Am I Still Allowed to Tell the Truth in My Class?
Yale Professor essay in the Atlantic describes how orders from the Trump administration can muzzle professors who teach about the racism of the country’s past.
Who’s In and Who’s Out at the Naval Academy’s Library? - NY Times
Comparing the books purged from the Nimitz Library with the list of books left behind shows how this is a deliberate attack on ideas
Michigan Department of Education signals it won’t sign Trump’s anti-DEI certification
The state superintendent said Michigan is already in compliance with federal civil rights laws.
New York Warns Trump It Will Not Comply With Public School D.E.I. Order - April 4
New York responded to the DEI certification order with a letter that stated that there are no federal or state laws prohibiting the principles of DEI.
Secretary of Education refers to "AI" (artificial intelligence) as A1 (as in the steak sauce). Global Silicon Valley/Arizona State Summit
The Secretary of Education refers to "AI" (artificial intelligence) as A1 (as in the steak sauce). She was apparently read her study guide wrong. It is important to note that the is the Secretary of Education for the United States of America
Mississippi libraries ordered to delete academic research in response to state laws - Mississippi Today
The memo, written by Mississippi Library Commission Executive Director Hulen Bivins, confirmed the scrubbing of scholarly material from a database used by publicly funded schools, libraries, community colleges, universities and state agencies. The database, MAGNOLIA, is funded by the Mississippi Legislature.
Rutgers Senate's Open Letter to the President of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in support of the Big Ten Mutual Defense Compact - April 9
This strongly-worded letter to the President of Rutgers is from the Rutgers Senate, which consists of Rutgers faculty, students, staff, administrators, and alumni. It supports Big Ten Mutual Defense Compact in which the universities pledge a common defense fund and agree to provide common communication, amicus brief, and expert testimony in defense against the Trump Administration effort's to undermine the public mission of education
Trump’s War on History and Education - Arab American Institute
This essay written by Dr. James J. Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, puts the Executive Orders in historical context, describing the way the Administration's attack on history education reverses advances made over the last 50 years.
Education Counsel - Executive Actions Chart
From Education Counsel, an education consulting firm, an updated list of executive orders related to education and the litigation related to them. This is the go-to list for what is happening with each of them.
Key Considerations as K-12 Leaders Navigate Minefield Involving DEI, Federal Funding, and Potential Investigations - April 7
This is a law firm's general guidance to K-12 leaders contemplating their responses to the recent DOE letter demanding certification of compliance with Title VI (as interpreted by the DOE). Although much of this important advice deals with programs, hiring, placement, counseling and discipline, it also references curriculum. It seems like that the upcoming publication of the "Ending Indoctrination Strategy" document, due April 29th, will target history curriculum and teaching
National History Day Discontinued
The pop-up that appears when you first look at the National History Day site reads "National History Day was recently notified that our grants from the national Endowment for the Humanities were cancelled. This means a loos of more than $336.000 over this year and the nest
Don't Cut Ohio Libraries
As the state budget is developed and debated, a proposal in the Ohio House of Representatives will cut $100 million in public library funding. It is important to keep in mind that the national cut to the Institute of Library and Museum Services is being mirrored in state budgets across the country. The effort to cut public education, learning and understanding of the past has a deep and broad momentum.
Diversity & Inclusion Law - New Jersey (N.J.S.A.18A:35-4.36a)
School districts in New Jersey are required by law incorporate instruction on diversity and inclusion in an appropriate place in the curriculum of students in grades kindergarten through 12 as part of the district’s implementation of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards.
The White House Frames the Past by Erasing Parts of It - NY Times
"As the Trump administration pulls government websites and data offline, it is selectively stripping away the public record, letting the president declare his own version of history, archivists and historians said."
"President Trump’s team is selectively stripping away the public record, reconstructing his preferred vision of America in the negative space of purged history, archivists and historians said. As data and resources are deleted or altered, something foundational is also at risk: Americans’ ability to access and evaluate their past, and with it, their already shaky trust in facts."
Japanese American National Museum takes a stand against DOGE cuts to NEH - LA TImes
$175,000 in NEH grants used by the Japanese American National Museum to fund teacher professional development programs was cut by the Trump Administration. The museum is also losing funding from the Institute for Museum and Library Sciences.
UMass Amhert Chancellor Reyes - April 5
Pledging support for international students, UMass Amherst, the school provides detailed information regarding the law and the efforts to protect students. UMass Amherst also keeps the school community appraised of developments at https://www.umass.edu/news/federal-actions
Publishers Send Letter to Congress Advocating for Libraries & IMLS Funding
This letter submitted to Congress April 3, 2025 by Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group, Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster and Sourcebooks advocating for libraries in response to the Executive Order signed on March 14 that calls for the dismantling of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).
List of books removed from the Nimitz Library at the US Naval Academy
Several hundred books were removed from the Nimitz Library, including My Teacher Told Me . More on the purging of the Naval Academy Library here https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2025/04/02/naval-academy-removes-nearly-400-books-from-library-in-new-dei-purge/
Federal Investigations of UC Faculty Members – The Council of UC Faculty Associations
Letter to President of the University of California and UC Regents regarding the UC system's provision of personal and demographic information of 850 faculty to the EEOC.
Trump Administration Moves to Cut Humanities Endowment - NY Times April 3
Grant recipients have been told that funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities would be redirected to furthering “the president’s agenda.” Michael McDonald, the Acting NEH Chairman, suggested that , "going forward, the agency would focus on patriotic programming"
Certification Letter from Department of Education requiring local education agencies to acknowledge compliance for continued receipt of federal funding - April 3
The Department of Education is requiring SEA/LEA's to sign and certify compliance with the legal obligations detailed in the letter
Save the NEH! – National Humanities Alliance
Organization working to that the National Endowment for the Humanities
Tufts University Declaration for Rümeysa Öztürk
This declaration by Tufts University supports a motion filed today by Rümeysa Öztürk’s legal team i in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts. She is a Turkish citizen who entered the USA on an F-1 student visa to study human development and was responsible for co-authoring an article in The Tufts Daily, a student newspaper of Tufts University. She was by six plainclothes agents of the United States Department of Homeland Security and her visa was revoked.
Executive Order Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History - March 27
The Order claims "Americans have witnessed a concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth and targets Smithsonian funding.
Opinion | Trump’s Order to the Smithsonian Distorts Teaching of American History
David Blight of Yale responds - "The order is nothing less than a declaration of political war on the historians’ profession, our training and integrity, as well as on the freedom — in the form of curious minds — of anyone who seeks to understand our country by visiting museums or historic sites."
Historians Defend the Smithsonian - AHA
Response of The American Historical Association to the Executive Order entitled "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History"
Fact Sheet: President Donald J. Trump Restores Truth and Sanity to American History - March 27
Although this is not even named an Executive Order, This White House order outlines an ideological makeover of the Smithsonian and directs the Secretary of the Interior to restore monuments and modify the presentation of Independence Hall in furtherance of ideological aims.
David Blight described this as "The order is nothing less than a declaration of political war on the historians’ profession, our training and integrity, as well as on the freedom — in the form of curious minds — of anyone who seeks to understand our country by visiting museums or historic sites."
Disciplinary Teacher Organizations Urge Federal Coordination of Public Education
Although this joint statement of the NCTA, the NCSS, NCTM, and NSTA notes "concerns" about recent efforts to dismantle public education , it does not include the words "Department of Education"
Statement from NJ Education commissioner Kevin Dehmer on efforts to dismantle the Department of Education
This statement does not include an explicit rebuke of efforts to dismantle of the United States Department of Education. It only says "the details regarding how or whether these valuable services and programs will continue will require further dialog".
March 21st Statement from the New Jersey Principals and Supervisors Association Strongly Opposing the Abolishment of the U.S. Department of Education March 20, 2025
The NJPSA urges Congress to reject any efforts to destroy the DOE