Dr. Jane C
@janecragun.bsky.social
progressive, struggling optimist, pragmatist, wife, lifetime educator, UT-Austin alum, PhD/tenure-track survivor. Posts my own.
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
So the Obama administration oral history project went live today. An extraordinary resource for historians and teachers, and a great credit to the team of folks who compiled them all, including Evan McCormick, @pastpunditry.bsky.social and many others.
Obama Presidency Oral History
The Obama Presidency as told by 450+ officials, activists, organizers, and extraordinary people from all walks of life.
share.google
February 17, 2026 at 11:50 PM
So the Obama administration oral history project went live today. An extraordinary resource for historians and teachers, and a great credit to the team of folks who compiled them all, including Evan McCormick, @pastpunditry.bsky.social and many others.
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
At the same time - since we are nominally & ostensibly a "public university" - the state should have funded this long ago. That the state government retains ~full regulatory control over university decisions like this, while being a minority funder now, is bad policy, like all unfunded mandates.
Did you know that UW - Madison is one giant unfunded mandate? The state government is now only the 5th-largest provider of funding, yet it retains near-total control over its ability to regulate our campus policies & operations. Also, this is why the federal budget cuts will be so devastating.
February 17, 2026 at 5:46 PM
At the same time - since we are nominally & ostensibly a "public university" - the state should have funded this long ago. That the state government retains ~full regulatory control over university decisions like this, while being a minority funder now, is bad policy, like all unfunded mandates.
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
February 17, 2026 at 11:18 AM
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
Colbert posted the interview online. I do wonder if CBS and the FCC are aware of the Streisand effect? The interview has been up for 8 hours and has just over half a million views.
Rep. James Talarico On Confronting Christian Nationalism, And Strange Days In The Texas Legislatu…
YouTube video by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
www.youtube.com
February 17, 2026 at 1:47 PM
Colbert posted the interview online. I do wonder if CBS and the FCC are aware of the Streisand effect? The interview has been up for 8 hours and has just over half a million views.
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
How many staff and teachers contracted COVID, died, or became disabled because universities and schools decided they feared irate students and parents and politicians more than they did the systematic debilitation of their workforce?
Unis also had obligations to protect staff. But, I mean, should I get compensation for having to shield at home for 5 years? I have, after all, missed out on years of life "experience". Or should I just realise that life is not fair, pandemics happen, and we need goodwill towards each other.
February 17, 2026 at 1:09 PM
How many staff and teachers contracted COVID, died, or became disabled because universities and schools decided they feared irate students and parents and politicians more than they did the systematic debilitation of their workforce?
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
If this country was truly “pro-life,” we would have Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, gun reform, universal child care, and a living wage.
The right-wing agenda isn’t about “life.”
It’s about control.
The right-wing agenda isn’t about “life.”
It’s about control.
February 15, 2026 at 11:00 PM
If this country was truly “pro-life,” we would have Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, gun reform, universal child care, and a living wage.
The right-wing agenda isn’t about “life.”
It’s about control.
The right-wing agenda isn’t about “life.”
It’s about control.
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
Someone has sure already made this observation but the fact they can convert all those empty warehouses into prison camps means they could have converted them into housing, community centers, job training centers or, hell, libraries or schools all along. It’s always a matter of will not resources.
February 15, 2026 at 5:30 PM
Someone has sure already made this observation but the fact they can convert all those empty warehouses into prison camps means they could have converted them into housing, community centers, job training centers or, hell, libraries or schools all along. It’s always a matter of will not resources.
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
The correct question is not “are we treating our children prisoners well” but “how do we stop these monsters from having children prisoners?”
February 15, 2026 at 9:13 PM
The correct question is not “are we treating our children prisoners well” but “how do we stop these monsters from having children prisoners?”
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
Thread of some services/software I'm using instead of various billionaire-owned surveillance/fascist/"A.i." trash products:
For my newsletters, @buttondown.com. Does the job! Great customer service - usually get personalized responses within 24 hours. (Never gonna join Substack.)
For my newsletters, @buttondown.com. Does the job! Great customer service - usually get personalized responses within 24 hours. (Never gonna join Substack.)
February 15, 2026 at 12:13 AM
Thread of some services/software I'm using instead of various billionaire-owned surveillance/fascist/"A.i." trash products:
For my newsletters, @buttondown.com. Does the job! Great customer service - usually get personalized responses within 24 hours. (Never gonna join Substack.)
For my newsletters, @buttondown.com. Does the job! Great customer service - usually get personalized responses within 24 hours. (Never gonna join Substack.)
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
It really is amazing how much of political punditry, *especially* elite outfits in NYC and Washington, still embrace this bizarre idea that rural spaces represent the "Real America" while metropolitan areas, where most (presumably real) Americans actually live, should be held in contempt.
Just going to point out again that our arbitrary political rules permit Republicans to attack urban areas with impunity but strictly forbid the faintest whiff of condescension toward rural areas by Democrats
“The first thing I thought was, ‘What is she talking about?’” said Bryan Fish, the vice mayor of Culver City, whom everyone calls Bubba but doesn’t look like someone whom everyone calls Bubba. “The only crime here,” he added, “is like the $18 strawberry at Erewhon.”
culver city, crime haven! lmaooo
culver city, crime haven! lmaooo
February 14, 2026 at 10:41 PM
It really is amazing how much of political punditry, *especially* elite outfits in NYC and Washington, still embrace this bizarre idea that rural spaces represent the "Real America" while metropolitan areas, where most (presumably real) Americans actually live, should be held in contempt.
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
Universities buying into this shit under the guise of "equity" makes me SO angry
Equity for my students would be access to the databases and journals we've dropped subscriptions for. It'd be having a paid human to caption videos and make PDFs screen-reader compatible. Not this shit.
Equity for my students would be access to the databases and journals we've dropped subscriptions for. It'd be having a paid human to caption videos and make PDFs screen-reader compatible. Not this shit.
My employer, Univ. Colorado will pay OpenAI $2M/year under the banner of “equity”. That’s 54 full scholarships / year. Plus, our IT will be able to read our chatGPT logs, and our chats can be requested under public records law. No thanks. Surveillance is not equity
www.axios.com/local/boulde...
www.axios.com/local/boulde...
CU signs $2M OpenAI deal for ChatGPT access
Students and faculty will gain access to ChatGPT Edu starting in March under a three-year deal.
www.axios.com
February 14, 2026 at 6:40 PM
Universities buying into this shit under the guise of "equity" makes me SO angry
Equity for my students would be access to the databases and journals we've dropped subscriptions for. It'd be having a paid human to caption videos and make PDFs screen-reader compatible. Not this shit.
Equity for my students would be access to the databases and journals we've dropped subscriptions for. It'd be having a paid human to caption videos and make PDFs screen-reader compatible. Not this shit.
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
We keep talking about the plight of the arts & humanities as a problem with arts & humanities, not a problem with corporations, politicians, economic systems, & national culture.
I wrote in Holding It Together that we should strive to live in "a world where we value care work on par with IT," but this wasn't the mechanism for getting there that I had in mind.
February 14, 2026 at 8:50 PM
We keep talking about the plight of the arts & humanities as a problem with arts & humanities, not a problem with corporations, politicians, economic systems, & national culture.
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
In its ongoing war against higher ed—and law firms—the battles MAGA has won are those where the other side surrendered in advance. (The Columbia/UT Austin/Paul Weiss "strategy," vs the Harvard/UCLA/Perkins Coie/etc strategy.)
Resistance is not just braver but also smarter and more effective.
Resistance is not just braver but also smarter and more effective.
This is a genuinely huge, sweeping victory today for the University of California—or rather, for us, its faculty, acting through our faculty associations, while the UC itself maintained a strict policy of deer-in-headlights silence.
The Trump admin has given up its appeal of a powerful injunction:
The Trump admin has given up its appeal of a powerful injunction:
Trump administration drops appeal of court order blocking $1.2-billion UCLA settlement
The Trump administration dropped its appeal of a major higher education case in which a federal judge blocked its $1.2-billion settlement proposal to UCLA over alleged civil rights violations. It will...
www.latimes.com
February 14, 2026 at 4:04 PM
In its ongoing war against higher ed—and law firms—the battles MAGA has won are those where the other side surrendered in advance. (The Columbia/UT Austin/Paul Weiss "strategy," vs the Harvard/UCLA/Perkins Coie/etc strategy.)
Resistance is not just braver but also smarter and more effective.
Resistance is not just braver but also smarter and more effective.
Practical framework for thinking about potentially appropriate ways to use AI. Now...to consider the environmental costs of using these tools.
Who Should Use GenAI and for What? | Psychology Today www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...
Who Should Use GenAI and for What? | Psychology Today www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...
Who Should Use GenAI and for What?
Generative AI zoomers say we should use GenAI for everything, and GenAI doomers say we shouldn’t use it for anything. Most of us are in the middle of these two extremes.
www.psychologytoday.com
February 14, 2026 at 4:07 PM
Practical framework for thinking about potentially appropriate ways to use AI. Now...to consider the environmental costs of using these tools.
Who Should Use GenAI and for What? | Psychology Today www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...
Who Should Use GenAI and for What? | Psychology Today www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/psyc...
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
The Cabinet this week
*RFK Jr. bragged about snorting cocaine off of a toilet seat
*Lutnick acknowledged taking his family to Epstein island
*Bondi “The Dow” / refuses to look at victims
*Noem blanket
*Hegseth loses to Kelly, tries to tweet through it
*Bessent “tariffs don’t cause inflation”
*RFK Jr. bragged about snorting cocaine off of a toilet seat
*Lutnick acknowledged taking his family to Epstein island
*Bondi “The Dow” / refuses to look at victims
*Noem blanket
*Hegseth loses to Kelly, tries to tweet through it
*Bessent “tariffs don’t cause inflation”
February 14, 2026 at 1:55 AM
The Cabinet this week
*RFK Jr. bragged about snorting cocaine off of a toilet seat
*Lutnick acknowledged taking his family to Epstein island
*Bondi “The Dow” / refuses to look at victims
*Noem blanket
*Hegseth loses to Kelly, tries to tweet through it
*Bessent “tariffs don’t cause inflation”
*RFK Jr. bragged about snorting cocaine off of a toilet seat
*Lutnick acknowledged taking his family to Epstein island
*Bondi “The Dow” / refuses to look at victims
*Noem blanket
*Hegseth loses to Kelly, tries to tweet through it
*Bessent “tariffs don’t cause inflation”
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
Calling the requirement for a judicial warrant before entering a person’s home one of the Democrats’ “new restrictions on federal immigration agents” crosses the line into outright falsehood. It’s in the Bill of Rights! A rule as old as the republic.
February 14, 2026 at 4:29 AM
Calling the requirement for a judicial warrant before entering a person’s home one of the Democrats’ “new restrictions on federal immigration agents” crosses the line into outright falsehood. It’s in the Bill of Rights! A rule as old as the republic.
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
Not sure who needs to hear this but the voter fraud rate is a mere 0.000003%. Anyone telling you otherwise is making shit up so they can take away your right to vote.
February 14, 2026 at 12:10 AM
Not sure who needs to hear this but the voter fraud rate is a mere 0.000003%. Anyone telling you otherwise is making shit up so they can take away your right to vote.
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
Eliminating gender studies courses helps to ensure that universities and other institutions will continue to protect men who benefit from the abuse of women and girls, either directly or through their connections to those who exploit girls and women for profit.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Gender studies courses are shutting down across the US. The Epstein files reveal why | Joan Wallach Scott
Texas A&M University is the latest school to end women’s and gender studies programs and teaching race. We know why
www.theguardian.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:38 PM
Eliminating gender studies courses helps to ensure that universities and other institutions will continue to protect men who benefit from the abuse of women and girls, either directly or through their connections to those who exploit girls and women for profit.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
And yet university administrators keep pushing it. Absolutely baffling. Undercutting your own perceived value to be first seems endemic.
Ill be clear about why I am so angry and critical about it: Im seeing a good portion of my students who have imbibed the notion that they dont have to read, think or write for themselves because ChatGPT/CoPilot will do their thinking for them, and its terrifying. It should scare all of us.
February 13, 2026 at 3:17 PM
And yet university administrators keep pushing it. Absolutely baffling. Undercutting your own perceived value to be first seems endemic.
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
@floridaea.bsky.social President Andrew Spar is right. The lack of transparency from private schools that take voucher money makes it impossible for parents to know the quality of education being provided. This is why we should be investing in public schools, not vouchers. weartv.com/news/local/m...
More questions raised about abrupt closing of Escambia Christian School
ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. -- More questions are being raised on the abrupt closing of Escambia Christian School.
weartv.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:04 AM
@floridaea.bsky.social President Andrew Spar is right. The lack of transparency from private schools that take voucher money makes it impossible for parents to know the quality of education being provided. This is why we should be investing in public schools, not vouchers. weartv.com/news/local/m...
Accomplishing any one of these things would go a long way towards restoring faith in the system.
When Ds are back in charge, they have to change everything. No moderate half-measures. Just relentless razing of the corrupt institutions that enriched the worst people in the world and propped up fascism.
A few suggestions...
A few suggestions...
February 13, 2026 at 3:20 AM
Accomplishing any one of these things would go a long way towards restoring faith in the system.
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
I've said it before, but the first school that promotes itself as "AI-free" is going to corner the market on folks committed to learning. (gift link)
Opinion | How A.I. Companies Are Preying on College Students
www.nytimes.com
February 12, 2026 at 8:35 PM
I've said it before, but the first school that promotes itself as "AI-free" is going to corner the market on folks committed to learning. (gift link)
Reposted by Dr. Jane C
My team at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@djpressman.bsky.social, Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) has shared a big data update, covering all recorded US protests through Jan 2026. Some key takeaways 🧵:
February 12, 2026 at 6:19 PM
My team at the Crowd Counting Consortium (@djpressman.bsky.social, Soha Hammam, & Chris Shay) has shared a big data update, covering all recorded US protests through Jan 2026. Some key takeaways 🧵: