Two high‑profile faculty governance fights escalated this week as campus disciplinary moves and donor interventions converged. One university concluded that a professor’s social‑media post — framed as satire by the author — met its threshold for “disruption,” triggering debate about how institutions balance campus safety and academic freedom. Separately, billionaire William Ackman publicly backed former Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino, calling her loss of tenure unjust and pledging financial support for her legal fight. Universities cited campus order and policy enforcement as the basis for disciplinary decisions; critics and legal experts warned that responsiveness to political pressure risks chilling faculty speech. Ackman’s intervention underscores how wealthy alumni can reshape tenure disputes and raise the reputational stakes for research universities.