HELU Blog

The unique situation of California part-timers embraces the work lives of around 40,000 community college faculty. California and its higher ed systems (the community colleges, state universities and the University of California system) are so big that it often behaves as if it is its own country. Many California faculty take what happens in California […]

Mutual Academic Defense Compacts (MADC) are a strategy for joining institutions of higher ed together to protect each other from the attacks coming from the Trump administration. This movement began with resolutions taken by faculty senates, usually about academic freedom. Higher Ed Labor United is a coalition of local labor unions representing all kinds of

HELU’s original (2020) Vision Platform framed higher education as a public good and was endorsed by over 100 local unions and labor-adjacent organizations. Building on this Vision Platform in October 2024, HELU presented a Unity Statement signed by 9 peak national and international unions. In February 2025 these unions formed Labor4 Higher Education, or L4HE.

A conversation with Toby Miller, Chris Robé, Jordan Scott, Nicole Erin Morse, Robin Goodman, and Katie Rainwater. Edited by Mike Budd and Helena Worthen The U.S. right wing, now in power at the federal level and in many states, tries to overwhelm opposition, taking over even our most basic democratic institutions.  Higher education is a

By Helena Worthen The current HELU Steering Committee was elected at our founding convention in May 2024. HELU will be conducting elections for new leadership in at the quarterly General Assembly in November 2025. They will serve from January 2026 to January 2028. We are alerting HELU delegates to this schedule because we know that

By Brendan McGovern, United University Professions–Binghamton Chapter President At least five international students at Binghamton University have had their visas revoked, as confirmed by the university and reported by the student newspaper, Pipe Dream. These students are among 21 across the SUNY system who have experienced changes to their visa status as of April 9.

From Maya Cruz, a member of SEIU 925, staff at the Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies The Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies, housed at the University of Washington, connects students, staff, and faculty to the study of labor through education, research, and relationships with working communities and the broader labor movement. Our latest

From Joe Ramsey (Chair, HELU Contingency Task Force; Delegate from FSU/MTA and HELU Steering Committee) Our March 16 zoom event embodied HELU’s coast-to-coast and wall-to-wall aspirations, with speakers from across the country representing higher educators across ranks, from tenured and tenure-track faculty to graduate students, adjunct and full-time contingent faculty. Seventy event participants hailed from

From Anne Balay, Delegate to HELU from the National Writers Union and staff with SEIU 509 On March 16th, HELU’s Contingency Task Force (CTF) hosted a zoom conversation about union democracy. I was one of four panelists discussing the tension between growing our movement by uniting across differences in power and pay and ensuring that