family Freedom Coalition of Baldwin County and a leading critic of the library, sees the city's progressive founding as largely irrelevant today and said it was twisted logic to think that 'because Fairhope was founded upon freethinkers, that we're supposed to allow our children to look at sexually indoctrinating and sexually explicit material. The Baldwin County chapter of a group called Read Freely Alabama organized supporters to make sure they were heard at public meetings, too. Elizabeth Williams, who leads the group, found inspiration in the story of Marie Howland, who established Fairhope's first library in her home in 1900 and who wrote a novel that was banned by the Boston Public Library. 'I represent the side of intellectual freedom,' Ms. Williams said. 'We are firmly for parental rights, in that we believe every parent has the right to decide what's appropriate for their child, but not to decide that for others.' The City Council never took up a resolution Mr. Dasinger proposed, which would have prohibited the purchase of books 'containing any content of a sexual nature' unless they were restricted to the adult section. The library's director considered requests to move 36 books and decided not to in all but a handful of cases. The books stayed on the shelves. But opponents found a more receptive audience in front of the Alabama Public Library Service board, which administers state and federal funds. 'I think we absolutely have a duty to make sure that our children are safeguarded from sexually explicit material and that we do put parents back in charge,' said John Wahl, chairman of the board who also leads the state Republican Party. Last year, the board approved code changes prohibiting libraries from placing any material that is 'sexually explicit' in sections accessible to minors. Critics say that label is subjective and vague. In February, after Mr. Wahl criticized the Fairhope library as 'out of control,' more than 100 Fairhope parents wrote in a letter that efforts to force the library to move certain material were 'antithetical to the spirit of Fairhope,' whose founders 'were inspired by an idea they read in a book.' At the state board's meeting in Montgomery in March, Rebecca Watson, a Fairhope parent who leads the local chapter of Moms for Liberty, a conservative political organization, passed out excerpts from books that she said violated the policy, including 'Sold,' a novel about a Nepali girl forced into prostitution. 'This book gave me nightmares last night,' Ms. Watson said. 'I stayed up almost all night reading these books, and I can't imagine a child reading this in our library.' The board voted 5 to 1 to pause the Fairhope library's funding, about $20,000 for the rest of the fiscal year. Although that amount represents only a fraction of the library's roughly $1 million budget, nearly 90 percent of which is covered by the city of Fairhope, many parents were furious. An online crowdfunding campaign drew national attention and quickly raised roughly $40,000 to cover the state funding. 'I don't like the fact that someone, just anybody, can go to Montgomery and make some comments and cause a pause in our funding, without some further investigation,' Jack Burrell, the City Council president, said at a council meeting after the state library board vote. 'That's not America.' Weeks after the state board's decision, Fairhope remains split. Carlie Maridakis, 41, doesn't bring her 4-year-old and 6-year-old to the library much anymore, in part because she wants to take a stand. She worries that her children could encounter sexual material while browsing and is particularly concerned about books that include L.G.B.T.Q. themes. She feels that the library has ignored parents like her. 'It's pretty much been, for them: 'Open and shut, this is a nonissue,'' she said. Mr. Dasinger said in an interview that Fairhope's presidential election results indicate that most of the community wants the cited books to be moved. But some residents see no contradiction between their vote for Mr. Trump and their support for the library. One of them is Catherine King, 71, a director of the Fairhope Single Tax Corporation, an entity that owns around 4,000 acres in town valued at more than $800 million, carrying on the legacy of the city's founders. The corporation deeded land to the city to create Fairhope's crown jewel: a sprawling waterfront park, where children splash in the murky waters of Mobile Bay. Ms. King said it comes down to basic responsibility. 'Don't tell me I can't read something,' she said. 'I'll make that decision for me and my child.' After the funding pause, Mr. Wahl asked the library to move books with sexual content to the adult section, specifically citing eight titles that parents had described at the state board meeting. If the state board is satisfied with the decisions, it could restore funding at its July meeting. The Fairhope library board maintains it is in compliance with the state code. At its regularly scheduled April meeting, the members discussed two challenged titles, including 'Sold,' which was on Mr. Wahl's list. They voted to leave the book in the teen section.

Colleges rely on federal research funding. Under Trump, its future is in doubt
Colleges rely on federal research funding. Under Trump, its future is in doubt

Boston Globe

time28-03-2025

  • Politics
  • Boston Globe

Colleges rely on federal research funding. Under Trump, its future is in doubt

It adds up to a crisis for universities, and a problem for the country as a whole, say school administrators and advocates for academic freedom. America's scientific and medical research capabilities are tightly entwined with its universities as part of a compact that started after World War II to develop national expertise and knowledge. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'It feels like any day, any university could step out of line in some way and then have all of their funding pulled,' said Jonathan Friedman, managing director of free expression programs at PEN America. Advertisement Tens of billions of dollars are at stake The AP analysis looked at federal funding for nearly 100 colleges currently under investigation for programs the administration has deemed as illegally pushing diversity, equity and inclusion, or for not doing enough to combat antisemitism. Those schools took in over $33 billion in federal revenue in the 2022-2023 academic year. That's before taking into account federal student aid, which represents billions more in tuition and room-and-board payments. For most of the schools, around 10% to 13% of their revenue came from federal contracts or research funding, according to the analysis. For some prestigious research universities, however, federal money represented up to half of their revenue. The AP analyzed data from the National Center for Education Statistics and federal audit reports, with help from researchers Jason Cohn and James Carter at the Urban Institute. Perhaps no school is more vulnerable than Johns Hopkins University, which received $4 billion in federal funds, close to 40% of its revenue, according to the analysis. Much of that went to defense research, paying for projects like missile design, submarine technology and precision tracking systems in outer space. Billions of dollars also went to medical research for topics such as immunology and transplants, aging, neuroscience and mental health. Advertisement Johns Hopkins is facing an antisemitism investigation, which threatens its federal money, but already it has been feeling the effects of cuts to research grants from the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies. Earlier this month, it announced 2,200 layoffs. 'We face challenging times for the patients and families that rely on us for cures and treatments, and for the researchers dedicated to the pursuit of improving the health of all Americans,' the university said in a statement. Trump extracted concessions from Columbia Trump has singled out Columbia University, making an example of the Ivy League school by withholding $400 million in federal money. The administration repeatedly accused Columbia of letting antisemitism go unchecked at protests against Israel that began at the New York City university last spring and quickly spread to other campuses — a characterization disputed by those involved in the demonstrations. As a precondition for restoring that money — along with billions more in future grants — the Republican administration demanded unprecedented changes in university policy. Columbia's decision last week to bow to those demands, in part to salvage ongoing research projects at its labs and medical center, has been criticized by some faculty and free speech groups as capitulating to an intrusion on academic freedom. At the White House on Wednesday, Trump expressed satisfaction with the pressure campaign on colleges. 'You see what we're doing with the colleges, and they're all bending and saying, 'Sir, thank you very much, we appreciate it,'' Trump said during an event for Women's History Month. Advertisement In the 2022-2023 academic year, Columbia got close to a fifth of its revenue from federal sources, around $1.2 billion. An audit shows that much of Columbia's federal money went to research and development, including $166 million for global AIDS programs, $99 million to study aging, $28 million for cancer biology and $24 million for drug abuse and addiction research. A new approach on enforcement of civil rights laws Federal law allows the Education Department to terminate funding to colleges that violate civil rights laws, but only after taking certain steps. Title VI of the law says the department must first make a formal finding of noncompliance, offer a hearing, notify Congress and then wait 30 days before pulling aid. But the Trump administration has a new strategy, moving quickly from demands to penalties with little room for negotiating, and little indication of due process, legal experts say. At Penn, the administration suspended $175 million in federal funding from the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services over a transgender swimmer who last competed for the school in 2022. The White House said the action came out of a review of discretionary money going to universities. 'It looks like much of the playbook is intimidation, more so than actual substantiated legal findings,' said Michael Pillera, director of educational equity issues at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. 'I think all of this is designed as an attempt to intimidate all universities, not just the institutions under investigation.' The cuts and the uncertainty have led some universities to accept fewer graduate students, cutting off pathways to careers. Many graduate students in science programs receive scholarships and stipends that come from federal research grants. Advertisement Purdue University senior Alyssa Johnson had been planning to pursue graduate research on amphibian diseases, and she was accepted into a program. But she ultimately decided to change her course of study because of the uncertainty around funding. 'I kind of went through a little bit of career crisis, which was definitely catalyzed by what's going on with the current administration and their attitudes toward science and science communication,' Johnson said. AP writers Kasturi Pananjady, Cheyanne Mumphrey and Chris Megerian contributed to this report.

Colleges rely on federal research funding. Under Trump, its future is in doubt
Colleges rely on federal research funding. Under Trump, its future is in doubt

Yahoo

time28-03-2025

  • Business
  • Yahoo

Colleges rely on federal research funding. Under Trump, its future is in doubt

After decades of partnership with the U.S. government, colleges are facing new doubts about the future of their federal funding. President Donald Trump's administration has been using the funding spigot to seek compliance with his agenda, cutting off money to schools including Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. All the while, universities across the country are navigating cuts to grants for research institutions. The squeeze on higher education underscores how much American colleges depend on the federal government — a provider of grants and contracts that have amounted to close to half the total revenue of some research universities, according to an Associated Press analysis. It adds up to a crisis for universities, and a problem for the country as a whole, say school administrators and advocates for academic freedom. America's scientific and medical research capabilities are tightly entwined with its universities as part of a compact that started after World War II to develop national expertise and knowledge. 'It feels like any day, any university could step out of line in some way and then have all of their funding pulled,' said Jonathan Friedman, managing director of free expression programs at PEN America. Tens of billions of dollars are at stake The AP analysis looked at federal funding for nearly 100 colleges currently under investigation for programs the administration has deemed as illegally pushing diversity, equity and inclusion, or for not doing enough to combat antisemitism. Those schools took in over $33 billion in federal revenue in the 2022-2023 academic year. That's before taking into account federal student aid, which represents billions more in tuition and room-and-board payments. For most of the schools, around 10% to 13% of their revenue came from federal contracts or research funding, according to the analysis. For some prestigious research universities, however, federal money represented up to half of their revenue. The AP analyzed data from the National Center for Education Statistics and federal audit reports, with help from researchers Jason Cohn and James Carter at the Urban Institute. Perhaps no school is more vulnerable than Johns Hopkins University, which received $4 billion in federal funds, close to 40% of its revenue, according to the analysis. Much of that went to defense research, paying for projects like missile design, submarine technology and precision tracking systems in outer space. Billions of dollars also went to medical research for topics such as immunology and transplants, aging, neuroscience and mental health. Johns Hopkins is facing an antisemitism investigation, which threatens its federal money, but already it has been feeling the effects of cuts to research grants from the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies. Earlier this month, it announced 2,200 layoffs. 'We face challenging times for the patients and families that rely on us for cures and treatments, and for the researchers dedicated to the pursuit of improving the health of all Americans,' the university said in a statement. Trump extracted concessions from Columbia Trump has singled out Columbia University, making an example of the Ivy League school by withholding $400 million in federal money. The administration repeatedly accused Columbia of letting antisemitism go unchecked at protests against Israel that began at the New York City university last spring and quickly spread to other campuses — a characterization disputed by those involved in the demonstrations. As a precondition for restoring that money — along with billions more in future grants — the Republican administration demanded unprecedented changes in university policy. Columbia's decision last week to bow to those demands, in part to salvage ongoing research projects at its labs and medical center, has been criticized by some faculty and free speech groups as capitulating to an intrusion on academic freedom. At the White House on Wednesday, Trump expressed satisfaction with the pressure campaign on colleges. 'You see what we're doing with the colleges, and they're all bending and saying, 'Sir, thank you very much, we appreciate it,'' Trump said during an event for Women's History Month. In the 2022-2023 academic year, Columbia got close to a fifth of its revenue from federal sources, around $1.2 billion. An audit shows that much of Columbia's federal money went to research and development, including $166 million for global AIDS programs, $99 million to study aging, $28 million for cancer biology and $24 million for drug abuse and addiction research. A new approach on enforcement of civil rights laws Federal law allows the Education Department to terminate funding to colleges that violate civil rights laws, but only after taking certain steps. Title VI of the law says the department must first make a formal finding of noncompliance, offer a hearing, notify Congress and then wait 30 days before pulling aid. But the Trump administration has a new strategy, moving quickly from demands to penalties with little room for negotiating, and little indication of due process, legal experts say. At Penn, the administration suspended $175 million in federal funding from the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services over a transgender swimmer who last competed for the school in 2022. The White House said the action came out of a review of discretionary money going to universities. 'It looks like much of the playbook is intimidation, more so than actual substantiated legal findings,' said Michael Pillera, director of educational equity issues at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. 'I think all of this is designed as an attempt to intimidate all universities, not just the institutions under investigation.' The cuts and the uncertainty have led some universities to accept fewer graduate students, cutting off pathways to careers. Many graduate students in science programs receive scholarships and stipends that come from federal research grants. Purdue University senior Alyssa Johnson had been planning to pursue graduate research on amphibian diseases, and she was accepted into a program. But she ultimately decided to change her course of study because of the uncertainty around funding. 'I kind of went through a little bit of career crisis, which was definitely catalyzed by what's going on with the current administration and their attitudes toward science and science communication,' Johnson said. ___ AP writers Kasturi Pananjady, Cheyanne Mumphrey and Chris Megerian contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at

Colleges rely on federal research funding. Under Trump, its future is in doubt
Colleges rely on federal research funding. Under Trump, its future is in doubt

The Independent

time28-03-2025

  • Business
  • The Independent

Colleges rely on federal research funding. Under Trump, its future is in doubt

After decades of partnership with the U.S. government, colleges are facing new doubts about the future of their federal funding. President Donald Trump 's administration has been using the funding spigot to seek compliance with his agenda, cutting off money to schools including Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. All the while, universities across the country are navigating cuts to grants for research institutions. The squeeze on higher education underscores how much American colleges depend on the federal government — a provider of grants and contracts that have amounted to close to half the total revenue of some research universities, according to an Associated Press analysis. It adds up to a crisis for universities, and a problem for the country as a whole, say school administrators and advocates for academic freedom. America's scientific and medical research capabilities are tightly entwined with its universities as part of a compact that started after World War II to develop national expertise and knowledge. 'It feels like any day, any university could step out of line in some way and then have all of their funding pulled,' said Jonathan Friedman, managing director of free expression programs at PEN America. Tens of billions of dollars are at stake The AP analysis looked at federal funding for nearly 100 colleges currently under investigation for programs the administration has deemed as illegally pushing diversity, equity and inclusion, or for not doing enough to combat antisemitism. Those schools took in over $33 billion in federal revenue in the 2022-2023 academic year. That's before taking into account federal student aid, which represents billions more in tuition and room-and-board payments. For most of the schools, around 10% to 13% of their revenue came from federal contracts or research funding, according to the analysis. For some prestigious research universities, however, federal money represented up to half of their revenue. The AP analyzed data from the National Center for Education Statistics and federal audit reports, with help from researchers Jason Cohn and James Carter at the Urban Institute. Perhaps no school is more vulnerable than Johns Hopkins University, which received $4 billion in federal funds, close to 40% of its revenue, according to the analysis. Much of that went to defense research, paying for projects like missile design, submarine technology and precision tracking systems in outer space. Billions of dollars also went to medical research for topics such as immunology and transplants, aging, neuroscience and mental health. Johns Hopkins is facing an antisemitism investigation, which threatens its federal money, but already it has been feeling the effects of cuts to research grants from the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies. Earlier this month, it announced 2,200 layoffs. 'We face challenging times for the patients and families that rely on us for cures and treatments, and for the researchers dedicated to the pursuit of improving the health of all Americans,' the university said in a statement. Trump extracted concessions from Columbia Trump has singled out Columbia University, making an example of the Ivy League school by withholding $400 million in federal money. The administration repeatedly accused Columbia of letting antisemitism go unchecked at protests against Israel that began at the New York City university last spring and quickly spread to other campuses — a characterization disputed by those involved in the demonstrations. As a precondition for restoring that money — along with billions more in future grants — the Republican administration demanded unprecedented changes in university policy. Columbia's decision last week to bow to those demands, in part to salvage ongoing research projects at its labs and medical center, has been criticized by some faculty and free speech groups as capitulating to an intrusion on academic freedom. At the White House on Wednesday, Trump expressed satisfaction with the pressure campaign on colleges. 'You see what we're doing with the colleges, and they're all bending and saying, 'Sir, thank you very much, we appreciate it,'' Trump said during an event for Women's History Month. In the 2022-2023 academic year, Columbia got close to a fifth of its revenue from federal sources, around $1.2 billion. An audit shows that much of Columbia's federal money went to research and development, including $166 million for global AIDS programs, $99 million to study aging, $28 million for cancer biology and $24 million for drug abuse and addiction research. A new approach on enforcement of civil rights laws Federal law allows the Education Department to terminate funding to colleges that violate civil rights laws, but only after taking certain steps. Title VI of the law says the department must first make a formal finding of noncompliance, offer a hearing, notify Congress and then wait 30 days before pulling aid. But the Trump administration has a new strategy, moving quickly from demands to penalties with little room for negotiating, and little indication of due process, legal experts say. At Penn, the administration suspended $175 million in federal funding from the Defense Department and the Department of Health and Human Services over a transgender swimmer who last competed for the school in 2022. The White House said the action came out of a review of discretionary money going to universities. 'It looks like much of the playbook is intimidation, more so than actual substantiated legal findings,' said Michael Pillera, director of educational equity issues at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. 'I think all of this is designed as an attempt to intimidate all universities, not just the institutions under investigation.' The cuts and the uncertainty have led some universities to accept fewer graduate students, cutting off pathways to careers. Many graduate students in science programs receive scholarships and stipends that come from federal research grants. Purdue University senior Alyssa Johnson had been planning to pursue graduate research on amphibian diseases, and she was accepted into a program. But she ultimately decided to change her course of study because of the uncertainty around funding. 'I kind of went through a little bit of career crisis, which was definitely catalyzed by what's going on with the current administration and their attitudes toward science and science communication,' Johnson said. ___ AP writers Kasturi Pananjady, Cheyanne Mumphrey and Chris Megerian contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at

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