Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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dead manu walking @profchander.bsky.social · 1d

students said they weren’t really poetry fans but loved novels, so i wrote down a line they picked out from jane eyre, scanned it, noted the metrical substitutions and internal rhymes. reader, they took pictures of the chalkboard.

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Miriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 9d

Once again, it is *faculty*—not administrators—who brought this case and won. Including UC Faculty Association chapters of the AAUP.

Court Rules in AAUP v Rubio: Trump Admin Violated First Amendment

The AAUP and partners sued to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty members for ideological reasons.

www.aaup.org

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Lit Hub @literaryhub.bsky.social · 17d

Patricia A. Matthew explores class, leisure, and the historical context of Pride and Prejudice.
lithub.com/what-pride-a...

What Pride and Prejudice Tells Us About British History, Class, and Women’s Leisure Time

The first dialogue readers encounter in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is a conversation between a wife and husband who have been married for twenty-three years. Mrs. Bennet is all aflutter abou…

lithub.com

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Devin Garofalo @devingarofalo.bsky.social · 19d

I do love your taking up of this quote but also glad unwriting is not possible! (Said by someone who hates everything they write.)

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Devin Garofalo @devingarofalo.bsky.social · 19d

You are also on my syllabus, just saying!!!

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Devin Garofalo @devingarofalo.bsky.social · 20d

Thx Rebecca, had missed the intro excerpt!

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Laura Sell @laurasell.bsky.social · 21d

"More professors in the United States have been fired for controversial views in the past week than any other week in all of American history."
www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...

Censorship Is the Authoritarian’s Dream

The right to free expression must include the right to say horrible and evil things.

www.insidehighered.com

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Devin Garofalo @devingarofalo.bsky.social · 20d

👀

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andy hines @andyhines.bsky.social · 20d

excellent and comprehensive story about what's happening at Texas A&M

www.texastribune.org/2025/09/19/t...

How a secret recording of a gender identity lecture upended Texas A&M

Officials have struggled to detail the exact reasons for the A&M professor’s termination, citing a technical issue with her course description. Faculty say the move was politically motivated.

www.texastribune.org

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Devin Garofalo @devingarofalo.bsky.social · 20d

@profchander.bsky.social @rcolesworthy.bsky.social how do I get my hands on this thing, I solemnly swear I will purchase a hard copy even in the event I am able to persuade someone to give me a sneak peek!!!

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Devin Garofalo @devingarofalo.bsky.social · 20d

I have been impatiently waiting for this book to come out and just this morning aspirationally put selections from it on my grad seminar syllabus, the timing could not be better!

Josh Shepperd @joshshepperd.bsky.social · 22d

Major new piece from David Ben-Merre (Buffalo State) and Manu Chander @profchander.bsky.social (Georgetown), in epilogue of David's excellent new book "O: Apostrophic Ghosts and the Disappearing Acts of Lyric Poetry."

Epilogue: Every Þrose has its thorn On Poison, the Cure, and other Pharmacological Prickles; Or, Why are you so far away?

By David Ben-Merre PhD. and Manu Samriti Chander, Published on 01/01/25

digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 22d

Who benefits from attacks on higher ed?

Certainly not the US economy.
Certainly not the states where higher ed is the major employer.
Certainly not the American people.

excellent work @ehayot.bsky.social and @paulakrebs.bsky.social
www.post-gazette.com/opinion/gues...

Eric Hayot and Paula Krebs: It's not about Palestine, DEI or trans athletes

We are facing a defunding of knowledge production in this country. This isn’t only a problem for academia. Many local economies, like Pittsburgh’s,...

www.post-gazette.com

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Annette Yoshiko Reed @annetteyreed.bsky.social · 21d

“Syracuse University paused admission to 20 majors in the College of Arts and Sciences without faculty input” dailyorange.com/2025/09/coll...

College of Arts & Sciences pauses admission to 20 majors amid portfolio review

Syracuse University paused admission into 20 majors in the College of Arts & Sciences without faculty input amid its portfolio review.

dailyorange.com

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NPR @npr.org · 21d

UC Berkeley told 160 faculty, staff and students that their names were included in files shared with the federal government related to "alleged antisemitic incidents." We hear from one of them.

UC Berkeley professor warns of 'unprecedented crackdown' on academic freedom

UC Berkeley told 160 faculty, staff and students that their names were included in files shared with the federal government related to "alleged antisemitic incidents." We hear from one of them.

n.pr

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Devin Garofalo @devingarofalo.bsky.social · 21d

This man could have simply resigned rather than fire a prof and demote a dept chair plus a dean. That would have been leadership.

ghostly gwen howerton @kissphoria.bsky.social · 21d

Welp: Texas A&M President Mark Welch just stepped down after pressure from Republicans over a video of a professor who taught about transgender people in a children's literature class

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Matthew L Reznicek @drreznicek.bsky.social · 21d

We are launching a new #CFP at the Journal of Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine on Climate Change and Planetary Health. More details here link.springer.com/collections/...

Climate Change Mitigation and Ecological Resilience for Sustainable Planetary Health

The climate crisis poses a dual challenge, undermining the integrity of both natural and social ecosystems, while simultaneously threatening public health, ...

link.springer.com

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 23d

go go go

a *historic*, WALL TO WALL coalition of national & California labor unions, *including* the Faculty Associations and led by the AAUP

www.latimes.com/california/s...

UC employees, not waiting on leaders, sue Trump for 'financial coercion' over UCLA cuts

University of California faculty, students and staff on Tuesday sued President Trump over a $1.2-million penalty against UCLA and federal demands over campus changes. They argued that the actions are ...

www.latimes.com

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Nathan K. Hensley @nathankhensley.bsky.social · 24d

Clearer every day that any authentic human future will need to take place off-line

Professor Tom Crick @proftomcrick.com · 25d

Revisiting the "dead internet" theory www.popularmechanics.com/science/a659...

The Internet Will Be More Dead Than Alive Within 3 Years, Trend Shows

All signs point to a future internet where bot-driven interactions far outnumber human ones.

www.popularmechanics.com

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Natalia Cecire @ncecire.bsky.social · Sep 10

lot of people out here laboring under the misapprehension that uni is just further high school and there is some higher authority on content than the professor who is a live, working researcher in the field

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Dr. Emily Friedman @friede.bsky.social · 29d

And if you’re damn sure that tenure will save you, consider that there’s ways of making someone’s job miserable without firing them.

Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 29d

I know there are tenured professors out there who breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the A&M firing happened to a non-tenure-track faculty member. It’s going to come for you too, so maybe this is a good moment to do unto others etc.

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 29d

January 2023

When their jobs were threatened in a new and acute way in the first few months of the pandemic, many tenured and tenure-track historians were able to recognize themselves as workers, sometimes for the first time. The specter of higher ed’s imminent collapse prompted many of them to ask for solidarity and support from the colleagues they have long refused to fully acknowledge as colleagues.

Even as they saw themselves as exploited laborers, few were able to acknowledge—or even seemed aware—that these conditions predated the pandemic for adjuncts. Fewer still were ready to reckon with the ways that their employment was dependent on the continuation of those conditions. The lack of solidarity with striking adjuncts and grad students during this year of labor action confirms this disconnect, and it should not be surprising—the interests of these groups of employees are not the same, and are often directly opposed.

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Devin Garofalo @devingarofalo.bsky.social · 29d

A quotidian ex of how we got here — uni admins rewarded for capitulating, fascist state legislators, emboldened students intent on whipping up a media frenzy they can leverage, yes. But also the profound failure of TT (esp tenured) faculty to organize in support of / w more vulnerable colleagues.

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Devin Garofalo @devingarofalo.bsky.social · 29d

When an early version of SB18 (which wd have abolished tenure in TX) was under debate, my sr colleague asked, in a Zoom meeting, whether the tenured wd suffer. She expressed relief upon being told that it would “only” affect her jr colleagues & new hires. She then promptly / shamelessly checked out.

Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 29d

I know there are tenured professors out there who breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that the A&M firing happened to a non-tenure-track faculty member. It’s going to come for you too, so maybe this is a good moment to do unto others etc.

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SF Boswell @sfboswell.bsky.social · Sep 10

A lot to say about this, but one thing is that the Professor in question was a lecturer, and thus did not have tenure.

The destruction of academic freedom is inextricably linked to the loss of worker protection in the university.

Mike Boylan-Kolchin @mbkplus.bsky.social · Sep 10

Update on the Texas A&M professor / cell phone video situation: the professor has been fired by the A&M president
president.tamu.edu/messages/an-...

This afternoon, following full consideration of the facts related to this situation, I directed the Provost to terminate the professor involved, effective immediately. Please understand that these decisions were mine alone and were not
made lightly. While I cannot provide all the details at this time, I will share the following facts.

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Anna E. Clark @annaeclark.bsky.social · Sep 9

Amazing how school districts are milked for every buck by private industry but, you know, there’s never enough money for teachers and small classes and basic supplies

NPR @npr.org · Sep 9

The effort to keep schools safe from mass shooters has ballooned into a multibillion dollar industry. Companies are selling school districts assurance with high-tech products.

The school shooting industry is worth billions — and it keeps growing

The effort to keep schools safe from mass shooters has ballooned into a multibillion dollar industry. Companies are selling school districts assurance with high-tech products.

n.pr

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