To be clear, Pete Hegseth just essentially threw out the Military Code of Conduct. Whiskey Tango Alpha Foxtrot did I just watch?!?

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. 💔

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.

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.

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

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

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 🤦🏼‍♀️😭

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

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.

This is not normal. Get a plan, Democrats. You’ve got about 3-weeks left. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/o...

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

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) 🤔🤦🏼‍♀️

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

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!

@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

Either AI has gotten better at reflecting since March or my students have gotten better at framing queries. Well written reflection on experience -- but no, I can assure you I have never used the words you've just ascribed to me & those references don't exist. But can I *prove* AI use? Nope.

This is the one Labor Day graph that tells you the actual problem in America. The problem is not that America lacks abundance. The problem is that a handful of oligarchs are hoarding America’s abundance. www.levernews.com/the-labor-da...

Gee, Jamie, how’d you spend your Saturday? 8hrs hand cleaning 280 crystals & hanging them on my family heirloom chandelier that I finally had hung on a hoist 2 yrs after I got my household goods from storage. I tend to lean MCM, but I decided to go eclectic 🤷🏼‍♀️😊.

#ISD Instructional design ideas needed. 8, 2hr45min #experiential #workshops have been banned. I now must do 10, 1hr45min + 4, 45min sessions. 2/3 of my students do not speak English well enough for discussion-based learning. What the hell do I do w/ this timing?

I am a #USAF #veteran. Individuals killed in the act of insurrection should not receive military honors. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

How long does it take YOU to completely redesign a module? I've just been told I am now required to use a 10-lecture/4-seminar format. I must completely redesign both of my modules with 8 workshops each AND their workshop-based assessments in THREE WEEKS.

This is a real photograph of Washington, DC this week, where the United States president has ordered military occupation in peacetime, and ordered the display of colossal portraits of himself. www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

*That’s* why my carry-on was so heavy! Hopefully these will last until my next US trip….

For all my fellow #authors who have also had their work stolen to train #AI.

Got home from annual leave in the US just 2.5 hours ago. Have you posted your #UCU ballot yet? @ducu.bsky.social

@durham-university.bsky.social … can anyone tell me what building belongs to code “D/DHE”? The website maps do not have building codes….

One Faculty, out of 1540 workload hours (WH) for teaching/research/citizenship: 2012/13AY: 9 sr leader roles (SLRs), most roles at 300-600 WH 2020/21AY: 17 SLRs, most at 300-900 WH 2024/25AY: 29 SLRs, most at 500-900 WH 2025/26AY: 31 SLRs, most at 500-900 WH Can you say "Administrative Bloat"?

I had been saying our albatross cost the #university around £100m. Who knew I guessed so low?!? £108.12m plus £0.5m to renovate the old building 1/4 of us vacated. #DurhamCountyCouncil made a pretty profit off us (£33m). And most staff are avoiding it like the plague as it’s not fit for purpose.

Sometimes sat-nav takes you down named “streets” that are really nothing more than Murder Allies. 😬

I assumed I needed a new picture for my staff ID card because I had to make an appointment to pick it up. Takes me 25-30 minutes to get there from my office. They just handed me the prepared card. I dunno, campus mail, anyone? #VSWoes

I kinda feel like my office window is a metaphor for the state of HE right now: not fit for purpose, makes lots of noise, & staff have no autonomy. My window goes through these noisy motions of opening/closing up to 30x/day—whenever some algorithm decides to do so.

Catherine Russell, Exec Director of UNICEF, reported that Israel has killed an average of 28 children a day for 21 months in Gaza. That’s the same number as Sandy Hook. An entire classroom of kids killed every day for almost 2 years. TWO HUNDRED & FIFTY TWO Sandy Hook massacres of children.

@ducu.bsky.social stands firmly in support of our trans colleagues. The way institutions manage people-related policies is a barometer of their respect (or lack thereof) for staff.

Standing behind what our co-president has named "The Wall Of Lost Staff". We're striking because we need to know that the wall isn't going to get any longer.

I know a lot of people just don't really know much about foreign cities, but please imagine how it would go if someone told all of NYC to evacuate "immediately," and then add two million more people to that scenario

It would have been a show of good faith if our leadership had done as Harvard's did. @ducu.bsky.social asked that all salaries over £100k be temporarily capped during what management claimed was a financial crisis. They flat out refused; no counter proposal. They preferred to cut staff. #UCU

When you take a 5hr nap after two days of leafleting and #picketing. A need post #strike leave to catch up on sleep!

REMINDER: Netanyahu convinced Trump in 2018 to withdraw US from Iran nuclear deal that Obama and allies had negotiated. That Deal would've prevented Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. The death and destruction we're seeing now is 100% bc of Trump & Netanyahu www.timesofisrael.com/in-recording...

A long day! Leafleting at the Station & picketing at The Map. @ducu.bsky.social were Open Day educating prospective students & their parents about all the #DurhamUniversity positives & how we need their help to keep it from slipping. Save the student experience by saving jobs. #UCU #strike

This wasn’t a headline; it was buried many stories down. As a veteran, I see this as a terrifying picture of the country I served. Not sure what’s worse: that the US military has been deployed against Americans, or that it is so normalized it isn’t front page news. www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/u...

To add insult to injury, my home car charger has stopped working tonight 🤦🏼‍♀️. Now on the hunt to go hang out somewhere to charge my car enough to get me to the picket line tomorrow.

On days that I know I need to stay after 7pm, I arrive before 8am because these 24/7 spots are ALWAYS taken by shortly after 8am by people who leave long before 7pm & who *could* park in the M-F, 7-7 spaces. Today 12.5hr day, 7:15pm, my car & 8 empty 24/7 spaces. 🤬 #Waterside #DUBS

To all my colleagues who say picketing on an Open Day harms recruitment? Oh, no, no, no! You couldn’t be further from the truth, according to these recruitment numbers.

Absolutely delighted to learn that, following @ducu.bsky.social leafleting at the Post-Offer Open Day, firm acceptances by Home Students are 🆙 by a whopping 28%. Making students more aware doesn’t run them off; it makes them better critical thinkers. And isn’t that what we WANT?

Speaking of workload. Let’s talk promotion reviews. My most recent: UK = abbreviated CV & professional statement, w/ a standardized form. US = 14 documents (cv, syllabi, publications, student evals, etc) w/ a free-form letter answering specific queries. Zero workload for any of this.

Oh, I am SO adding this to my reading list!! #HR #HRD profilebooks.com/work/human-r...

If you are National Guard or Active Duty military and you are being ordered to violate the constitutional rights of US citizens then this is the number to the GI Rights Hotline. There is support. You don’t have to go through with it. 877-447-4487

Have I mentioned how much I despise having windows that I have no control over that open & close automatically at the most inconvenient times? But at least I have windows that open. About half my colleagues have enclosed cells with no outdoor view. #waterside #DUBS

What the hell. Really?!?!

Sometimes it gets worse before it gets better. 6 boxes unpacked….the swan chairs are buried in paper 😬.