Happy 76th Birthday, Tom Waits!

Stop saying “DEI” or “equity-related.” Stop using the words they choose to mask their vile racist ideology with the language of those they hate. Say they want to remove any books that speak to the lives of anyone who isn’t white, straight, Christian, or male. Name the hate. Make them own it.

Oops forgot my Alt text

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.

“My pay has ranged from 40 cents per day as a janitor to as much as 26 cents an hour as a graphic designer in the printing plant when I was at Nash Correctional, where, among other duties, my job entailed proofreading the 2016, 2017, and 2018 annual reports for Correction Enterprises.”

If you’re in the Chapel Hill area, come to Haw River Tap & Table in Carrboro tonight at 6 to hear me talk about US fertility trends! moreheadplanetarium.org/calendar/car...

What happened?

this is exactly why more departments need to think about how much grad students, adjuncts, and non-TT teaching faculty bear the brunt of this harassment in the classroom because they teach courses for more non-majors who are more likely to cause a ruckus over content

Multiple sources have confirmed that ICE/Border Patrol is headed back to the Raleigh and Durham areas for undefined deportation actions. We've heard 50 ICE agents, charter flights and hotels booked for all of them in the Raleigh area. Let us know what you hear.

A winning platform.

"A Texas A&M University appeals panel has unanimously ruled that the school was “not justified” when it fired a lecturer who had been accused of teaching a course that recognized more than two genders... www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/u...

People often give advice based only on their personal experience (N=1). Beware if they do not mention luck/happenstance/serendipity and provide the larger context, the landscape of the field, possible risks, different pathways, and under what conditions their advise may not work.

“It will not succeed in cowing faculty and academic workers, in sowing division, or in keeping us from supporting our neighbors in need,” the professors said in the statement. “We will continue to fight for the colleges, universities, and communities we deserve.” — @ncaaup.bsky.social

I was looking at protest photos from NC and if this isn’t the shadiest, most southern ass sign… I love you, Durham!

Contact info for trusted indie media in New Orleans prepping for Border Patrol:

"Women at Harvard deserve educators who respect them."

Ok, there were 3 classes remaining. Still.

CBP reported to be coming to Raleigh tomorrow. Here's the Siembra NC hotline. Please share widely.

Go to tiny.cc/maindoc to find additional information, resources, and materials that you can download and print to distribute in your community, including posters, know your rights flyers, our own version of the red card and more.

To report ICE activity or presence. www.siembranc.org/la-migra-hot...

#NewOrleans #NOLA "How to Report ICE" zine is up! (You can find a link to all the zines plus an assembly how-to in my bio.) drive.google.com/file/d/1K6Vv...

This is a no brainer issue on which university leadership can get community buy-in: let’s be transparent and reform the processes by which we court wealthy donors so that this never happens again And let’s stop treating summers as de facto university spokesperson

Great work everyone

Trump’s War on Carolina Christmas

With 🧊 in Charlotte, we will be posting as many resources as we can find to help anyone in Charlotte as well as what we need to know across the state. Carolina Migrant Network has a hotline that you can call especially if you are in Charlotte. They will verify that it is 🧊 and will notify.

lololol. Many are good. I appreciate the broken-windows-ing of leaves (leaves attract thieves!).

Charlotte's black sheriff, who was elected in 2018 and who has not cooperated with ICE, is one of the black sheriffs being targeted by the GOP in North Carolina. boltsmag.org/north-caroli...

There should be some neighborly politeness rule about not blowing leaves into your neighbor's space, shouldn't there? I guess I could use extra fertilization?

A feel good ‘ending’ to a horrible experience: Calvin Duncan wins Orleans clerk of court race veritenews.org/2025/11/16/c...

POSTDOC ALERT: in 2026-27, James Mulholland (NCSU) and I are running a Mellon Sawyer Seminar on “Sharing Ground: Humanities, Academic Freedom, and the Future of the University.” The position is for a Humanist-in-Residence and the job is live on AJO: academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/31122

I have had other colleagues from Europe tell me they simply will not attend conferences in the US for the foreseeable future because they no longer feel welcome. They have seen the stories of travelers detained and don't want to hand their social media over to the current administration for approval

Note from my notebook (2016)

Cool archaeology project (led by NCSU grad student with undergrad researchers!!) in Burlington, NC! magazine.ncsu.edu/2025/a-deepe...

This brilliant McSweeney's piece is the very epitome of "LOLSOB"

Weather demons is very accurate.

"the results show that most Americans are not buying the White House’s arguments for the compact’s measures, said [Baker]...The compact has been presented as a tool to promote [affordability and merit]...but it’s really about censoring institutions and faculty." www.chronicle.com/article/amer...

hard agree.

Postdoc at the Minnesota Population Center, @minnpop.bsky.social Applications open now and being evaluated on a rolling basis. Pass on to demographers you know! (This one requires folks to relocate to the Twin Cities, because it involves work in the restricted data center)

It is an absolute scandal. An embarrassment. A tribute to the long history of state terrorism that codifies power. Shame, shame, shame.

this rocks. when indiana edu killed the student newspaper, Purdue stepped up, printed the forbidden issue, drove it to Bloomington and stocked the boxes.

The scene at No Kings in Raleigh, where protesters have been met with a near-constant stream of supportive honks for the last two hours.

Helicopter view of Chicago #NoKings in Grant Park via @cbschicago.bsky.social

😍 Boston, you are beautiful. #NoKings

I love lighthouses and hate wind. This is a good reminder I am not even a little bit cut out to be a lighthouse keeper.

In addition to our Asst Prof position, we are also hiring a Distinguished Professor of Soc or Ant in race, health, and/or wellness! jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/223...

Relatable.

My latest is the story of how my community has rallied to protect and defend our neighbors in recent days, as ICE has targeted the Rogers Park neighborhood in Chicago. "This is not a story about a moment of victory, but a moment of being reminded of our power."

NCSU Soc/Ant is hiring! crime, law, social control: jobs.ncsu.edu/postings/223...

Academic job alert! The Dep’t of Political science at NC State will be hiring for a race/ethnicity position this fall. The general madness with universities has meant we’re still waiting in final details from HR, but the position and funding have been approved. Be ready! Happy to answer questions.