The end of academic freedom, Flowchart Edition.

If anyone is curious about the current list of search terms being used by right wing activist organizations to harass university professors, here's a public records request I received today from Mike Howell of the Heritage Foundation. Not intimidating or meant to curtail by my speech at all, right?

Some of the 🚩🚩🚩 in UBC's financial planning announcement: "This is also our opportunity to rethink how we work together, *harness new technologies*, and pursue innovation."; "align evolving needs with available resources"

Astonishing betrayal of both academic freedom and institutional autonomy

A roaring fire is just the thing for a chilly Tuesday in November. Doodle found inside the 1672 'New Rules' for the regulation of cities and towns in Ireland.

As the year comes to an end, I'm reposting some of the comics I made this year, including this ridiculous thing.

Sunlight falls through windows, adding to the geometric pattern on floor. A woman is playing music. And a man listens from the shadowed bed. Painted by Emanuel de Witte, whose day is today.

"The right to literacy came at a heavy cost for many Americans. Power recognised that oppression is best maintained by keeping the masses illiterate. Dont surrender to AI your ability to read write+ think when others once risked their lives and died for it." www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/set-tr...

UBC FACULTY! Interested in advocating, gathering, commiserating, learning about the university's poor financial condition? I don't know what we'll do yet, but I would like to see who might be interested. DM me.

I miss her

I'm glad @ubyssey.ca has some reporting on this. Unfortunately, the article repeats a lot of the university's budgetary euphemisms. Units in the Faculty of Arts are being crushed by devastating budget cuts (called "savings targets" by the administration). Cuts affect student services and jobs.

So saddened by the news that we have lost Alice Wong. It was an honor to know her and learn from her. May the lessons she shared continue to guide us for years to come.

UBC has announced its search for a new University Librarian. Please circulate widely. academic.ubc.ca/academic-com...

NEW: Footage of a US citizen in Chicago being rammed then dragged from her car on her way to work. Abducted, with no warrant, her family couldn’t find her for hours. She was later released with NO CHARGE. A DHS statement said she “violently resisted arrest, injuring two officers”. You decide…

If you are a Canadian humanities researcher this motion also pertains to SSHRC (and CIHR). Please consider signing this letter! I have.

we had a good run while it lasted, academia, and you let me write a few books, dozens of articles etc., win prizes, secure a million and a bit more of funding for research projects, and you let me work as a professor in 4 cities for the the last 11 years, but you never invited me to stay for good.

Join us for an online lecture by Prof. Lori Emerson (@loriemerson.net) on "How to Activate the Potential of Imaginary Networks" in our Ziegler Lecture Series hosted by UBC's @ubc-cenes.bsky.social. Registration info here: cenes.ubc.ca/events/event...

Hot off the presses and available now in English. A major contribution from @ankahajkova.bsky.social. I was honoured to write the forward. utppublishing.com/doi/book/10....

a live look at the demolition of the White House's East Wing for Trump's ballroom

Also academia

This video of Chicagoans intervening to save a man from being abducted off the streets by ICE is making the rounds on Instagram. Community action works. Source: www.instagram.com/reel/DPZL2AL...

UBC peoples: if anyone is interested in free books, DM me and we can arrange a time for you to browse. Because of space issues I have to downsize my office library. Primarily 18th-21st century literature, philosophy, literary history/theory. Much of it in German but also in English and French.

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My post was flagged and hidden (presumably by AI) for promoting "self-harm." I appealed and it looks like it has been restored.

Texas A&M University System orders audit of all courses after gender identity lesson goes viral Details: bit.ly/42jauQZ

Dear US-based democracy scholars: We (UBC political science) are hiring an endowed chair in democracy — come to Canada: politics.ubc.ca/faculty-hiri...

Among the removed or withheld books are "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," "The Color Purple," "1984," "The Great Gatsby," "The Kite Runner."

Heute vor genau 200 Jahren - am 28. August 1825 - wurde der weltweit erste Schwulenaktivist Karl Heinrich Ulrichs geboren. Wir stellen sein Leben und Werk in vier Folgen vor

Good luck, America.

Good luck, America.

Updates from the faculty union at the University of Oregon since my original post. Also, apologies for a typo in my post: it’s UO not OU for the University of Oregon. newsletter.uauoregon.org/after-accept...

'ethics, n.: the discipline dealing with what is good and bad and with moral duty and obligation'

Job: 2-term full-time Archivist position at UBC ubc.wd10.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/ubcfac...

We at UBC will host Andrea Rottmann (Freie Universität Berlin) for this year's Tobin Distinguished Lecture in Queer and Trans German Studies. The event will take place in person at UBC and online via Zoom. Please register and share with your networks. Info: ces.ubc.ca/events/event...

Why are so many people so stupid?

Good luck, America (and everyone else).

A public media mainstay established in 1967 has been killed. Good luck, America.

JOB: Assistant or Associate Librarian, Rare Books, University of Guelph universityaffairs.ca/search-job/?...

'"Do I need to be reminded about conservation and consumerism every day I walk out of my house? Maybe not," he said.' Apparently so.

Lookee here! My book has a cover! Coming from @ucpress.bsky.social in April 2026. Many thanks to Tourmaline for allowing us to use her photograph "Summer Azure"!