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zachsamalin.bsky.social
antediluvian new yorker; english prof at nyu; wrote a history of disgust, The Masses Are Revolting; writing and teaching about anticolonial theories of civilization; censorship; the “Controversial Discussions”
103 posts 1,179 followers 445 following
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College sports and the US university grew up together; now, both face serious, even existential, challenges. For @thebaffler.com I argue that, whether we like it or not, the fate of the educational mission is intertwined with that of the athletics department. thebaffler.com/salvos/a-new...

submitted 3 days ago • 1 comment

For the Gaza Scholasticide project, we spoke with Ahmed Abu Shaban, a professor and dean of agriculture at Al-Azhar University-Gaza. You can listen here: voices.uchicago.edu/scholasticid...

submitted 5 days ago • 1 comment

Dispatch from 26 Federal plaza where plain clothes federal agents detained at least 7 people leaving immigration court, plus a priest attempting to observe the arrests. www.thecity.nyc/2025/05/28/i...

submitted 9 days ago • 38 comments

“In prison I began to think in a more systematic way about language,” he told the Guardian in 2006. “Why was I not detained before, when I wrote in English?” He decided from then on to write in Gikuyu, that “the only language I could use was my own.” RIP

submitted 9 days ago • 1 comment

NYU admin are addicted to censorship. There is no space on campus, no public forum, no shared medium, no situation in which admin will tolerate student speech about Palestine. They've torn up the whole idea of what a university is for--just to maintain the palestine exception.

submitted 22 days ago • 3 comments

Despite legal resident status and having been charged with no crime, our Georgetown colleague Badar Khan Suri has been designated a 'high risk' prisoner and for that reason gets only two hours of outdoor time PER WEEK. His traumatized son "cries all the time" and has ceased speaking.

submitted 35 days ago • 2 comments

Federal court says First Amendment bars government from arresting, deporting foreign students on basis of pro-Palestine advocacy. Important ruling from Judge Young just now in case brought by @aaup.bsky.social @mesa1966.bsky.social @knightcolumbia.org. knightcolumbia.org/content/fede...

submitted 38 days ago • 27 comments

Just Now: a federal judge ruled that our case (AAUP v. Rubio) seeking to block the Trump admin from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, & deportations of noncitizen students & faculty members who participate in pro-Palestinian protests can go forward. @knightcolumbia.org

submitted 38 days ago • 1 comment

A federal judge just ruled that our case seeking to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty who participate in pro-Palestinian protests can go forward. Read our statement: knightcolumbia.org/content/fede...

submitted 38 days ago • 3 comments

We are delighted at this win for Justice!!! AAUP v Rubio survives the Trump administration’s motion to dismiss.

submitted 38 days ago • 0 comments

There’s just no way to square this policy with the First Amendment. Good luck to my colleague @ramyakrishnan.bsky.social, who will be arguing AAUP v Rubio before a district court in Boston this morning. knightcolumbia.org/documents/pw...

submitted 45 days ago • 8 comments

This is how you do it.

submitted 46 days ago • 20 comments

Recently I attended a know your rights training for travel. If you are an immigrant (of any status) or someone who is vocal on Palestine here are some precautions: 1. Use burners/ leave electronics at home. 2. If you take them use a 15 digit passcode, harder to crack. 3. Do not unlock them 1/

submitted 47 days ago • 20 comments

Super-lovely new murals at the 42nd + 3rd entrance to the 7! Sharmistha Ray & Dannielle Tegeder’s Hilma’s Ghost (an homage to Hilma af Klint, apparently)

submitted 48 days ago • 9 comments

TOMORROW! 4/17, 4pm @ Foley Square. Organized by an enormous coalition of unions and aaup chapters across the nyc area. This is just the beginning!

submitted 51 days ago • 0 comments

TOMORROW! 4/17, 4pm @ Foley Square. Organized by an enormous coalition of unions and aaup chapters across the nyc area. This is just the beginning!

submitted 51 days ago • 0 comments

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

I'm gonna post a new one of these beautiful posters a student artist made every few hours until we turn out all of NYC on Thursday. Let's take back our universities!

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

I'm gonna post a new one of these beautiful posters a student artist made every few hours until we turn out all of NYC on Thursday. Let's take back our universities!

submitted 52 days ago • 0 comments

Come on out NYC this is gonna be BIG! Thurs 4/17, 4pm @ Foley Square

submitted 53 days ago • 0 comments

Come on out NYC this is gonna be BIG! Thurs 4/17, 4pm @ Foley Square

submitted 53 days ago • 0 comments

SCOOP: Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi went into an interview today hoping he would come out a U.S. citizen. Instead, ICE arrested him. theintercept.com/2025/04/14/i...

submitted 53 days ago • 63 comments

Are you a history professor who has been pressured to alter your curriculum — particularly regarding the history of Black & African American people in the United States? We would love to talk to you. Send us a DM!

submitted 57 days ago • 3 comments

Last night, the @aaup.bsky.social sent this letter to the Office of the General Counsel at Northwestern University. We show why constitutional law and derivative principles of academic freedom limit what Congress can demand that private unis produce. www.aaup.org/sites/defaul...

submitted 57 days ago • 2 comments

Brief from the Presidents’ Alliance on Higher Education and more than 80 universities says arrests and deportations of student protesters create a “climate of fear” at universities across the country. This is a big deal—the first time universities have weighed in. knightcolumbia.org/documents/eh...

submitted 58 days ago • 19 comments

Did you know that students at NYU took over a building in 1970 and demanded that the University pay the bail of a Black Panther Party member or they would destroy a very expensive computer???? open.substack.com/pub/prisoncu...

submitted 63 days ago • 4 comments

www.aclu.org/press-releas...

submitted 63 days ago • 0 comments

I'll be voting for Andrea for City Council District 2. I hope others will too.

submitted 64 days ago • 3 comments

AAUP has just published a memo laying out the many legal reasons why universities should not hand over the names & nationalities of their students or faculty, as the Trump admin has asked. Please share freely with your friendly university admin! @aaup.bsky.social www.aaup.org/news/institu...

submitted 65 days ago • 0 comments

Powerful op-ed from Profs. Maya Jasanoff and @kirstenweld.bsky.social. They are members of AAUP-Harvard, one of the groups challenging the Trump admin's policy of targeting noncitizen students and faculty for deportation based on their pro-Palestinian advocacy. www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

submitted 64 days ago • 1 comment

NEW: Tufts files a declaration in support of Rümeysa Öztürk: "The University has no information to support the allegations that she was engaged in activities at Tufts that warrant her arrest and detention." www.tufts.edu/president/sp...

submitted 65 days ago • 25 comments

Today the AAUP & @mesa1966.bsky.social filed a motion for preliminary injunction in our suit to stop Trump from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of students & faculty who participate in protected 1st Amendment activities. An injury to one is an injury to all.

submitted 66 days ago • 1 comment

This is the single question every media outlet should be asking. Who sits on the Harvard/Columbia/NU board of trustees? Why are they helping Trump topple higher Ed? Why do they show such disdain for their own people? (Ok 3 questions.) bsky.app/profile/illd...

submitted 67 days ago • 1 comment

I am very proud to be a declarant in AAUP v Rubio. As @aaup.bsky.social general counsel I hear the harrowing stories of our noncitizen & citizen members & the ways their 1st A rights are trampled upon by the administration’s ideological deportation policies. knightcolumbia.org/documents/n3...

submitted 66 days ago • 1 comment

Just filed: Our motion for a preliminary injunction in our lawsuit on behalf of @aaup.bsky.social and @mesa1966.bsky.social challenging the Trump admin's policy of targeting noncitizen faculty and students for deportation based on their pro-Palestinian speech. knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...

submitted 66 days ago • 1 comment

TODAY: @knightcolumbia.org, @aaup.bsky.social, & @mesa1966.bsky.social filed for a preliminary injunction in our challenge to the Trump admin’s ideological deportation policy targeting noncitizen students & faculty who participate in pro-Palestinian protests. knightcolumbia.org/content/knig...

submitted 66 days ago • 0 comments

BREAKING: A federal court ordered Mahmoud Khalil's lawsuit should proceed in New Jersey instead of Louisiana, 1,500 miles from his family. This is an important step towards justice.

submitted 66 days ago • 67 comments

This week, my Somerville constituent Rümeysa Öztürk was abducted in broad daylight by DHS officials and sent to Louisiana to be locked in a detention center. She has not been charged with any crime.

submitted 70 days ago • 205 comments

All of the students on these campuses must be protected from being kidnapped. I sincerely hope their campus communities are ramping up ICE watches and safety teams. This should have happened yesterday but today is a good day to start.

submitted 70 days ago • 8 comments