#highered

RE: https://mastodon.social/@nixCraft/117387668201095251 This 👇🏻 , and I am also sick and tired of those in #academia and #HigherEd , including #librarians who should know better, rushing to embrace it and assisting said rich assholes. #AISlop #sloperator #cogsucker #BadEconomy #tech #corruption

If US professors were paid for their time, the #highered system would collapse immediately. The entire thing runs on unpaid labor. Shown: an Email informing us that we must take and pass this four-week course if we want to teach online, ever, even a little. The course is quite fussy, with lots of little checks to see if your modules in the LMS fit their criteria, the assignments are sufficient in number and named properly, the media files and links all meet specifications, and a dozen other aspects of the course meet the more or less arbitrary design rules based on someone's mistaken idea about best practices in 2003. To pass the course you have to build an online course in the approved LMS, with almost all elements required to be integrated in there. It takes roughly 60 hours, or so I've heard. This is all unpaid. You are just expected to do it. Previous online experience is irrelevant. Previous (generally superior) online course training is irrelevant. You have to do this course, which hasn't been updated in 15 years. Questions about where the criteria came from are met with vague and slightly threatening responses. You must get everything up to specific standards in the LMS to pass the course. However, they won't teach you how to use the shit-ass LMS the admins unilaterally dropped on us 2 years ago. That requires more unpaid training time. Not shown: admins sending bullying/guilt-tripping emails wondering why we don't teach more online courses, which they do about twice a year. #professor

#AAUP and #AFT have today released a public letter addressing the Dept of Ed regarding the coercion of colleges & universities too much for a pull quote but read, share, & bring to your campuses! https://www.aaup.org/news/aaup-and-aft-respond-trumps-compact-20 #HigherEd #Academia #education #uspol #PolicingTheCampus

In my "Introduction to Data Analysis in R for Linguists" seminar (based on my textbook: https://elenlefoll.github.io/RstatsTextbook/) I spend a lot of time on project management, file naming conventions, file formats, and reproducible workflows using Quarto. Some might consider it a waste of time because it means I have less time for other things (sorry ANOVAS, you're out!). However, this latest round of term papers has, once again, proven that this is well-invested time: my students are delivering fully reproducible term papers in Quarto format and, because they have a firm grasp of the basics, those that are motivated learn far more complex things than what I've taught them to complete really quite ambitious projects. Today's heartwarming quote from a [female] M.A. student: "I ended up having a lot of fun getting into the more technical, coding-heavy side of things, which surprised me! So thank you for that." And many go on to use R and Quarto for their MA theses! 🥰 #Quarto #RStats #linguistics #HigherEd

I'm hearing reports that students at #USAO are marching in protest tonight of the plans to slash and burn what makes USAO such an extraordinary university. I'm very proud to see these students speaking out. #Oklahoma #OKEd #HigherEd #LiberalArts

Access to education across borders is not just a technical problem of #interoperability, it needs a political dimension that makes it work for Europe's 20+ million learners #HigherEdhttps://erasmus-networks.ec.europa.eu/topic/why-interoperability-needs-political-will-not-just-technical-solutions

Trump Administration Drops Subpoena Demanding List of Jews From Penn https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/23/us/eeoc-subpoena-penn-jewish-list.html #USPolitics #CivilRights #HigherEd

Prof Steven Thrasher is suing Northwestern & the federal government "Released documents from the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s intimidation campaign revealed that during the 2024 encampment, Northwestern Trustee Michael Sacks sent then President Schill a text message with the request that “we just not hire assholes anymore,” referring to a Medill faculty member (me????)" https://lithub.com/when-we-fight-we-win-why-i-am-suing-northwestern-university-and-the-us-government/ #GazaProtests #academia #HigherEd #Northestern #PolicingTheCampus

"No faculty member, student, or worker should face the stripping of their livelihood for protesting a genocide or speaking out against corporate and political complicity. Academic institutions must serve as sanctuaries for rigorous debate, and free expression, rather than capitulating to the financial leverage of trustees or the political pressures of congressional intimidation campaigns" https://www.aaup.org/news/northwestern-universitys-campaign-against-free-expression #AAUP #PolicingTheCampus #uspol #Northwestern #academia #HigherEd

it is an outrage that excellent scholars doing important work leaving the UT system is a feature, not a bug, for those pulling these fuckery moves https://www.statesman.com/news/education/article/ut-border-surveillance-scholar-tenure-denial-22343342.php (i think this 2nd link is nonpaywall, it does have trackers) https://www.statesman.com/news/education/article/ut-border-surveillance-scholar-tenure-denial-22343342.php?utm_source=marketing&utm_medium=copy-url-link&utm_campaign=article-share&hash=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuc3RhdGVzbWFuLmNvbS9uZXdzL2VkdWNhdGlvbi9hcnRpY2xlL3V0LWJvcmRlci1zdXJ2ZWlsbGFuY2Utc2Nob2xhci10ZW51cmUtZGVuaWFsLTIyMzQzMzQyLnBocA%3D%3D&time=MTc4NDU0OTcxNzQ5Mw%3D%3D&rid=ZWM2ZGRlOTEtZGRkNC00MWUzLThmYTYtNTJmNWNkMmJmNWRm&sharecount=MA%3D%3D #UT #Texas #AAUP #academia #HigherEd #borders #SurveillanceStudies

I am not speaking for my employer when I say "FUCK TRUMP'S DEATH SQUADS" which is exactly my problem with my employer #uspol #academia #highered #fascism

Pocket-Sized Power: A Feminist History of Portrait Miniatures #art #feminism #gender #history#Birmingham #Higheredhttps://power.barber.org.uk/

Journalist Steven Thrasher, PhD (The Viral Underclass, The Overseer Class) is suing Northwestern University and the US Government after NU terminated his appointment as the Daniel Renberg Chair for (ahem) Social Justice following GOP (and apparently trustee) pressure over his actions in solidarity with #Gaza and campus #GazaSolidarity protests. The Dean of the Journalism School and all of Northwestern's administration look like cowards and lickspittles in the face of threats to #AcademicFreedom and #HumanRights. I'm glad he's suing (am very interested in what discovery turns up) and furious that he has to. https://lithub.com/when-we-fight-we-win-why-i-am-suing-northwestern-university-and-the-us-government/ #AcademicChatter #USHigherEd #HigherEd #USPol

Some Republican states push for new college accreditation agency https://www.npr.org/2026/07/10/nx-s1-5869546/some-republican-states-push-for-new-college-accreditation-agency #Education #Politics #HigherEd

"A tenured professor who was fired last year over her pro-Palestinian activism has won her job back and is suing her university over the termination" https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/29/california-professor-gaza-protest-reinstated #HigherEd #academia #GazaProtests #uspol

"Though the government has plenty of ways to promote its own viewpoint, puppeteering every university professor in the state is not one of them" https://www.rawstory.com/court-thrashes-red-state-s-breathtaking-attempt-to-ban-unpopular-ideas/ #HigherEd #academia #1a #Florida

“All 19 recognised institutions have been systematically targeted: every one of Gaza’s university campuses has been severely damaged or completely destroyed, while university colleges and intermediate colleges have sustained severe damage rendering them non-operational" https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20260617185507827 #scholasticide #Gaza #HigherEd #academia

I've updated my document meant for teachers who want to push back on AI mania in schools. Meant for K-12 initially but works for higher ed as well. #education #teachers #higheredhttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1n9CokRz8xRR-sO01DIVkuftFywxSay6ae5eLf__UYJM/edit?usp=sharing

Hi #Mastodon! 👋 We're the #DigitalAutonomy team at the University of #Groningen. Our university is working to reduce its dependence on #BigTech towards 2030 and we're sharing the journey here: our approach, progress, and lessons learned. We're especially looking forward to connecting with others working on #digital autonomy in #HigherEd and the #public sector. #Introduction #OpenSource

"several Jewish faculty members filed claims to say they had experienced harassment as Jews on campus – but probably not on grounds Trump’s EEOC intended. ...they argued that the hostility they faced stemmed from their support for Palestinian rights and student protests..." https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/03/columbia-jewish-faculty-protests-settlement-fund #uspol #PolicingTheCampus #GazaProtests #antisemitism #HigherEd #academia #Columbia