Welcome back to The PHENOM Update, our official monthly newsletter where we keep you updated on recent goings on in our campaigns and around the higher ed world!
PHENOM and allies to protest at the 9/13 Springfield Democratic State Convention!
This coming Saturday, September 13th, starting at 10 AM, the Massachusetts State Democratic Party is hosting its 2025 state convention at Springfield’s MassMutual Center in order to chart the party’s new political priorities.
Alarmingly, Massachusetts Democrats have decided to shift to the right and end support for a wide range of fundamental progressive policies, including free public higher education.
As the proposed backsliding comes at a time when the Democratic Party is unsure of how to respond to Trumpism, Areta Odiah of 22 News reports the convention will bring in a record number of delegates at 3,900.
In their proposed 2025 platform, Massachusetts Democrats’ withdrawal of support for free public higher education is only one of many deeply unsettling changes to their agenda. The proposed platform also removes support for basic progressive principles such as single-payer healthcare, same-day voter registration, ranked-choice voting, and even progressive taxation (i.e., higher taxes on the wealthy).
Why the Democratic party of the country’s most progressive state has chosen to suddenly abandon huge swaths of progressive commitments is truly a mystery. Given the deep unpopularity of Republicans for gutting essential programs like Medicaid, Massachusetts has a unique opportunity to showcase a real left-wing alternative.
Interested in joining PHENOM and our allies and demanding MA Dems continue supporting free public higher education and other vital progressive causes? Then RSVP and join us on Saturday, September 13th at 10 AM at Springfield’s MassMutual Center!
Adjunct faculty to speak up at Sept. 11 hearing in support of adjunct faculty rights.
Are you an adjunct professor or a strong believer of fair treatment for adjunct faculty? Then sign up for in-person or virtual testimony for this Thursday!
PHENOM and our legislative allies are fighting for two revolutionary bills that would guarantee adjunct faculty the salaries, benefits and dignity they deserve: the Adjunct Faculty Reform Act (S.930/H.3948) and the Adjunct Faculty Pilot Program (S.934/H.1434).
The Adjunct Faculty Reform Act would:
- guarantee minimum pay, benefits and job security,
- ensure opportunities for promotion and professional development, and
- foster a more inclusive, dignified experience through access to college resources, office space, and a voice in faculty decision-making.
The Adjunct Faculty Pilot Program (S.934/H.1434) would test out some of the above bill’s key policies at 3 selected public colleges over several years, providing adjunct faculty with:
- professional development opportunities,
- access to department workspaces,
- last but not least, healthcare coverage! (adjunct faculty are currently not only denied healthcare but are also locked out of social security!)
Learn more about both bills here.
PHENOM is hiring campus student organizers!
PHENOM is hiring passionate and organized interns at our Salem State, UMass-Dartmouth and UMass-Amherst chapters!
Under the guidance of our executive director and president, PHENOM’s student organizers will lead organizing and communications efforts to grow support for PHENOM’s key campaigns for causes such as financial aid reform, tuition-free college and campus free speech!
Student organizers will organize events, make phone calls, make social media posts for events and meetings, meet with relevant parties such as allies, union leaders and legislators, manage and recruit other students, spread awareness about PHENOM through outreach to student organizations and classes.
These positions are work study and pay $15 per hour, and last the duration of the academic year. Student organizers who are successful in this role will be encouraged to reapply for the following year if interested.
For more information on the role and how to apply, view the postings on our website or on Handshake.
Stay in the loop and follow us on Instagram!
As we work to rally students and faculty across the state to fight for a more affordable, fairer higher education system, social media is the go-to way to keep our allies and communities up to date. Check out our official statewide Instagram page @massphenom, as well as our chapter pages @umassaphenom and @dartmouth_phenom!
In Other News:
Harvard Is Making Changes Trump Officials Want, Even Without a Deal
Harvard University has been the epicenter of the battle between higher education and the Trump administration. This month is no different.
The Trump administration has attempted to sanction Harvard for its alleged failure to prevent anti-semitism, undermined the enrollment of international students, and held federal funding hostage to bend the Cambridge university to its will.
Court documents reveal that the Trump administration wants Harvard to create a conservative think tank and provide security for its Hillel branch, two suggestions considered by Harvard. Harvard administrations are also handing over limited information about international students, but are not completely giving up information about protest involvement and disciplinary records.
Regardless, the effect on campus is nothing less than chilling. Nikolas Bowie, professor of Harvard Law School, asks, “Am I going to find myself in the cross hairs of the federal government because a student doesn’t like a position I’ve taken?”
In the pursuit of saving remaining federal funding or keeping programs active, the question remains: How much is Harvard, or any university, willing to give up in order to satisfy the Trump administration? Professors and students are continually under threat by the actions of the Trump administration, especially queer and international students. Should Harvard sell them out to retain funding, it will cast a dark shadow upon the rest of the higher ed environment.
Majority of US Colleges Earn ‘F’ Grades for Campus Free Speech Climate, New Rankings Show
A recent study by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression failed 166 out of 257 surveyed higher education institutions. Columbia University, recently targeted by the Trump administration, was one of the lowest ranking universities.
At Barnard College, another university with a failing grade, as many as 90% of students found that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was a “difficult topic to discuss openly on campus” while a majority of students across the country state that they oppose controversial speakers at their universities.
There are still some successes to be carved out of this grave outcome. Dartmouth College and Vanderbilt University saw that programs supporting free speech and open discourse led to higher rankings. Supporting free speech and open discussion, not dissimilar to the virtues upheld by the Chicago Principles, remains a core tenet of the mission of higher education. When students are afraid to speak out because their university does not support open, sometimes uncomfortable discourse, how much education is even possible anymore?
Texas Undocumented Students Start the Semester Without In-State Tuition
Affordable public college in Texas just became out of reach for the vulnerable students who need it most: Dreamers.
A Texas court just sided with the Federal government and struck down a law called the Texas Dream Act, which guaranteed in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants as long as they had gone to a Texas high school and lived in the state for at least three years.
Texas’ undocumented immigrant students now face fear and confusion as their lifeline to a college degree has vanished into thin air: some students face triple or quadruple their previous tuition and have to choose between pausing their education, dropping out altogether, or scramble for increasingly scarce scholarships.