Social Movements & the Law

The administration’s research funding and DEI cuts present an existential threat to regional public universities like Southern Illinois University, the economic backbone of the conservative rural region it serves.

President Trump signed an executive order “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History” on March 27 directing action at the Smithsonian Institution and public monuments, including Independence Hall, to reverse and remove public scholarship and activity related to race and gender in particular, characterized in the order as “divisive narratives” and “improper ideology.”

Data losses have impacted professors’ research and led to concerns about the future of federal data.

You’ve spoken up. Now it’s time to lead. Here are simple, powerful ways to boldly advocate for issues that matter to you.

The American Library Association (ALA) today released the highly anticipated Top 10 Most Challenged Books List.

Through clever usage of APIs, the Library Innovation Lab at Harvard Law School has created an archive of Data.gov, home to 311,000 public datasets

U.S. officials say the U.S. Naval Academy has removed nearly 400 books from its library after being told by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office to review and get rid of books that promote diversity, equity and inclusion.

Prudent state-level stakeholders should be engaging with their state legislators, particularly on appropriations, finance, budget, or ways and means committees, about federal FY2025 IMLS funding contingencies.

The "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History" order removes "divisive, race-centered ideology" from Smithsonian museums, educational and research centers, and the National Zoo.

Join us and our member libraries in celebrating Women’s History during the month of March. Below is a roundup of events, blog posts, exhibits, and other resources that showcase opportunities...

The Scholarly Communication & Information Policy (SCIP) office is pleased to announce the release of our comprehensive Oral History Agreement Toolkit—a collection of templates, guidance documents, and resources designed to help transform how institutions approach oral history agreements. Why We

On Friday night, March 14, President Trump issued an Executive Order that called for the elimination of the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) and six other agencies. In FY24, the IMLS budget was $294.8 million, of which more than $211 million was dedicated to library services through the Library Services Technology Act (LSTA), the leading source of federal funding for America’s libraries. According to a statement from the American Library Association (ALA), “Libraries translate .003 percent of the federal budget into programs and services used by more than 1.2 billion people each year.”

We will continue to update this roundup as we learn of additional statements.  Latest Additions (Last Update: 9:00am; March 27, 2025) Most Recent Addition Bolded Asian Pacific American Librarians Association (APALA) iFederation Lyrasis Sen. Jack Reed Leads Bipartisan Effort to Preserve Support for Public Libraries & Museums ALA Applauds Bipartisan Opposition To Attempt To Eliminate […]

Nearly 60 days into his second term in office, Trump followed through on his campaign promise to dismantle the Department of Education. Now it’s up to Congress to decide if the agency will be abolished entirely.

Attacking colleges and universities has reverberations far beyond campuses.

A federal judge says Iowa for now cannot continue to enforce part of its book ban law. The decision Tuesday gives major publishers that sued the state their latest temporary reprieve.

When forces unite with no care for the Constitution, the rule of law or anything you learned in civics class, you can end up with the entrenched overreach of the Plenary Power Doctrine.

Desai's new research explores the interplay between employment and labor laws, immigration law and policy, and the vulnerability of migrant children

PEN America stands at the intersection of literature and human rights to protect free expression in the United States and worldwide. We champion the freedom to write, recognizing the power of the word to transform

The AAUP is a nonprofit membership association of faculty and other academic professionals. Headquartered in Washington, DC, we have members and chapters based at colleges and universities across the country. Since our founding in 1915, the AAUP has helped to shape American higher education by developing the standards and procedures that maintain quality in education and academic freedom in this country's colleges and universities. We define fundamental professional values and standards for higher education, advance the rights of academics, particularly as those rights pertain to academic freedom and shared governance, and promote the interests of higher education teaching and research. AAUP chapters at campuses across the country work to advance the mission of the AAUP through advocacy, organizing and, in some cases, collective bargaining. In some states, state conferences support chapters and work on state level issues. Our sister organization, the AAUP Foundation, is a public charity; it funds, through its grant-making process, the charitable and educational purposes of the AAUP, including support for academic freedom and quality higher education.

Americans of Conscience Checklist is an email checklist for democracy, voting access, equality for ALL and good news for the American people.

On the heels of removing two diversity-related websites this week, the University of Arizona has deleted the phrase “committed to diversity and inclusion” from its widely used “land acknowledgement” statement.

Earlier this month, the U of A removed references to DEI from its website. Now more than 1,500 students, faculty, and staff have signed a petition questioning the elimination of the DEI language.

Making decisions about Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in today’s landscape is complex. Leaders face legal uncertainty, reputational concerns, financial risks, workforce tensions, and operational challenges—and without a structured way to assess these risks, fear and indecision take over. That’s why our Decision Scientists created the DEI Risk Assessment Tool—a data-driven, structured approach to help leaders separate real business threats from hypothetical fears and make informed, strategic decisions about their DEI efforts

In 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court made a decision to return more than 3 million acres of land in Oklahoma to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation. The case, McGirt v. Oklahoma, has been described as one of the most significant Native American-related rulings in 100 years.The returned acreage in Oklahoma, including part of the city of Tulsa, is now recognized as “Indian Country,” as defined by federal law.

"In Berkeley, on a picturesque university campus in the springtime, a young woman is shoved backwards down a concrete stairway by her partner. This follows months of escalating violence, during which he slams her into walls, chokes her, pours beer on her, threatens to kill her, stalks her, promises to split her head open with a hammer. She ends the relationship, cuts off contact, flees to the other side of the country, and initiates a Title IX case against him at the university. She knows what has happened to her, what she has experienced and survived: abuse, manipulation, threats against her life, gaslighting. She knows she has lived through these trials. But others say, simply, that she hasn't -- and that her boyfriend is the real victim. In this investigative memoir, historian and journalist Joy Neumeyer explores how violence against women is portrayed, perceived, defined, and adjudicated today, decades after the inception of Title IX. Interweaving the harrowing account of the abuse she experienced at the hands of her boyfriend when they were graduate students with those of other women who faced violence on campuses throughout history, Neumeyer offers a startling look at how little has changed in the years since Title IX was enacted, and uncovers its inherent flaws. She takes us through her own experience with the process, and reveals how in an effort to listen to survivors on campuses, the quasi-law, in reality, brings their experience into question. Deeply reported, nuanced and timely, A Survivor's Education demystifies Title IX while also examining how entangled storytelling is with abuse and power, and how we can balance narrative and evidence in our attempts to determine what "really happened.""--

"This concise but comprehensive book engagingly lays out answers to myriad questions about free speech principles and current controversies, including those pertaining to hate speech, disinformation, and social media. Nadine Strossen, one of America's leading free speech scholars and advocates, focuses on modern First Amendment law, explaining the historic factors that propelled its evolution toward more speech protection -- in particular, the civil rights movement. She highlights the many cases in which robust speech-protective principles have aided advocates of racial justice and other human rights causes. The book also shows how these rulings reflect universal, timeless values that benefit everyone, regardless of identity or ideology. Correcting prevalent misunderstandings, the book explains that the First Amendment sensibly permits government to outlaw the speech that is the most dangerous, while outlawing the censorship that is the most dangerous. The book's lively question-and-answer format clearly and memorably presents free speech tenets, citing colorful episodes and eloquent language from landmark Supreme Court opinions. It will be illuminating to a wide range of readers, from those who know nothing about free speech law, to experts who seek a well-organized summary of major doctrines, as well as insights into their background and rationales." --

"A free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos, University of California Press's Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more.Feminist Cyberlaw reimagines the field of cyberlaw through a feminist lens. Essays crafted for this volume by emerging and established scholars and practitioners explore how gender, race, sexuality, disability, class, and the intersections of these identities affect cyberspace and the laws that govern it. This vibrant and visionary volume promises to build a movement of scholars whose work charts a near future where cyberlaw is informed by feminism"--;"Feminist cyberlaw reimagines the field of cyberlaw through a feminist lens. Essays crafted for this volume by emerging and established scholars and practitioners explore how gender, race, sexuality, disability, class, and the intersections of these identities affect cyberspace and the laws that govern it. This vibrant and visionary volume promises to build a movement of scholars whose work charts a near future where cyberlaw is informed by feminism"--

"Fearless Speech emphasizes the distinction between what speech a democratic society should protect and what speech a democratic society should promote. The First Amendment has been legally deployed most visibly and effectively to promote powerful antidemocratic interests: misogyny, racism, religious zealotry, and corporate self-interest, in other words, reckless speech. Franks argues we need to focus on fearless speech--speakers who have called out injustice and hold the powerful accountable"--