Theses as backdoor activism

When legislatures or boards shut formal programs, faculty can continue the same ideological work by sponsoring student theses, archiving activist‑framed research, and embedding contested material in humanities coursework. This tactic sidesteps departmental labels and creates plausible deniability about institutional endorsement while keeping activist networks and outputs intact. — If true more broadly, it means regulatory bans on departments or subject areas can be circumvented through supervision and student work, requiring new oversight approaches and clearer standards for what constitutes institutional promotion of activism.