Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · 2d

At No Kings in Raleigh, NC!

10 84

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Aug 14

Only an email from the Provost.

2

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Aug 14

Bucknell University is shutting down our university press. Huge disappointment and big blow to 18th century studies and Latin American studies, two signature strengths of BU Press.

2 2 7

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Jul 10

Indeed, there's more suicide and deaths by depression there than in blue, progressive communities. So how are people attracting men to humanities courses successfully? When I've raised the question locally, I get mostly indifference from colleagues or even hear relief at this state of affairs.

3

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Jul 10

I'm genuinely curious how my academic friends are responding to the absence of men from literature courses. I have a theory seminar this fall: 12 women. I read D. French's piece that concedes that conservative, religious, and rural culture is not solving the fatalism reigning among young men today.

1 2

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Jun 14

Check it out: keywords.nyupress.org/keywords-con...

Antisemitic (June 2025)

The terms anti-Semite, antisemitic and antisemitism are tied up with relatively modern ideas of the racial and national identity of Jews as well as the fight for their acceptance in European and North...

keywords.nyupress.org

3

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Jun 2

Even Ahab had his humanities...

Rob Townsend @rbtownsend.bsky.social · Jun 2

"The President’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 Budget proposes to terminate the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and provides $38 million to conduct an orderly shutdown of the Agency." bit.ly/4kEnEPo

bit.ly

1

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · May 25

A little self promotion: The Traumatic Colonel: The Founding Fathers, Slavery, and the Phantasmatic Aaron Burr. nyupress.org/978147984253...

1

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · May 22

And get this, @mattseybold.bsky.social , I'm the only Americanist left with specialization before 1900!

1 3

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · May 22

Exactly. Boo indeed. Time for alumni to get real.

2

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · May 22

Fwiw, the Bucknell English Department was just denied funding to replace our retiring Shakespeare expert.

4 1 5

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · May 1

Another sign that we're slipping into being a very different country. The Establishment clause is central to what made the US distinct.

5

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · May 1

but you can only have two dolls now!

1 2

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Apr 17

No. I'm. Not saying that at all.

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Apr 17

Thanks for your comments. But actually, democracies face the chance of becoming something entirely other than themselves with each election or constitutional convention. States are not people.

1

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Apr 17

Our OpEd on Bucknell faculty's endorsement of the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism was published in the Philly Inquirer today: www.inquirer.com/opinion/comm...

Our campus is trying to clarify the distinction between antisemitism and legitimate debate about the state of Israel | Opinion

Three Bucknell University professors write that their efforts came as a direct response to the silencing of critical voices related to Israel and Palestine on college campuses.

www.inquirer.com

1 2 6

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Apr 4

Sorry, Joseph! Just awful all around.

3

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Apr 2

Powerful letter from Stockton University faculty: lithub.com/silence-is-c...

Silence is Collaboration: Academics Must Speak Out Against Fascism

We write this in the wake of the illegal arrests of Mahmoud Khalil, Rumeysa Ozturk, Badar Khan Suri, Alireza Doroudi, and other foreign students and teaching faculty at American universities. We wi…

lithub.com

2

Reposted by Michael J Drexler

Dan Diamond @ddiamond.bsky.social · Mar 29

Breaking: RFK Jr. has forced out PETER MARKS, the nation’s top vaccine regulator.

In his resignation letter, obtained by the Post, Marks said he was willing to work with RFK Jr on his vaccine concerns — but said Kennedy wishes “subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.”

RFK Jr. forces out Peter Marks, FDA’s top vaccine scientist

Marks, an architect of Operation Warp Speed, warned that a recent measles outbreak shows how confidence in science and public health is being “undermined.”

www.washingtonpost.com

1.2K 13K 33K

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Mar 29

Lol

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Mar 29

Worth reposting: www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

We need an exodus from Zionism | Naomi Klein

This Passover, we don’t need or want the false idol of Zionism. We want freedom from the project that commits genocide in our name

www.theguardian.com

1 4

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Mar 28

If you get the chance, see The Palestine Exception, a remarkable documentary about the student movement for Palestine, especially in the wake of the Gaza genocide. We brought the film to Bucknell yesterday and we were treated to a Q&A with one of the directors, Jan Haaken.

4

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Mar 28

They rarely do seem happy. Some solace.

2

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Mar 18

My condolences

1

Michael J Drexler @mjdrexler.bsky.social · Mar 18

Fortunately, our faculty meetings are limited to two 50 minute sessions per month. They're still torture.

1 1