HELU Blog

In Florida, where Governor Ron DeSantis was carrying out Trump-style attacks on higher education before the 2024 election, the United Faculty of Florida, a statewide union, gathered organizers from various chapters and joined with other unions to hold a Worker’s Forum in Miami Springs, facilitated by the Miami-Dade DSA. – Editor From Chris Robé, Professor […]

One appallingly cruel tactic of the Trump administration is the harassment, bullying and actual kidnapping of international students. The following was a presentation for HELU activists who want to know what they can do to protect international students at their colleges and universities. It was a zoom meeting in April 2025. – Editor From T.

Metro organizing, where we organize everyone working in higher ed as a geographic unit, like a commute range, lends itself to social events. Boston organizers have started a HELU sponsored metro organizing meet-up. – Editor From Anne Balay, SEIU Local 509 and HELU Delegate from National Writers Union Contingent academic workers from across Boston had

Where are the pressure points? Students explain why and how they accept the open invitation of the Arizona Board of Regents and show up to speak at meetings. – Editor From Hypatia Meraviglia and Marcos Esparza, members of United Campus Workers AZ 7065 and graduate students at Arizona State University (ASU) and the University of

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.