'Criminal contempt' looms over Trump's showdown with courts over deportation fiat
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What are mutual academic defense compacts among Big Ten universities?
Well, last night, the faculty senate at Michigan State voted that their school should join the other schools in the Big Ten in a totally non-sports-related agreement. The faculty at Michigan State voted last night that their school should join with all the other schools in the Big Ten in what they're calling a mutual defense compact, a mutual academic defense compact. And what that means is kind of what it says. When Trump inevitably comes after one of the schools in the Big Ten, be it Michigan State or Rutgers or Ohio State or UCLA or USC or University of Washington or any of the other schools in that conference, the idea is that all the other schools would agree to help that school defend itself and fight back, which would mean lawyers and experts and advocacy and lobbying and public relations, they would all do it together. They would treat Trump attacking any one of those schools as an attack on all of those schools. So no matter which one Trump picks first to go after, no school would have to fight alone.
Michigan State's faculty voted last night for their school to join and help create such a compact. And they are not the first. They are just the latest. They join Rutgers in New Jersey and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and Indiana University excuse me, Indiana University at Bloomington, also outside the Big Ten, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, all those schools have taken the same or similar steps thus far. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education and our own reporting, we are expecting votes along these lines soon at the Ohio State University and the University of Michigan and the University of Washington. We believe a vote like that is under discussion already at the University of Minnesota and at Penn State. We've also had faculty at Northwestern and the University of Oregon already pass similar but sort of more mild statements saying that they are generally in favor of this kind of idea. But, you know, a statement is just a statement. All that and a dollar will buy you a scratch ticket.
And frankly, time is short. But I'm telling you, this is a movement that is nevertheless picking up steam. Today, we've got grad student unions at a whole bunch of universities asking for their schools to join in a mutual academic defense compact like this as well. Grad students at the University of Minnesota, which I just mentioned, again, may have a faculty vote on this matter soon. Also, grad students at Cornell University and Stanford University. University of Chicago, Northwestern, University of New Mexico, New Mexico State, North Carolina State, Johns Hopkins, MIT, Dartmouth, University of Iowa, grad students in all of those places speaking out, asking their universities to form a mutual defense compact with other schools. Tomorrow, this is one to watch for in Wisconsin.
In Madison, we're expecting a big rally at the University of Wisconsin at Madison to demand that that school join such a compact. as well. So this is something that is really picking up steam, but it ought to. Vice President J.D. Vance gave a keynote speech to a national conservatism conference a couple years ago, and the title of his speech was literally, The Universities Are the Enemy.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are mutual academic defense compacts among Big Ten universities?
1:03–5:53
2
Why are universities considered targets by certain political figures?
5:53–14:44
3
What legal defense networks exist to support federal workers against the Trump administration?
14:44–19:23
4
How are healthcare budget cuts under Trump affecting public response?
19:23–23:58
5
What do massive rallies by progressive leaders indicate about political resistance?
23:58–32:02
6
How are protests across the U.S. manifesting opposition to Trump policies?
32:02–37:02
7
What unusual support are judges receiving against threats to the judiciary?
37:02–42:16
8
What actions has Senator Chris Van Hollen taken regarding Trump's deportation policies?
42:16–42:46
Speakers
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