Amidst these turbulent times, we must lean on community and dare to imagine a more liberated future. 

September 29, 2025

We know these are uncertain and frightening times. Across the country, people who dare to speak truth, rise in solidarity, and fight for freedom are being silenced, punished, or pushed to the margins. But let us not forget that we come from a long lineage of organizers, scholars, and freedom fighters who have endured hardship and carved pathways forward.

For generations, our movements have stood at the crossroads of fear and possibility, and chosen to lean on one another, to move boldly, and to build communities that outlast repression. 

Though many of us feel tired or afraid, we must remain resilient. This moment does not call us to retreat, but to link arms and brave the storm together. Let us breathe, draw strength from our shared struggle, and hold fast to the power of community. We are called not only to defend what we believe in, but to fight boldly for what we deserve.

This is a time to build community and organize wherever we are. This October, Scholars for Social Justice will launch Open University, a new in-person and virtual initiative designed to bring our communities together through political and popular education.

In the tradition of Black freedom schools, which honored communities as knowledge keepers, SSJ Open University offers an alternative to corporate, extractive, carceral, and colonial institutions. Our aim is to create independent political spaces where organizers, scholars, and community members can study, collaborate, and strategize amid intensifying authoritarianism. Sessions will ground us in past and present struggles, chart strategies for the future, and above all - nurture hope and resistance in the face of repression.

SSJ Open University will take place across six cities as well as virtually. The Virtual launch will take place October 17th at 7pm EST and will include organizers and scholars from across the country. 

As scholars, students, campus workers, and campus community members, we face a choice: to capitulate alone or band together.

We invite you to join us as we share strategies to support one another, and discuss how we organize to defend our campuses, to protect our communities, and to affirm our collective commitment to justice. 

With humility and resolve, we invite you to join us as we march unrelentingly forward.