Multiple UK universities took down their policies relating to trans inclusion after the OfS's unprecedented fine of Sussex over its wholly anodyne approach to discouraging transphobia. Today is a very good day to demand to know when those policies will be going back up.

A useful reminder on UCU's position on trans inclusion, while the EHRC undergoes a consultation following last month's Supreme Court Decision. Short version: we're pro-trans inclusion! This is true at the national level, and true at our branch.

This is absolutely awful. So horribly stressful for the students, who had to convince the invigilator there was actually a problem on top of everything else. Say, you don't suppose this is connected to the uni moving heaven and earth to shed dozens of PS colleagues during an exam term, do you?

Coming out soon: www.machine-ethics.net/podcast/

If you're interested in more #ai from H&A at #sjsu, check out our other event recordings: *Data Feminism in AI @laurenfklein.bsky.social youtu.be/p9vbNA5_t44 *AI in Creative Spaces youtu.be/o84CcpLqmNk *The AI Con book launch @emilymbender.bsky.social @alexhanna.bsky.social youtu.be/1FcD3-FRWD4

Again, if Cardiff can do this after a much, much worse 2024 than Durham has had, why is the employer continuing to rule out compulsory redundancies?

This is today, everybody! Let's show everyone - our university included - that we're not just going to sit quietly in a corner while people's rights are on the line. #UnionswiththeT

One more day to sign sign sign! ✍️

Hi Bluesky! 👋 @ducu.bsky.social spent the week out on the picket lines in a local trade dispute over proposed staff cuts. Anyone can sign our petition to let DU management know we're not the only ones who think these staff cuts are a big NOPE! durhamucu.org.uk

Day four! Striking for our jobs! We are not a drain on the university! We ARE the university!

Another sunny day with some big pickets @ducu.bsky.social. A picket line visit from local MP Mary Foy and the mighty @newcastleucu.bsky.social! Students also voting for refucing senior management numbers as opposed to cutting professional services staff.

Thank you Caleb! This action, along with many others, would be made easier if Unite UCU were being treated fairly and with respect, in the same place way UCU members demand for ourselves. #SettleTheDispute

New picket day, new sign. As cuts go up, services go down. Upset by the cut in library hours? Just you wait until cuts take effect! Anise pine nut cookies ready to go for the morning! @ducu.bsky.social #veganpickets #NoCuts #SaveOurStaff

Day two of the strike, and we've ben getting a lot of questions from students about the action. What's it for, why are we doing it now, and how can they help. So let's run through some Strike Questions! 🧵

Friendly reminder from an HR professor: voluntary severances aren’t really “voluntary” if future compulsory redundancies are still on the table. #NoCuts #SaveOurStaff @ducu.bsky.social

Great turnout today on @ducu.bsky.social pickets. On strike to protect professional services staff jobs. An attack on one is an attack on all! Management tried to pit academics against professional services staff - they've failed! We are *all* the university!

Sign sign sign! Our jobs are on the line!

Exactly. The hyperfocus on limitless growth 2017-2022, and now on unplanned-out shrinking, all driven by a sole focus on financial targets does not a university make. Know what we do, make the money support that. The other way round, you just get a monstrosity ever on the brink of failure.

. @uniteucu.bsky.social's dispute needs to be resolved. It needs to be resolved bc Congress voted for @ucu.org.uk leadership to do so. It needs to be resolved bc it's the right thing to do. It needs to be revolved bc not resolving it makes things harder for branches in dispute. Solidarity!

We're not surprised to read this reporting, are we @ducu.bsky.social. Wonder if management are bothered?

This is a really important point — when we point out that governments are crippling HE by attacking visas, we also need to a) talk about international students as people not £££ and also b) point out *why* overseas tuition fees have become an apparent panacea for UK universities

Heartbreaking.

Metaphors are context dependent.

Found poem, WaPo 5 Apr. Lutnick, who was clutching a large poster board sign in the Rose Garden ahead of Trump’s remarks, had been tasked with the printing of the visual aids Trump displayed there — though the breezy conditions Wednesday afternoon prevented them all from being displayed.

The results are IN for our industrial action ballot! On a 64.0% turnout (our highest ever confirmed %age), 72.2% of voters said they were prepared to strike, with 81.2% prepared to engage in action short of strike. So what's next? Well. The employer knows where to find us. Time for a chat, perhaps?

Operation Ballot CONTINUES. A reminder to Durham UCU members: get your vote in, and tell us you've gotten your vote in :)

arxiv.org/abs/2502.19190 we're still tinkering, but couldn't wait to share.

#ICYMI free, online+printable "DIY Web Archiving" zine teaching a novice-friendly, widely tested way to capture stuff on the web you care about, including at-risk data: zinebakery.com/homemade-zin... (sponsored by @sucho-org.bsky.social @webrecorder.net @ach.bsky.social)

I heard the NEA is only considering proposals related to 1776 & the USA’s 250th birthday & I was feeling intensely patriotic, so I’m printing these really big posters inspired *directly* by the Founding Fathers The cut was carved from the masthead of a 19th century newspaper

A message from @ducuuo.bsky.social 📢 We're calling on university management to rule out the use of compulsory redundancies 🔥

Durham UCU is balloting to strike. www.ucu.org.uk/article/1392...

📡 at very long last, today is the big day! my beloved book, OTHER NETWORKS: A RADICAL TECHNOLOGY SOURCEBOOK, is officially available for pre-order! 1/5 #othernetworks shop.mexicansummer.com/merch/495898...

Does anyone know of good work on the philosophy of ‘style’? What is style? Context: I’m teaching neural style transfer with convnets and the method operationalises 'style' in a strange and simple way that may bear no resemblence at all to traditional theories of style. I'm interesed in comparing.

If you missed the ACH roundtable at #MLA25 on "Book History and Digital Humanities" The blog post about the session now has slides/talks/info @ryancordell.org @natmcgartland.bsky.social @whitneytrettien.bsky.social @elikaortega.bsky.social @bibliowingate.bsky.social ach.org/news/2024/12...

Data Analyst position @theul.bsky.social responsible for 'collecting, analysing, and presenting a wide range of data, including operational, financial, collections, publishing, and qualitative user research data'. www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DLX212/d...

Around 400,000 people work in universities across the UK, and more then 200,000 of them are academics. The closures and job losses we’re seeing in the sector just now are a major industrial crises affecting the key workplaces and economic drivers of hundreds of towns and cities.

BREAKING NEWS: Durham UCU's consultative ballot on strike action over redundancies closed this afternoon. The results, with 61.5% of potential votes cast: 87.0% YES on a ballot to mandate industrial action.

Full solidarity with @newcastleucu.bsky.social. If our senior management don't start listening to their staff, we may not be all that far behind!

Hey @lner.co.uk Are you trying to make me lose my job? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Check out the CfP for the WikiNLP workshop at ACL in Vienna, open to submissions on #NLProc + Wikipedia: Reasons to attend: - Wikipedia is awesome - Vienna is awesome - can submit provocations on how NLP could help Wikipedia - can submit non-archival papers Reasons not to attend: - none

Open letter to Bridget Phillipson from @newcastleucu.bsky.social + UCU Northern Region. Sign and share widely. @ducu.bsky.social docs.google.com/document/d/e...

Lots of people showed up to express their anger. We also passed a motion with over 80% in favour: cap uni salaries at £100,000 a year. If senior management are right that we desperately need to cut costs, let's see them shoulder some of the burden.

All colleagues at Durham received an email this morning telling us there need to be £20 million cuts in staff costs over the next two years.

Durham UCUs statement on the cuts announced today. durhamucu.org.uk/durham-ucu-s...

200 is a conservative estimate, assuming that more PSS staff on higher grades than lower grades go. We at @ducu.bsky.social will fight to protect the jobs and working conditions of members: durhamucu.org.uk/durham-ucu-s...

"There is no university without its staff." sending much solidarity @ducu.bsky.social, another devastating cut that does not solve the structural problem of a faulty funding system.

Solidarity with colleagues at Cardiff. This is horrifying.

Early engagement with this vote has been encouraging, but we still need a lot more colleagues to let us know your position. Having sent our claim last Monday, we're hoping senior management will tell us something we can share with you all soon, though frankly silence is a message all in itself.