how to protect public universities
don't count on university admins: they're poised to sell you out
How to make sure your public university doesn’t cave to the regime-- a thread. But first a thesis about why we all need to care about universities. Right now, they serve the public good. They’re grounded in free inquiry-- the freedom to learn. Fascists wanna make unis private to serve oligarchs.
University admins are often comfortable, shortsighted people. These are not leaders. They’re salaried cowards who are more afraid of an aging fascist bully + his drug-addled billionaire friends than they are their own communities. Odd because unis NEED students + community buy-in to survive.
You might be thinking: but they need state + federal tax dollars to survive! Yes, and... they need students + parents + community to EXIST at all. Field of dreams, babes.
The first thing to do is to email the Board of Trustees, Pres + Provost know if they sign that compact, your support is gone.
Next, pollute their brand. Use their advertising hashtags to warn locals that university leaders have no integrity + are selling out students’ futures. @ universities online. Flood their leaders’ posts with negative comments. Have phone-banking parities to flood their voicemail boxes.
Organize an inflatables marching band protests outside the university admin building, home games + any major event. Bonus points for mascot costumes. Signs need to say “No Fascist _!” Fill in the blank with whatever the uni’s abbreviation is. Press WILL cover the story.
Publish op-eds in the campus paper (350 words max) calling out decision-makers (by name) for selling out students. Future students can submit op-eds to local community papers, explaining their decision NOT to attend the university because it caved to fascists. Ditto on parent op-eds.
Alums, you know your local uni always asks you for donations. Email the alumni services + tell them why you’re not sending them a single cent. Take it a step further. Hold unsanctioned “elbows up” alumni parties. Create a pool of funds you’ll hold in escrow until the university finds its spine.
Fraternities are a huge part of campus life-- and they connect across the country. Hold national parties that celebrate every single member, current and past, who courageously holds the line for democracy. Lionize them with parties in their name. Help them network if they lose a job standing up.
Unis are beginning to censor student presses. If this happens, organize a massive student newspaper walk-out + boycott. Techie locals can build those students a new website + fund with micro donations for web-hosting. Student papers give unis legitimacy, so this is a HUGE rebuke + power move.
Teachers’ union effectiveness depends on leadership. Many union presidents sell out their members for access to admins. It’s gross. But any faculty member who stands up for students + against fascism? Celebrate them loudly. Write editorials thanking them. Courage is contagious.
Marginalized faculty are getting pushed out of their positions at unprecedented rates + admin are smearing them to justify their cowardice. Protest their removals loudly. Call out admins for DARVO. Stage student walkouts + sit-ins until faculty are reinstated. Write public letters of support.
Unis are caving to regime demands + canceling staple classes to require students to take fascist civics classes + AI classes. Refuse to take them. Ask loudly which classes + teachers were axed to make room for this nonsense. Organize a class action lawsuit against the uni for 1A violations.
Organize a student strike. Hold parties where students email the registrar, copying the Board of Trustees + presidents, saying that you’re cancelling your enrollment in the spring semester until the university finds its spine. Build a culture of joy + courage around boycotting fascist unis.
Staff members + faculty need to start screen-shotting, recording, and creating a paper trail of leaks that detail uni admin’s decisions that cave to fascism. Trust the admin are already threatening employees not to leak because they know they’re problematic. Leaking is patriotic.
If it comes down to it, faculty, staff, and admins can volunteer work for free to ensure the uni holds the line against fascism— and protects free inquiry, diverse curricula + marginalized community members. This is an existential threat worthy of collective sacrifice.
Student tuition is expensive because of massive administrative bloat, athletic coach salaries + needless fancy amenities--unrelated to learning. Unis CAN financially survive this moment, if communities urge their Board of Trustees to chop from the top. Holding the line is not impossible.
In short, fascists want to END public universities. They’ve stated this publicly. Your ability to learn will be arbitrarily decided by the whims of fascists who don’t want you to have the knowledge + skills to outsmart + out-organize them. Oligarch owned universities will be invested in protecting their monopolies— not public health, not the environment, not your civil rights. This is all very bad for the public good, which is why we must adopt our public universities and safeguard our futures. We have the tools to do this and, together, we are unstoppable. Resist!