Social Movements & the Law

The Trump administration says it will not defend a decades-old grant program for heavily Hispanic universities that is being challenged in court, declaring that the government believes the funding is unconstitutional.

SAN ANTONIO –  The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) has released the following statement in response to the July 25, 2025, letter from the Solicitor General of the U.S. Department of Justice, stating the Department’s decision not to defend the constitutionality of Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs) in the ongoing litigation involving the State of […]

Updated August 15, 2025—On August 12, 2025, the White House notified the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution that the administration will undertake a review of exhibitions, materials, and practices at eight Smithsonian museums “to ensure alignment with the President’s directive to celebrate American exceptionalism, remove divisive or partisan narratives, and…

ACLS stands in firm opposition to the latest directive by the White House forcing Smithsonian Institution museums to subject their presentation of American history to government review.

Scholars are pushing back against the Trump administration’s plan to conduct a "comprehensive internal review" of the Smithsonian, viewing it as political interference.

The student experience is changing at universities after multiple diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, offices and centers have been shut down.  Schools such as the University of Mi…

Season 1, Episode 2

Education department found to have violated law when it threatened to cut funds from institutions that backed DEI

CHEYENNE — The Wyoming Legislature is considering a bill that librarians from across the state say will eliminate young adult and teenage sections from public libraries, calling it unnecessary and

Federal funding cuts could put tribal colleges and universities like Tohono O’odham Community College in southern Arizona at risk of closing.

Historical Background The history of capital punishment in the United States reflects a cycle of reform, reinstatement, and continued controversy. In 1972, the Supreme Court’s decision in Furman ...

“I Don’t Think Librarians Can Save Us”: The Material Conditions of Information Literacy Instruction in the Misinformation Age

Despite increasing advocacy for open access (OA), its uptake in some disciplines has remained low. Existing studies have linked the low uptake of OA in the huma...

PEN America, the writers and free expression group that has been at the forefront nationally of documenting spreading school book bans, today filed a legal brief  in an appeal by the state of Iowa to a federal judge’s ruling blocking enforcement of part of a 2023 law that led to the removal of thousands of books from the state’s schools that depict or even mention sexual activity.

President Trump is making it harder and harder for international students and immigrants to pursue higher education in the U.S.   Dreamers, foreign students seeking visas and potentially even …

Join Library Futures and a distinguished panel of guests for a discussion on Bridging the Gap: Accessibility and Digital Collections for All Patrons. Digital...

The book ban bill vetoed by Gov. Kelly Ayotte would have allowed parents to request books, films, and other items that depicted nudity and sexual contact to be removed from their child's school.

The Government Accountability Office found that the Trump administration, by abruptly canceling NIH grants, had violated a 1974 federal law

The aim of this case study was to empirically elucidate the core elements underpinning the legitimacy of twenty-first-century public libraries, with a particular focus on the New York Public Library (NYPL). We conducted a qualitative content analysis of 24 NYPL annual reports spanning the period from 2000 to 2023 to investigate the ways in which legitimacy is expressed at NYPL and explore the interrelationships among the dimensions of library legitimacy. A coding framework, grounded in the established legitimacy dimensions from Yamagishi, Koizumi, and Larsen’s (2024) research, was utilized alongside a periodization approach to assess how these dimensions interact during key historical events. We examined the NYPL’s reported practices through the lens of five primary dimensions of legitimacy. Analyzing how these practices are reported in annual reports revealed how these dimensions interact and evolve in response to significant societal challenges, including the 9/11 attacks, the global financial crisis, and the COVID-19 pandemic. The research findings highlight the critical role of both internal factors (such as librarianship) and external influences (such as economic conditions) in sustaining the overall legitimacy of public libraries. This case study provides a comprehensive framework for understanding the complex and dynamic nature of legitimacy in public libraries and demonstrates how these institutions can adapt to and reflect broader societal changes. The findings hold important implications for the development and management of public libraries on a global scale.

After 24 years, the Texas Dream Act was dismantled. Advocates warn the move could spread nationally — jeopardizing the future of thousands.

The attacks on DEI and academic freedom show higher education needs to come together, build collaborations and stand firm. Here’s how

The Ohio State University President Ted Carter said Sunday that he thinks Ivy League schools are in “survival mode” when asked about Columbia University’s settlement with the Trump administration. …

Keith Richotte models his narrative on the Native tradition of the trickster story — parables of creation and change where an unreliable narrator dupes the listener into reshaping their perception of reality.

The move comes after Ivy League universities Columbia and Brown struck settlements that require them to release information about applicants’ race.

The California Reporting Project is a multi-newsroom collaborative formed to research and report on law enforcement documents that became public Jan. 1, 2019 under California’s transparency law.

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