In August of this year, Jennifer Ruth came on to the Old Mole to explain how Title VI of the Civil Rights Act had become the primary legal instrument for repressing student protests and free speech on college campuses in the name of combating antisemitism. In this update to that report, Jan Haaken talks with Ruth about how actions in the Biden administration set the stage for the expanded use of Title VI and the intensified assaults of the Trump regime. They also discuss recent disciplinary actions against staff and faculty, including locally at Portland State University, and areas where the crackdowns are generating resistance. Jennifer Ruth is professor in the School of Film at Portland State University. She is the co-director, with Jan Haaken, of The Palestine Exception and the author of books and articles on academic freedom. Her most recent book The Right to Learn: Resisting the Right-Wing Attack (Beacon, 2024), co-edited with Valerie Johnson and Ellen Schrecker, was the recipient of the annual American Association of Colleges and Universities’ Frederic W. Ness Award for best book on contemporary higher education.
See also
Jennifer Ruth's Academe article "When the Law is Lawless" (Fall 2025): https://www.aaup.org/
Nic Kai's interview about her termination by PSU: https://www.youtube.com/
NU AAUP statement on Northwestern agreement with the feds: https://academeblog.org/2025/
Image of books and mortarboard in a birdcage held by someone in combat fatigues. Image by Prachatai via CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.