AHA Executive Director Featured in Media Coverage of National Assessment of Educational Progress (May 2023)

AHA executive director James Grossman was featured in media coverage of the US Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress, often referred to as the Nation's Report Card. The data, released on May 3, showed a decline in students’ knowledge, including only 13% of eighth grade students meeting proficiency standards for US history. Grossman spoke with the Wall Street Journal and KNX News about what might be causing this decline, including how“divisive concepts” battles have affected history education. “Imagine a doctor who constantly has people walking into her office telling her how to treat patients,” Grossman said. “This is what’s happening with history teachers.”

AHA Letter Opposing Texas Bill to Eliminate Tenure Featured in North Dallas Gazette (May 2023)

The AHA’s letter opposing Texas State Bill 18 was featured in the North Dallas Gazette. SB 18 would eliminate tenure for new hires at public institutions in the state beginning in 2024 and “would instantly and irrevocably depreciate the value of the state’s admirable monetary investments in higher learning.”

AHA Special Projects Coordinator Testifies before Texas House of Representatives Higher Education Committee (May 2023)

On May 8, special projects coordinator Julia Brookins testified before the Texas House of Representatives Higher Education Committee on behalf of the American Historical Association in opposition to Texas Senate Bill 18, which would eliminate tenure at public institutions in the state.“As a citizen, I value dearly the existence of tenure and the public benefit it provides me, my family, and everyone else by allowing time and political space for scholars to seek truths that advance human knowledge,” Brookins said.“[This bill] is a big, flashy distraction. It will not address any of the actual challenges that higher education institutions need to confront.”

AHA Executive Director and AHA Council Member Publish Op-Ed on Texas Bill That Would Eliminate Tenure (May 2023)

AHA executive director James Grossman and AHA Council member Laura Hostetler (Univ. of Illinois, Chicago) have published an op-ed in the Austin American-Statesman about SB 18, the Texas bill that would eliminate tenure for new hires at public institutions in the state beginning in 2024. “This short-sighted policy would rank among the most efficient pathways to ripping apart most of what has been accomplished over decades by thousands of individuals responsible for building a university system that ranks among the best in the world,” they wrote. “Tenure helps to protect university classrooms and laboratories as spaces where learning is advanced and new knowledge is created.”

AHA Executive Director Quoted in Washington Post Article on Trump’s Agenda for Second Term (April 2023)

AHA executive director James Grossman was quoted in a Washington Post article by Isaac Arnsdorf and Jeff Stein about the agenda that former president Donald Trump has laid out for his potential second term. Grossman spoke about Trump’s “patriotic” education platform, including his “1776 Commission,” which was condemned by the AHA in 2021. “What Trump is trying to resurrect is something that was thoroughly discredited by the professional historical community in a totally apolitical context,” Grossman said. “There’s lots of places to look and see what happens when history education gets stripped of its professional integrity in the interest of a political party.”

AHA Staff Featured in Recent Articles on Virginia State Standards (April 2023)

AHA Managing Editor and AHA Director of Research and Publications Featured in H-Net Book Channel Series on Scholarly Publishing (April 2023)

AHA managing editor Laura Ansley and AHA director of research and publications Sarah Weicksel were featured as guest authors on H-Net Book Channel’s Feeding the Elephant: A Forum for Scholarly Communications. Ansley and Weicksel wrote about scholarly societies as publishers for the Varieties of University Press Business Models series, discussing the AHA’s publications work including the American Historical Review and Perspectives on History.

AHA Special Projects Coordinator Testifies before Texas Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education (April 2023)

On April 6, AHA special projects coordinator Julia Brookins testified before the Texas Senate Subcommittee on Higher Education on behalf of the AHA in opposition to Texas Senate Bill 17.  “This bill would not only enable but require new classroom-level intervention by boards whose expertise and responsibilities lie elsewhere,” Brookins said. “This requirement represents a level of surveillance and implied censorship that has no place in a republic noted for its admirable commitment to academic freedom and innovation. . . . SB 17 is not only a danger to the quality of history education, it poses a threat to public higher education itself.”

AHA Executive Director and Vice President Publish Op-Ed Opposing Harmful Education Bill in Ohio (April 2023)

AHA executive director James Grossman and AHA Professional Division vice president Anne Hyde (Univ. of Oklahoma) published an op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch opposing Ohio’s Senate Bill 83. This proposed legislation, “perhaps best summarized as an unwieldy omnibus of contradictory mandates… would undermine education in Ohio by preventing qualified instructors from teaching honest and accurate history.”

American Historical Review Featured in Economist Article on Kenyan History Museum (March 2023)

An American Historical Review article was featured in an Economist review of the recently renovated Lamu Museum on the Kenyan island of Lamu. The review cited Patricia Romero’s article, “Laboratory for the Oral History of Slavery: The Island of Lamu on the Kenya Coast,” which appeared in the October 1983 issue of the AHR.

AHA Executive Director Featured in WFSU Public Media on HB 999 (March 2023)

AHA executive director James Grossman was featured in a WFSU Public Media radio segment and article by Valerie Crowder about the AHA’s statement opposing Florida’s controversial higher education bill, HB 999. The proposed bill would severely restrict the ability of educators and students in public universities to teach, discuss, and learn about topics such as racism and intersectionality.  “It is not possible to teach American history without racism and the legacy of slavery being a central concept,” Grossman said. “Some people would make it the central concept, some would not, but it’s not possible.”

AHA Statement Opposing Florida Higher Education Bill Featured in Media Coverage (March 2023)

The AHA’s statement opposing Florida’s House Bill 999 has been featured in media coverage of the higher education bill, which the AHA referred to as a “blatant and frontal attack on principles of academic freedom and shared governance central to higher education in the United States.” References to the AHA’s statement“express[ing] horror” at the bill have appeared in Axios Tampa Bay, the Florida Phoenix, and Newsweek.

AHA Letter Opposing Marymount University’s Proposed Elimination of History Major Featured in Local Media (March 2023)

The AHA’s letter to Marymount University president Irma Becerra urging reconsideration of a proposal to eliminate the university’s history major, as well as several other majors, was featured in coverage by ARL Now and the Falls Church News-Press. Marymount University’s board voted to proceed with the elimination of the majors, most of which were in the humanities, on February 24.

AHA Executive Director Quoted in Chronicle of Higher Education Article on Florida Higher-Ed Bill (February 2023)

AHA executive director James Grossman was quoted in a Chronicle of Higher Education article by Francie Diep about Florida House Bill 999, which would place public higher education under strict state control and severely limit the academic freedom of students and educators. Much of what the bill would ban or suppress, Grossman said, is necessary for teaching truthful history that helps with “students learning how to think historically and students learning how no ideas exist outside of context. Their ideas, their parents’ ideas, their teachers’ ideas, no ideas exist outside of a context.”

AHA Executive Director Featured in USA Today Article about Archivist of the United States Nominee (February 2023)

AHA executive director James Grossman was featured in a USA Today article by Erin Mansfield and Rachel Looker about the nomination of Colleen Shogan for national archivist. “[Shogan]’s a problem solver,” said Grossman. “If you look at that resume, what you’ll see are jobs which required someone to be able to look at a situation and say,‘Here are the challenges, and here is how I’m going to figure out how to address them in collaboration with other people.’” The AHA sent a letter supporting Shogan’s nomination in September 2022.

AHA’s New Guidelines for Broadening the Definition of Historical Scholarship Featured in Inside Higher Ed (February 2023)

The AHA’s new Guidelines for Broadening the Definition of Historical Scholarship were featured in an Inside Higher Ed article by Ryan Quinn. In the article, Quinn discussed the context of the guidelines and spoke with AHA executive director James Grossman about the inclusion of new genres of scholarship, such as historical gaming, and how those might be evaluated. “This is a new landscape of historical work. . . . Obviously, a lot of what you see out there I would not describe as scholarship, but it clearly has become possible to do scholarship in that way,” Grossman said. “What we’re trying to say to departments is consider it. Let’s not rule things out until we understand better what they are.”

AHA’s Collaborative Virginia Learning Standards Featured in News Coverage (February 2023)

After the Virginia Board of Education’s (VBOE) determination at its November meeting that neither the AHA-approved August standards nor the “deeply flawed” November standards were satisfactory, the AHA collaborated with the Virginia Social Studies Leaders Consortium, and the Virginia Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development to draft proposed history and social science standards for K–12 schools that would combine the two documents. These collaborative learning standards have been featured in coverage of the VBOE’s standards revision and approval process by ABC News 8, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Virginia Mercury, Virginia Public Media, and WKTR Hampton Roads.

AHA Executive Director Featured in Washington Post Article on Presidential Records Act (January 2023)

AHA executive director James Grossman was featured in a Washington Post article by Toluse Olorunnipa about the challenges of the Presidential Records Act. “Materials generated from the work of the president belong to the American people—that’s pretty straightforward. The complicated part is enforcement,” Grossman said. “It’s not uncommon for mistakes to be made. . . . The issue is really what happens when someone realizes a mistake was made.”

AHA Executive Director and AHA Member Publish Inside Higher Ed Article on Threats to the Integrity of History Education (January 2023)

AHA executive director James Grossman and AHA member Jeremy C. Young (PEN America) published an article in Inside Higher Ed about how recent legislation seeking to restrict K–12 history education also affects colleges and universities. “If higher education leaders and faculty hope to maintain the independence and educational quality of their institutions and to protect the democracy such institutions serve, they cannot afford to keep silent about legislation that censors their colleagues in K–12,” they write.

AHA Executive Director Quoted in Washington Post Article about Interpretation of January 6 Attacks on US Capitol Tours (January 2023)

AHA executive director James Grossman was quoted in a Washington Post article by Joe Heim about US Capitol tour guides being instructed to talk about the January 6, 2021, attacks on the Capitol building by supporters of former President Trump only if asked by visitors. Grossman described the issue of presenting facts about January 6 as “a real dilemma for the civil servants trying to do their job. No matter what they say about January 6, they are going to get in trouble because people will disagree with them. . . . One casualty of this polarization we’re facing is our inability as communities and individuals to accept straightforward facts based on clear evidence. If we cannot agree on basic facts, we cannot constructively discuss any aspect of our history or what we learn from it.”