James A. Palmer
@jamespqr77.bsky.social
Historian of medieval Italy; dad; cook; hockey fan, Michigander living in Iowa
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0656-9110
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0656-9110
Reposted by James A. Palmer
Reposted by James A. Palmer
My employer, Dartmouth College, today boasts it's 1st Ivy "to launch AI at an institutional scale." It is doing this by partnering--"more than a collaboration"--with Anthropic, a company that stole the books of many faculty, me included, which many of us are suing.
December 4, 2025 at 9:38 PM
My employer, Dartmouth College, today boasts it's 1st Ivy "to launch AI at an institutional scale." It is doing this by partnering--"more than a collaboration"--with Anthropic, a company that stole the books of many faculty, me included, which many of us are suing.
Reposted by James A. Palmer
it’s a real problem
As a parent of a now middle-schooler, I'm really hoping and expecting that by the time she hits 8th grade she's reading novels in school. But that's not happening everywhere in D.C., as I learned from this informative op-ed in @51st.news: 51st.news/opinion-dcps...
Opinion: DCPS middle-schoolers should be reading novels
Many parents like myself were shocked by a recent change to the English curriculum at Alice Deal Middle School.
51st.news
December 6, 2025 at 1:25 AM
it’s a real problem
Reposted by James A. Palmer
I discussed this with @kamdenstrunk.bsky.social the other day. What are journal editors doing when they find an unreported instance of AI use?
I have never heard a story about the aftermath of a journal catching this. Do journals report offenders to their institutions as a misconduct issue?
December 4, 2025 at 5:31 PM
I discussed this with @kamdenstrunk.bsky.social the other day. What are journal editors doing when they find an unreported instance of AI use?
Reposted by James A. Palmer
Historians on hiring, tenure, and promotion committees should be cautious about relying on Google Scholar, and we need to fight against others using it to assess us. I just noticed three citations to my articles in an American Historical Review article by Jo Guldi, and none show up in my profile.
December 4, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Historians on hiring, tenure, and promotion committees should be cautious about relying on Google Scholar, and we need to fight against others using it to assess us. I just noticed three citations to my articles in an American Historical Review article by Jo Guldi, and none show up in my profile.
Reposted by James A. Palmer
"As the university trades its teaching mission for “AI-tech integration,” it doesn’t just risk irrelevance—it risks becoming mechanically soulless. Genuine intellectual struggle has become too expensive of a value proposition."
Absolutely devastating account of the CSU's $17 million capitulation to ChatGPT, from a fellow faculty member watching it happen www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 3, 2025 at 4:31 AM
"As the university trades its teaching mission for “AI-tech integration,” it doesn’t just risk irrelevance—it risks becoming mechanically soulless. Genuine intellectual struggle has become too expensive of a value proposition."
Reposted by James A. Palmer
“The math is brutal and the juxtaposition stark: millions for OpenAI while pink slips go out to longtime lecturers. The CSU isn’t investing in education—it’s outsourcing it, paying premium prices for a chatbot many students were already using for free.“
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 3, 2025 at 2:58 AM
“The math is brutal and the juxtaposition stark: millions for OpenAI while pink slips go out to longtime lecturers. The CSU isn’t investing in education—it’s outsourcing it, paying premium prices for a chatbot many students were already using for free.“
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
Reposted by James A. Palmer
This is insane. Any material a prof thinks is necessary but isn’t for formal licensing has to get the signoff of the chair, then dean, then provost?
This is an absolutely mockery of academic freedom.
I feel like Texas Tech HAS to lose its accreditation for this, no? It’s preposterous.
This is an absolutely mockery of academic freedom.
I feel like Texas Tech HAS to lose its accreditation for this, no? It’s preposterous.
TX Tech has a flow chat for guidance on what can be taught in the university system. Two things:
1. Very little content seems to be permitted. This is partisan control of the curriculum.
2. I would not enjoy teaching under these conditions, but I really would not want to be a Chair or Dean.
1. Very little content seems to be permitted. This is partisan control of the curriculum.
2. I would not enjoy teaching under these conditions, but I really would not want to be a Chair or Dean.
December 2, 2025 at 2:30 AM
This is insane. Any material a prof thinks is necessary but isn’t for formal licensing has to get the signoff of the chair, then dean, then provost?
This is an absolutely mockery of academic freedom.
I feel like Texas Tech HAS to lose its accreditation for this, no? It’s preposterous.
This is an absolutely mockery of academic freedom.
I feel like Texas Tech HAS to lose its accreditation for this, no? It’s preposterous.
Reposted by James A. Palmer
I love how the media just decided to memory-hole the vast, administrator & state-directed, violent suppression of student, faculty, and staff speech about genocide because it simply does not fit with the ingrained narrative of higher education as a woke indoctrination factory.
December 1, 2025 at 8:27 PM
I love how the media just decided to memory-hole the vast, administrator & state-directed, violent suppression of student, faculty, and staff speech about genocide because it simply does not fit with the ingrained narrative of higher education as a woke indoctrination factory.
Reposted by James A. Palmer
Universities are assembling larger and larger teams to deal with academic integrity issues--mostly focused on AI--while simultaneously holding AI "writing" contests, AI-themed events, "hey, come play with these fun tools!" The messages are so mixed, it's criminal. Because AI is bloated with money.
November 28, 2025 at 10:36 PM
Universities are assembling larger and larger teams to deal with academic integrity issues--mostly focused on AI--while simultaneously holding AI "writing" contests, AI-themed events, "hey, come play with these fun tools!" The messages are so mixed, it's criminal. Because AI is bloated with money.
I have nothing good to say about this.
BREAKING: Northwestern University has agreed to pay the U.S. Treasury $75 million, over the course of three years as part of an agreement with the federal government to restore funding and end investigations into the university
Full statement from NU below:
Full statement from NU below:
November 29, 2025 at 5:56 AM
I have nothing good to say about this.
Reposted by James A. Palmer
hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/you-say-si...
"Silos preserve quality and integrity. Without silos, grain rots... Its purpose is preservation, not isolation. ... The function of the academic discipline is not unlike an agricultural silo: it is a structure of preservation and quality control."
"Silos preserve quality and integrity. Without silos, grain rots... Its purpose is preservation, not isolation. ... The function of the academic discipline is not unlike an agricultural silo: it is a structure of preservation and quality control."
You say 'silo' as if it were a bad thing...
Information storage in the AI era
hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:12 PM
hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/you-say-si...
"Silos preserve quality and integrity. Without silos, grain rots... Its purpose is preservation, not isolation. ... The function of the academic discipline is not unlike an agricultural silo: it is a structure of preservation and quality control."
"Silos preserve quality and integrity. Without silos, grain rots... Its purpose is preservation, not isolation. ... The function of the academic discipline is not unlike an agricultural silo: it is a structure of preservation and quality control."
Definitely a feature and not a bug as far as the people causing the problem are concerned.
Where I work, grad student enrollment in Engineering and Business is down 70% and 40%, respectively.
Now, to cover the loss in revenue from these Departments, the rest of the colleges have to take MASSIVE hits. History Dept alone has cut/closed 6 TT lines. Forget about raises or salary equity. 🫠
Now, to cover the loss in revenue from these Departments, the rest of the colleges have to take MASSIVE hits. History Dept alone has cut/closed 6 TT lines. Forget about raises or salary equity. 🫠
Enrollment by international students from China dropped by 3 percent, from India by 4 percent, and enrollment from students from Mexico has flatlined. Here are the likely consequences for Texas' education and economy:
November 26, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Definitely a feature and not a bug as far as the people causing the problem are concerned.
Reposted by James A. Palmer
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
November 25, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Google at its peak was basically the best information retrieval system in human history and they and every competitor decided going from there to “you didn’t want answers you wanted half-assed auto-complete 80%-wrong hallucinations” in a few years was the right idea
Reposted by James A. Palmer
when its definitely not a hostage situation
November 25, 2025 at 4:19 PM
when its definitely not a hostage situation
Reposted by James A. Palmer
Reposted by James A. Palmer
Really important to stress that the Crown Jewels of the US higher education system were never the Ivies or elite SLACs (other countries have equivalents of these) but the well-funded, large, cheap, and excellently staffed public state university systems bringing high quality education to the masses.
November 23, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Really important to stress that the Crown Jewels of the US higher education system were never the Ivies or elite SLACs (other countries have equivalents of these) but the well-funded, large, cheap, and excellently staffed public state university systems bringing high quality education to the masses.
Reposted by James A. Palmer
Biggest shocker at my talk today, which is consistent with my other talks and media stuff, is that the acceptance rate for men and women are different at highly selective institutions. Men have a much higher acceptance rate because most colleges are scared to go beyond a 60/40 ratio.
November 20, 2025 at 10:29 PM
Biggest shocker at my talk today, which is consistent with my other talks and media stuff, is that the acceptance rate for men and women are different at highly selective institutions. Men have a much higher acceptance rate because most colleges are scared to go beyond a 60/40 ratio.
Reposted by James A. Palmer
Reposted by James A. Palmer
This reads like "The Jews Are Our Misfortune" but for the undocumented.
November 20, 2025 at 5:47 PM
This reads like "The Jews Are Our Misfortune" but for the undocumented.
Reposted by James A. Palmer
shout-out to every single person you knew in high school who thought that naming it the department of homeland security was a gross fascist overture, and would ultimately come back to haunt us.
We have to dismantle the whole thing & jail everyone responsible.
x.com/DHSgov/statu...
We have to dismantle the whole thing & jail everyone responsible.
x.com/DHSgov/statu...
November 20, 2025 at 6:10 PM
shout-out to every single person you knew in high school who thought that naming it the department of homeland security was a gross fascist overture, and would ultimately come back to haunt us.
We have to dismantle the whole thing & jail everyone responsible.
x.com/DHSgov/statu...
We have to dismantle the whole thing & jail everyone responsible.
x.com/DHSgov/statu...
No hardcopy of the book, no book review by me. So it is written, so let it be.
November 20, 2025 at 4:48 PM
No hardcopy of the book, no book review by me. So it is written, so let it be.
Reposted by James A. Palmer
imagine being a woman in that classroom, knowing full well how he talks about women in general and about his own mentees in particular.
can you trust you’ll be treated equitably? would you feel comfortable asking for help or a meeting?
can you trust you’ll be treated equitably? would you feel comfortable asking for help or a meeting?
Larry Summers discusses his “statement of regret” for his disturbing messages to Jeffrey Epstein with Harvard students
November 19, 2025 at 9:45 PM
imagine being a woman in that classroom, knowing full well how he talks about women in general and about his own mentees in particular.
can you trust you’ll be treated equitably? would you feel comfortable asking for help or a meeting?
can you trust you’ll be treated equitably? would you feel comfortable asking for help or a meeting?
Reposted by James A. Palmer
Yn a free society, universitye-level studye of the artes and humanityes sholde not be avaylable onlye to the wealthye and privileged.
November 20, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Yn a free society, universitye-level studye of the artes and humanityes sholde not be avaylable onlye to the wealthye and privileged.