Annotated Bibliography

T his annotated bibliography covers books, journal articles, blog posts, news stories, and other resources about the kinds of hostility that we face as philosophers and as university educators, along with strategies for combatting this.I interpret "hostility" broadly to include the practices, policies, norms, and interpersonal interactions that impose unnecessary challenges, harms, or restrictions on the good work philosophy teachers do.While such hostility is sometimes the result of intentional malfeasance or culpable negligence by bad actors, it is often a form of structural injustice resulting from the normal operations of a morally flawed status quo. 1 To identify a practice as hostile in the sense relevant for this bibliography need not imply that the people involved in creating and sustaining that practice are badly intentioned.Accordingly, I do not attempt to assess who (if anyone) is morally responsible for the sources of hostility that I address: my primary concern is the harmful impact of these hostile practices and how to best respond to them.Many of the resources included in this bibliography are not traditional academic sources, since much of the writing and advocacy work being done on the topic of hostility in higher education is by journalists, bloggers, or activist organizations.The bibliography is of necessity incomplete, for new threats are continually developing and existing threats are evolving.It is also of limited scope in several ways.First, I focus primarily on hostile teaching contexts in the United States, although much of what is covered has relevance for people in other countries.Second, while most of the topics covered (e.g., political attacks on universities, labor issues in the academy, the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) on teaching, and concerns about free expression) are of broad relevance for anyone teaching in higher education, some (e.g., restrictive professional norms and values) focus more narrowly on the disciplinary concerns of philosophers.And third, it does not cover every possible hostile context that we might grapple with in higher Helping Novice Students Understand how Logic Relates to Philosophy 2025 executive order attempts to do just that, claiming that "innocent children are compelled to adopt identities as either victims or oppressors solely based on their skin color and other immutable characteristics" and that "imprinting anti-American, subversive, harmful, and false ideologies on our Nation's children not only violates longstanding anti-discrimination civil rights law in many cases, but usurps basic parental authority."The order gives the Secretaries of Education, Defense, and Health and Human Services ninety days to provide a plan "eliminating Federal funding or support for illegal and discriminatory treatment and indoctrination in K-12 schools, including based on gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology."5 In addition to restrictions on classroom teaching, an increasing number of states have instituted broad legislative bans on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts in universities, including prohibiting universities from having DEI offices, outlawing mandatory diversity training, banning the use of diversity statements in hiring or promotion, or restricting colleges from considering racial or gender identity in hiring or admissions.Between 2023 and the time of writing, eighty-six bills in twenty-eight states have been introduced, and fourteen have become law.These laws have led to major changes to college policies and curricula-some legally mandated, and others enacted by universities preemptively overcomplying to avoid expected scrutiny, criticism, or pushback from lawmakers or the public.6 Further political pressure against diversity, equity, and inclusion in higher education is likely to come from the federal government.In the first few weeks after Trump's second inauguration, his administration has directly targeted DEIconstrued in a very broad way to cover any program, practice, or policy directly related to race, sex, or other identity markers-within the federal government, higher education, and the private sector.An executive order from January 2025 argues that DEI policies "violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws" and "undermine traditional American values of hard work, excellent, and individual achievement"; it directs the heads of federal agencies to identify up to nine institutions-including universities with endowments of over $1 billion-as targets for civil compliance investigations.7 More sweepingly, a "Dear Colleague" letter issued by the Department of Education in February 2025 argues that the 2023 Supreme Court decision Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard should be interpreted broadly to forbid "using race in decisions pertaining to admissions, hiring, promotion, compensation, financial aid, scholarships, prizes, administrative support, discipline, housing, graduation ceremonies, and all other aspects of student, academic, and campus life."8 Shortly after the letter was released, the Department of Education announced cuts of $600 million to teacher training programs that address "divisive ideologies" such as "Critical Race Theory; Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI); social justice activism; 'anti-racism;' and instruction on white privilege and white supremacy."9 Teaching in Hostile ContextsThe following online resources are useful for tracking and better understanding these hostile laws.