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Reposted by Asheesh Kapur Siddique

Mary Rizzo @maryrizzo.bsky.social · 1d

What's happening to my colleague Mark Bray is disgusting. Him and his family are being doxed and getting death threats by right wing supposed "free speech" advocates bc wrote a book about anti fascism. You can't make this shit up! Our universities must fight back.

Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 3d

I’ve received multiple death threats + doxing (including my home address) directly following harassment from Turning Point USA, Jack Posobiec, Andy NGO, + Fox News which called me an antifa ‘financier.’

I have been forced to move my classes online.

If journalists want to talk, DM me or reply here.

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Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 3d

I’ve received multiple death threats + doxing (including my home address) directly following harassment from Turning Point USA, Jack Posobiec, Andy NGO, + Fox News which called me an antifa ‘financier.’

I have been forced to move my classes online.

If journalists want to talk, DM me or reply here.

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Sheila Liming @seeshespeak.bsky.social · 1d

Looks pretty freaking fire

Thomas Dekeyser @thomas-dekeyser.bsky.social · Aug 7

Announcing my book, Techno-Negative!

It will be out in Spring 2026, published with @uminnpress.bsky.social.

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NEH Union - AFGE L3403 @nehafge3403.bsky.social · 1d

The cuts at the National Endowment for the Humanities go far deeper than any of these agencies - almost 70% of 179 people were terminated, despite no change to the agency's budget.

There were no savings here - only idealogical destruction. #NEH

Conrad Hackett @conradhackett.bsky.social · 1d

How much smaller the federal workforce is now vs. a year ago
Ed Dept 42%
OPM 33%
HUD 31%
Treasury 29%
Defense (civilian jobs) 22%
Small Biz Admin 21%
Energy 20%
Interior 15%
HHS 14%
SSA 11%
EPA 10%
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

How Much Smaller Is the Federal Work Force? Shutdown Plans Offer a Clue.

The number of federal employees has been trimmed by thousands since President Trump took office, according to contingency plans drawn up by federal agencies.

www.nytimes.com

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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 1d

Great call to arms by @cnewf.bsky.social, following the tactic of Jed Esty's "Future of Decline" by looking to Stuart Hall & the New Left, & urging us to forego "private agency within our universities" in favor of "collective agency by running them."

Academics Must Seize the Means of Knowledge Production - Public Books

Trumpism has canceled the knowledge society.

www.publicbooks.org

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andy hines @andyhines.bsky.social · 4d

Oh, Marc Rowan?

Indeed, forprofit education has come to be embedded within the structure of public
education: the private equity owner of the University of Phoenix, Apollo
Global Management, has worked to sell the beleaguered institution to the
University of Idaho, following the sale of for-profit Kaplan University to
Purdue University in 2018. Even the country’s most elite institutions are
subject to these schemes: Marc Rowan, Apollo Global Management’s CEO,
has sought to radically reconfigure the priorities and principles of the University of Pennsylvania via a donor revolt, which gained strength in the wake
of the Israel-Gaza War, though his campaign started prior to October 7,
2023 (Snyder 2023; Tkacik 2023).1
These developments replicate within in1. Apollo connects private equity investments in higher education to hospitals. It owns more
hospitals in the United States than any other private equity firm and was one of the final investor
groups in Philadelphia’s Hahnemann Hospital, which had been the teaching hospital for Drexel
University before its closure; see “PESP Private Equity Hospital Tracker” (2024); and Pomorsk

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Matt Seybold @mattseybold.bsky.social · 5d

Always interesting to me when episodes from the back catalog find new life.

This was the second most-downloaded episode of September, trailing only the one new episode we released in September.

Strategic Presentism & Resistance History

with Jeffrey Insko, Anna Kornbluh, Asheesh Kapur Siddique, Walter Johnson, & Astra Taylor

theamericanvandal.substack.com

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Ryan Boyd @ryanboyd.bsky.social · 6d

The reason a hillbilly scholarship kid like me got a great public education at William & Mary was because they invested in teachers, not bullshit computer magic. I guess that has changed.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 6d

“The pilot will explore how AI can enhance teaching, research and university operations, while also gathering feedback to guide the responsible and effective use of AI across campus.”

William & Mary launches ChatGPT Edu pilot

By integrating artificial intelligence tools, the university is positioning itself at the forefront of higher education innovation.

news.wm.edu

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshksi.bsky.social · 6d

Nobody should be finding ways to integrate AI into their research or classrooms. It's another tool through which capitalism aims to dismantle free thought. "Put plainly, you should feel bad for using AI." www.nplusonemag.com/issue-51/the...

Large Language Muddle | The Editors

The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the ...

www.nplusonemag.com

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshksi.bsky.social · 6d

I want to criticize the discursive emphasis in higher ed journalism on "how to teach with or in the context of AI"- pieces like this inevitably fail to place AI in the context of the structural crisis of higher ed capitalism, as yet another way that capitalist elites aim to undermine free thought.

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshksi.bsky.social · 6d

To what extent does the media/discursive fixation on AI as THE problem in higher education media discourse serve to occlude the deeper structural crisis at play here? In other words, why do so many of the handwringing MSM pieces on AI & higher ed not use the word "capitalism"?

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshksi.bsky.social · 6d

In the 20th cen, the automobile attained mass cultural signification long before most people owned cars. Capitalism's discursive/cultural production makes certain technologies seem ubiquitous & inevitable long before they actually are. Tech companies & corporate media are doing this now with AI.

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Karin Wulf @kawulf.bsky.social · 6d

“We may be past the point of no return, but at a minimum we ought to … assess where we are, and what we’re losing when we fully cashier robust support for Humanities research. The Humanities are us.” Feels like a(nother) good day to share this. scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2025/04/02/t...

The Humanities as Canary: Understanding this Crisis Now - The Scholarly Kitchen

The Humanities have always been the canary in the coal mine of the full knowledge industry. What information can help us understand this crisis and its implications?

scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org

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Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 7d

People think they’re taking down a rich intellectual sinecure but they’re mostly terrorizing committed public servants who make $58,000 a year after 15 years of experience at a school that has to budget creatively so students can access textbooks.

Emily Farris @emayfarris.bsky.social · 7d

This new column by @tressiemcphd.bsky.social makes me think about when I recently had to talk to the police for yet another safety plan, I tried to “lighten” the mood by saying that we all knew this wasn’t my first rodeo. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/o...

For at least the past 15 years, my colleagues in academia have grappled with angry letters to university officials for doing their jobs. They have weathered campaigns for their firing. They have contended with an internet army obsessed with doxxing them, their parents, their kids. I’ve been contacted by the F.B.I. more than once in my career. Not because I hold any important state secrets or know a biker gang but because one of my colleagues has lived with so much sustained harassment from right-wing “activists” that it has become a matter of federal concern. Watch lists (one of which was constructed by Kirk’s organization) do not distinguish between public intellectuals at wealthy enclaves and hoi polloi who teach popular classes at cash-strapped schools. In either case, an army of trained provocateurs stands ready to destroy their lives to prove their bona fides as conservative activists.

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshksi.bsky.social · 7d

Very surprised to learn that faculty at rich universities that can afford ample sabbaticals, resources, low teaching loads, etc., are more research productive than the rest of us /s

APSA @apsa.bsky.social · 7d

A Global Ranking of Research Productivity of Political Science Departments

A Global Ranking of Research Productivity of Political Science Departments By Joan Barceló, Christopher Paik, Peter van der Windt and Haoyu Zhai, New York University Abu Dhabi This article provides a global ranking of…

A Global Ranking of Research Productivity of Political Science Departments

A Global Ranking of Research Productivity of Political Science Departments By Joan Barceló, Christopher Paik, Peter van der Windt and Haoyu Zhai, New York University Abu Dhabi This article provides a global ranking of research productivity of political science departments. We collected data on 115,427 articles and 12,696 books—written in both English and other languages—from 5,586 faculty members in 178 departments in North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America, Oceania, and Africa.

politicalsciencenow.com

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshksi.bsky.social · 7d

Chris Rufo did this and was platformed as a legitimate authority on universities by the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Screenshot of Chronicle of Higher Education interview with Chris Rufo

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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 7d

Important to remember that Chris Rufo spearheaded this overhaul and serves on the colleges’s board of trustees.

Yet he is worshipped in various quarters as an educational innovator

Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 7d

www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

"Both graduation and retention rates have fallen since the takeover in 2023.... even as New College spends more than 10 times per student what the other 11 members of the State University System... a head count under 900 and a $118.5 million budget"

Spending Soars, Rankings Fall at New College of Florida

Student outcomes and rankings are slipping at the liberal arts college while spending is up. Critics believe the college is at risk of implosion, and some are calling for privatization.

www.insidehighered.com

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshksi.bsky.social · 8d

It's a huge work burden on letter writers, generally not useful as part of the evaluation process, and especially pointless for positions that will generate hundreds of applications for 1 position.

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshksi.bsky.social · 8d

If this is "an HR requirement," that is a sad commentary on how weak faculty power is at said institution

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshksi.bsky.social · 8d

👏 stop 👏 requiring 👏 recommendation letters 👏 in 👏 the 👏 first 👏 round 👏 of 👏 academic 👏 job 👏 applications

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 9d

the other half of this that I've never really gotten over: this all but explicitly amounts to valorizing being "asleep". people are really out here wielding "I have no idea what's going on, historically speaking" as a credential

Judah Grunstein @judah-grunstein.bsky.social · 10d

This is, after all, the original and authentic meaning of "stay woke." In fact, the perversion of "woke" into an epithet is perhaps the defining metaphor of our moment: Historical victims are not only being revictimized, but also mocked for never forgetting this is always a possibility in the US.

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Nicole Holliday @mixedlinguist.bsky.social · 9d

“Stay woke” was always used by black people to implore each other to be aware of our history and our rights, because our freedom has always been tenuous here. Judah is spot on about how its perversion in the mainstream is a spot on representation of our current moment.

Judah Grunstein @judah-grunstein.bsky.social · 10d

This is, after all, the original and authentic meaning of "stay woke." In fact, the perversion of "woke" into an epithet is perhaps the defining metaphor of our moment: Historical victims are not only being revictimized, but also mocked for never forgetting this is always a possibility in the US.

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Judah Grunstein @judah-grunstein.bsky.social · 10d

This is, after all, the original and authentic meaning of "stay woke." In fact, the perversion of "woke" into an epithet is perhaps the defining metaphor of our moment: Historical victims are not only being revictimized, but also mocked for never forgetting this is always a possibility in the US.

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Rebecca Colesworthy @rcolesworthy.bsky.social · 12d

Cuts to and closures of university presses are 100% part of the separation (or as @mattseybold.bsky.social has called it "unbundling") of research and teaching in the humanities and the devaluation of both quite frankly--in this case at the expense of the career training admin claims to care about.

Rebecca Colesworthy @rcolesworthy.bsky.social · 12d

"Bucknell has decided to close its highly respected, decades-old UP in June 2026. The stated reason? The press serves scholars, not Bucknell undergrads. Bucknell undergrads—& some grad students as well—disagree." FANTASTIC piece on BUP's student internship program. networks.h-net.org/group/discus...

Bucknell UP Closure Would Also Mark End of Vital Student Internship Program | H-Net

A post from Feeding the

networks.h-net.org

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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshksi.bsky.social · 12d

The scholarship that university presses publish directly shape what undergraduates are taught. Universities and their presses also exist for reasons beyond undergraduate education. So the Bucknell administration is completely wrong, at multiple levels.

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