Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · Sep 6

Finally! 🤩 Our position piece: Against the Uncritical Adoption of 'AI' Technologies in Academia:
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...

We unpick the tech industry’s marketing, hype, & harm; and we argue for safeguarding higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, & scientific integrity.
1/n

Abstract: Under the banner of progress, products have been uncritically adopted or
even imposed on users — in past centuries with tobacco and combustion engines, and in
the 21st with social media. For these collective blunders, we now regret our involvement or
apathy as scientists, and society struggles to put the genie back in the bottle. Currently, we
are similarly entangled with artificial intelligence (AI) technology. For example, software updates are rolled out seamlessly and non-consensually, Microsoft Office is bundled with chatbots, and we, our students, and our employers have had no say, as it is not
considered a valid position to reject AI technologies in our teaching and research. This
is why in June 2025, we co-authored an Open Letter calling on our employers to reverse
and rethink their stance on uncritically adopting AI technologies. In this position piece,
we expound on why universities must take their role seriously toa) counter the technology
industry’s marketing, hype, and harm; and to b) safeguard higher education, critical
thinking, expertise, academic freedom, and scientific integrity. We include pointers to
relevant work to further inform our colleagues.

Figure 1. A cartoon set theoretic view on various terms (see Table 1) used when discussing the superset AI
(black outline, hatched background): LLMs are in orange; ANNs are in magenta; generative models are
in blue; and finally, chatbots are in green. Where these intersect, the colours reflect that, e.g. generative adversarial network (GAN) and Boltzmann machine (BM) models are in the purple subset because they are
both generative and ANNs. In the case of proprietary closed source models, e.g. OpenAI’s ChatGPT and
Apple’s Siri, we cannot verify their implementation and so academics can only make educated guesses (cf.
Dingemanse 2025). Undefined terms used above: BERT (Devlin et al. 2019); AlexNet (Krizhevsky et al.
2017); A.L.I.C.E. (Wallace 2009); ELIZA (Weizenbaum 1966); Jabberwacky (Twist 2003); linear discriminant analysis (LDA); quadratic discriminant analysis (QDA).

Table 1. Below some of the typical terminological disarray is untangled. Importantly, none of these terms
are orthogonal nor do they exclusively pick out the types of products we may wish to critique or proscribe.

Protecting the Ecosystem of Human Knowledge: Five Principles

96 1.6K 3.1K

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 13h

As y'all have probably heard, there has been a lot of ICE activity on the North Side of Chicago today. At least four people were kidnapped by ICE in the Rogers Park neighborhood. Folks mobilized throughout the day to do ICE Watch and Rapid Response work.

11 240 660

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Courtney Joslin @courtneygjoslin.bsky.social · 3d

"The Vanderbilt Chapter of the AAUP stands with the national AAUP, the AAUP chapters of the other targeted universities, and members of the Vanderbilt community in opposing the Compact and demanding that our administration do so as well."

Jonathan Gilligan @jgilligan.org · 3d

The Vanderbilt chapter of @aaup.org has issued a statement condemning President Trump's proposed "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education" as an illegal assault on civil rights, academic freedom, shared governance, and institutional autonomy.

vanderbiltaaup.org/2025/10/06/s...

Statement by the Vanderbilt AAUP Executive Committee on the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”

October 6, 2025 On October 2nd, Vanderbilt was among nine universities “invited” to sign a “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” with the federal government. The Compact, however, i…

vanderbiltaaup.org

16 33

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 1d

sign and share and join AAUP actionnetwork.org/petitions/tr...

Trump Higher Ed Compact 2025

We stand for education—for science, for students and for freedom—and against this backward, anti-American policy. We call on university leaders, faculty, staff and students to unite in rejecting the T...

actionnetwork.org

17 26

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 2d

"There just isn’t enough time. There’s only what we manage to make of it—what we build, what we protect, what we remember to carry to the car. The gas mask. The snacks. The question we forgot to ask. The name of the person taken." My latest.

The Emergency Is the Atmosphere

“It’s meant to exhaust us. It’s meant to destroy us."

organizingmythoughts.org

13 260 650

Reposted by Frank Edwards

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d

thank you brett kavanaugh!

Daniel Knowles @dlknowles.bsky.social · 2d

Good reporting on the South Shore raid from South Side weekly here.

Confirms one thing I was told but didn't put in my own piece because I didn't have a second source and it seemed too insane: border agents segregated arrested residents by race

southsideweekly.com/federal-agen...

Federal Agents Storm South Shore Building, Detaining Families and Children

Families were woken by flashbangs and helicopters as hundreds of federal agents raided their homes. Days later, neighbors are still searching for the missing.

southsideweekly.com

91 2K 7.4K

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 1d

#WarRavagedPortland

1.3K 11K 36K

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Christopher Mathias @letsgomathias.bsky.social · 2d

Solidarity with @mark-bray.bsky.social, a fantastic, thoughtful, and generous scholar whose work about antifa is so important in this moment.

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Rutgers professor moving to Europe after threats over antifa accusations

Mark Bray says threats intensified after a Turning Point USA petition accused him of promoting political violence

www.theguardian.com

12 240 640

Reposted by Frank Edwards

AAUP @aaup.org · 2d

NO LOYALTY OATHS IN HIGHER ED!

Trump's attacks on our universities are an attempt to consolidate power. This loyalty oath directly undermines our right to academic freedom & goes against every democratic principle our country should uphold.

Please click below, sign, & share.

#DefendHigherEd

University Administrations: Reject Trump's "Loyalty Oath" Compacts

The Trump administration is trying to blackmail schools to let him and his unqualified bureaucrats run our schools. They want to dictate what schools teach, who they admit and hire, what researchers s...

actionnetwork.org

1 110 160

Reposted by Frank Edwards

lumberjack wharfie @lumberjackwharfie.bsky.social · 2d

I guess I shouldn't be *surprised* but it is making my head spin that the feds have shot two people, with live rounds, killing one of them, in Chicagoland in recent weeks, and in both cases they were very clearly found to be lying about what happened, and essentially nothing is happening about it.

26 380 1K

Reposted by Frank Edwards

David Palumbo-Liu @palumboliu.bsky.social · 3d

In “Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition,” Shah provides a critical discussion about the intersection between detention, the prison industrial complex, and anti-immigrant racism

23 46

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Dave Byrnes @djbyrnes1.bsky.social · 6d

Chicago Ald. Jessie Fuentes' office has released video of federal agents handcuffing her at Humboldt Park Health, as she asked them to present a judicial warrant for another arrest.

44 320 620

Reposted by Frank Edwards

The People's Fabric @peoplesfabric.com · 6d

Witness video shows federal agents throwing tear gas canisters in the middle of Armitage Ave today as they appear to be blocked in and heckled by angry neighbors.

This is around the 3500 block of West Armitage.

31 440 830

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Sarah Lazare @sarahlazare.bsky.social · 8d

ICE is terrorizing immigrants—and being used as a tool to discipline labor. A witness in a wage theft case was detained. Immigrant warehouse workers face discrimination. Day laborers and street vendors are being targeted, and so are rapid response networks. My latest.

How ICE Terror Campaigns Are Used to Discipline Labor

While Chicago sees a surge of ICE detentions, workers are facing retaliation as immigrants when they advocate for their rights.

prospect.org

4 37 79

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Charlotte Garden @charlottegarden.bsky.social · 8d

A lot of states have taken steps to chill academic freedom - but they’ve mostly couched their “reforms” as “anti-indoctrination.” TX seems to be taking the next step: simply banning ideas it dislikes.

AAUP chapter @UT Austin @utaustinaaup.bsky.social · 8d

And now the UT System is auditing all courses for “gender ideology.” We haven’t been told what that even means.

AAUP chapter @UT Austin @utaustinaaup.bsky.social · 9d

A thread on the illegality of the Texas Tech president’s letter banning reference to more than two genders. We saw a similar confusion of EO’s with law and a similar overriding of free speech and academic freedom in the Texas A@M case.

1 9 14

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Veena Dubal @veenadubal.bsky.social · 9d

WE WON: "This case -– perhaps the most important ever to fall w/in..this district court squarely presents the issue whether non-citizens lawfully present here in US..have the same free speech rights as the rest of us. The Court answers this Constitutional question unequivocally “yes, they do.”"

33 650 2.5K

Frank Edwards @frankalready.bsky.social · 9d

hell yeah, go @aaup! www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Judge issues blistering opinion against Trump policy to deport pro-Palestinian students

Judge rules non-citizens have the same free speech rights as US citizens under the first amendment

www.theguardian.com

1 2

Reposted by Frank Edwards

AAUP @aaup.org · 9d

BREAKING: WE WON!!!
💥 💥 💥

Federal Judge William G. Young ruled today in our lawsuit against the Trump administration that the policy of arresting, detaining, & deporting noncitizen students & faculty members for their pro-Palestinian advocacy violates the 1st Amendment.

Full ruling here:

Findings of Fact & Conclusions of Law – #261 in American Association of University Professors v. Rubio (D. Mass., 1:25-cv-10685) – CourtListener.com

Judge William G. Young: ORDER entered. FINDINGS OF FACT AND RULINGS OF LAW, PURSUANT TO FED. R. CIV. P. 52(A)(Sonnenberg, Elizabeth) (Additional attachment(s) added on 9/30/2025: # 1 Main Document) (J...

www.courtlistener.com

19 760 2.6K

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Gautham Rao @gauthamrao.bsky.social · 10d

Took about 20 years. And I never thought a book about enslavers using deputization to give themselves policing power would be relevant to our times. But we are where we are.

My book, White Power: Policing American Slavery, is now available for preorder.

a.co/d/29c7EIP

49 380 1.1K

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · 10d

Cornell is cancelling a distinguished professor's classes on Gaza and suspending him because of the complaints of a student who previously served in Israel's military surveillance agency and was literally recording the comments of other students in class and deliberately derailing discussion.

99 1.8K 4.4K

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 28d

"We are told that AI is inevitable, that we must adapt or be left behind. But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically." www.ru.nl/en/research/...

11 370 870

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 13d

As ICE continues to terrorize Chicagoland, protesters gathered this morning outside the Broadview detention center—throwing stuffed animals at DHS agents, playing music through tear gas assaults, and putting their bodies on the line to stop ICE vehicles. My latest.

Fighting for Our Stolen Neighbors: ICE, Tear Gas and a Guitar Blown Open

"Being out here to demand what is right is the only way to stay human," says Jessica Darrow.

organizingmythoughts.org

11 370 980

Frank Edwards @frankalready.bsky.social · 14d

This book is so incredibly good. Can’t recommend it highly enough.

Zinn Education Project @zinnedproject.bsky.social · 14d

Join us for class later today with Eve L. Ewing, author of "Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black & Native Children and the Construction of American Racism."

Can't make it to class? Order the book. Beautifully written & a vital history of U.S. education.
www.zinnedproject.org/news/origina...

Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism

Scholar Eve L. Ewing will discuss her book, Original Sins: The (Mis)Education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism, an examination of how the U.S. school system helps m...

www.zinnedproject.org

1 3

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Zinn Education Project @zinnedproject.bsky.social · 14d

Join us for class later today with Eve L. Ewing, author of "Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black & Native Children and the Construction of American Racism."

Can't make it to class? Order the book. Beautifully written & a vital history of U.S. education.
www.zinnedproject.org/news/origina...

Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism

Scholar Eve L. Ewing will discuss her book, Original Sins: The (Mis)Education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism, an examination of how the U.S. school system helps m...

www.zinnedproject.org

24 42

Reposted by Frank Edwards

Laura Benjamin @laura.direct · 16d

I hate how accurate this is.

McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 16d

1. It’s the hotly anticipated sequel of a late 2010s, grimdark existential nightmare.

2. The economy is really, really bad. Like. Really bad.

3. There are almost no places to rest, and even when you find them, they cost money.

America in 2025 or Hollow Knight: Silksong?

1. It’s the hotly anticipated sequel of a late 2010s, grimdark existential nightmare. 2. The economy is really, really bad. Like. Really bad. 3. Th...

buff.ly

7 28