Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · 18h

Ugh. I’ve been pushing too hard.

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · 8d

To be clear, Pete Hegseth just essentially threw out the Military Code of Conduct.

Whiskey Tango Alpha Foxtrot did I just watch?!?

1 2

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · 10d

I’ve been reflecting lately on how much I have always enjoyed the collegial aspects of being an academic & the extent to which my employers have manipulated that joy to coerce me (& all academics) to work for free, anticipating (mostly rightly) that they can maximize their profit from us this way. 💔

1 3

Reposted by Jamie Callahan

Marcus Luther @marcusluther.bsky.social · 10d

One thing that feels underrepresented in our conversations around AI/education is the not-insignificant number of students who have a negative reaction to the idea of using AI—especially being compelled to do it by teachers.

They deserve a voice in this conversation, too.

Richard B. Simon @rbsimon.bsky.social · 10d

A student told me Thursday that another prof had told the class to post their work into an AI LLM, to be graded and commented on by the AI. The other students were all offended. Which is good. They should be offended.

5 44 170

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · 12d

It’s my birthday & I’ll bake if I want to!

Vegan chocolate layer cake with decadent peanut butter “butter”cream filling and chocolate “butter”cream frosting.

Party got canceled, so I’m taking the cake to work.

2 3

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · 16d

Higher education is broken.
www.ft.com/content/3f49...

The shadow economy behind the international student boom

A lucrative revenue stream for universities has led to an industry of unregulated agents now under scrutiny for making lofty promises

www.ft.com

1 2

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · 23d

'Outwith' is the best word ever. Thank you, Scotland!

1 1

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · 27d

Agree mosquitos. They slip in when you open a door; worse at night. When I visit my mom in FL I make sure to run a fan over my body so they can’t get me. They can’t fly through the breeze. The minute I turn it off, I start hearing bzzzzz.

1

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · 27d

When you finally finish marking dissertations at 12:30am and go to crawl into bed—only to realize you had stripped the bed for laundry and did not remake it 🤦🏼‍♀️😭

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · 28d

The ballot is *NOT* just on pay. It is on:

1. A national agreement to protect jobs & subjects
2. Protect national T&Cs agreements
3. Pay uplift: at least RPI+3.5% or £2500 on all pay points

@ucu.org.uk @unitecommunity.bsky.social @unison.org.uk @gmb.org.uk @eisunion.bsky.social @ducu.bsky.social

University and College Union (UCU) @ucu.org.uk · 29d

VCs don’t run universities.

We do.

After another real terms pay cut, UCU is launching a UK-wide strike ballot.

Ballot opens October.

Vote YES.

#WeAreTheUniversity

3 5

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · 28d

And it was the discussion about THIS image that was seen as so offensive to the student who raised the complaint.

1

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · 28d

A professor of English at my former university was fired for discussing this image with her students; her HoD & Dean were removed from their posts. Shame on @tamu.bsky.social for denying verified science, standing against #LGBTQIA people, & contributing to fascist authoritarianism.

An image of the Gender Unicorn depicting what gender identity, gender expression, assigned sex, and physical/emotion attraction are.

1 1 3

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · Sep 8

This is not normal. Get a plan, Democrats. You’ve got about 3-weeks left.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/o...

Opinion | Stop Acting Like This Is Normal

www.nytimes.com

1 8

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · Sep 7

I 💯 agree that publishers are raking in obscene profits. But I don’t think the answer is to be okay with researchers paying the price. Publishers are happy w/ £; universities are happy because they also profit from free research-related labour while they pile on the teaching.

Win-Win-Lose

1

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · Sep 7

I actually secured a grant for a PhD student to study this phenomenon. She left the PhD programme after data collection without giving us access to the data & refuses to communicate with the supervision team or the university. I would love to be able to finish the analysis!

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · Sep 7

If I had more word count, I would have put promotion guides in quotes 😉. I was cutting it fine!

1 1

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · Sep 7

I think you mean ‘and have you seen’?

3

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · Sep 7

My university just instituted a new workload model that explicitly states external service work, like journal editing, is not to be considered part of paid workload allocation. Yet such service is still listed on promotion guides. When will academics get fed up with working for free?

Join #UCU

Ben Williamson @benpatrickwill.bsky.social · Sep 6

Peer reviewers are exhausted. It's common to spend *months* inviting reviewers, getting refusals, inviting more, maybe 12 or more, then 2 agree but 1 doesn't complete, so you go again. That's why your paper is in limbo. I'm very sorry, it's awful, but it's also an untenable academic labour issue.

10 44 190

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · Sep 6

The US: we don’t have enough $ to pay for healthcare & food for poor children

Also the US: we are rebranding the Dept of Defense to the Dept of War, costing billions (worldwide: name plates, signage, letterhead, emails, websites, etc)

🤔🤦🏼‍♀️

1 5

Reposted by Jamie Callahan

Marian Mayer @marianmayer.bsky.social · Sep 4

This is beyond appalling. A union engaging in union-busting. All TUs should be calling on UCU to cease and desist, and settle with @uniteucu.bsky.social for the sake of the movement @tuc.org.uk @yourparty.bsky.social #rReclaimUCU

Unite UCU @uniteucu.bsky.social · Sep 4

🚨 Third consecutive vote for industrial action 🚨

✅ strike action: 76%
✅ action short of a strike (ASOS): 80%
✅ turnout: 77%

ASOS begins today with @ucu.org.uk threatening staff: "We'll deduct your wages."

Double standards and vindictive attacks undermine us all.

#ReclaimUCU

Jo Grady calling Queen Mary management "vindictive" for making deductions from UCU members taking action short of a strike: Jo Grady, UCU's general secretary, said Queen Mary's senior management had "launched a vindictive attack" on its members, "punishing them for taking part in lawful industrial action" and "cementing its reputation as the worst university employer in the UK" She said: "It is wrong to do this at any time and all the more deplorable as staff struggle to make ends meet in a cost of living crisis."

Screen shot of the article from The Guardian about Queen Mary ASOS deductions in which Jo Grady is quoted

6 5

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · Sep 4

Well, this touched my heart! The cookies are a nod to an exercise I do called “The Chocolate Chip Cookie Logic Model” to teach about evaluations rubrics in training. I love my kind & clever students!

1 3

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · Sep 2

Oh, and pro-tip: you can claim tax relief on 67% of your UCU subscriptions, thus reducing your net cost of being a trade union member!

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · Sep 2

Graph showing how adjustment to the local @ducu.bsky.social subscription rates makes trade union membership fairer for all salary bands.

Graph showing how adjustments in local subscriptions will make trade union membership fairer across all salary bands.

1 1

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · Sep 2

Graph depicting how lower salary members were paying a higher proportion of their salaries to be trade union members than higher paid members.

1

Jamie Callahan @profjamiec.bsky.social · Sep 2

@ducu.bsky.social new local subs have hit. We are now leading the sector in working to make TU membership subscriptions less regressive. Now all of our members are paying subs more equitably. Well done, branch, for recognising the unfairness & voting to do something about it! #UCU

1 1