This is very important to address. As a community in the US, we need to figure out to get our goals without being explicit enough to garner negative feedback/resistance from the current stances of state and federal governments/entities. I am new to this sort of dance.
Shameless plug here: I may mention that this Summer’s Cal OER 2025 meeting will have a panel explicitly constructed to address this titled “The Future of OER Amid a Shifting Landscape” with OER leaders that have expertise in successfully nagivating these issues in red/purple states:
- Abbey K. Elder - Open Access and Scholarly Communication Librarian, Iowa State University
- Rebel Cummings-Sauls - Director of Digital Services and OER, Florida Virtual Campus Library Services
- Deborah Baker - Instructional Designer, Maricopa Center for Learning and Innovation and OER Coordinator, Open Maricopa
I hope this panel will provide actionable options to those of us new to active resistance to equity based efforts (e.g., those of us in California). Feel free to register for the meeting if this panel sounds interesting to you (https://www.caloer.org/). The abstract for the panel is…
As national discourse around education shifts, promoting equity through OER has become an increasingly complex endeavor, particularly in politically charged environments. This panel will bring together three leaders from across the open education community who have directly faced challenges in advocating for equitable practices and resources. Panelists will discuss both programmatic and individual experiences—ranging from institutions where terms like “equity” are restricted from official communications, to grassroots strategies for supporting inclusive pedagogies under growing scrutiny. They will share best practices for navigating sensitive political climates, sustaining faculty engagement, and keeping the core values of openness, inclusion, and access alive in OER work. This conversation will offer critical insights for anyone working in or alongside OER initiatives and will help chart a path forward for an open community committed to serving all learners, even amid shifting cultural and governmental landscapes.