Catherine Evans

Life under fascism is making me really nostalgic for the old days of life under protofascism.

People keep wanting to shove "learning about A.I." into the curriculum when what we really need is learning about power and how it works.

“There is no more “state of the humanities” as such. There is no condition in which the humanities are under attack in which the whole university is not under attack..And there is no condition in which education is under attack in which civil society can remain unimperiled..We are all humanists now”

The Cost of Compliance: Unpacking Worker Identity in Severance Severance, an original series created by Dan Erickson and Ben Stiller, has struck a nerve with audiences by encapsulating what it is like to be a worker under late-stage capitalism. Set against the ba...

I had a lot of fun writing this short piece for @lawcha.bsky.social about Severance! Read it here today: read.dukeupress.edu/labor/articl...

“Sunsetting: How Universities Naturalize Ideologically Motivated Cuts and Closures,” forthcoming from a university press probably on its way to being sunsetted

Four Frictions: or, How to Resist AI in Education - Public Books We are calling for resistance to the AI industry’s ongoing capture of higher education.

"universities are being infiltrated by a commercial industry that exploits students+faculty as data mines

frenzy w/o consulting their faculty, collecting empirical data on whether gen AI is pedagogically useful, or pausing to inquire about the long-term impact"
www.publicbooks.org/four-frictio...

Momo, a grey and white cat, looks horrified by the lack of branches on a mangled fake tree.

Even Momo is disturbed by the state of my graduate school budget Christmas tree 🫣

Here you go: archive.is/cri61

pouring one out for everyone in my academic literary and cultural studies networks who'd said during my critical university studies PhD "well at least universities provide us with jobs, i'm grateful for that" -- sincerely

University administrations are eliminating the best critical theory programs on purpose.

Opinion | A Coup at Carnegie Mellon? The university is replacing the humanities with more computers.

Carnegie Mellon’s literature PhD is being liquidated in favor of “computation,” casualized labor, and AI.

That has profound ramifications for, students, faculty, and program alums like myself.

I wrote it about it (w/ Catherine Evans, a current PhD student).

www.chronicle.com/article/a-co...

“When the primary objective driving innovation is brand uniformity, it becomes less about finding brave, new ways to create knowledge and more about maintaining existing power structures.“

Opinion | A Coup at Carnegie Mellon? The university is replacing the humanities with more computers.

No one wants to watch their PhD program be eliminated. It’s nearly the same story when it’s “innovated” away.

Me & @seeshespeak.bsky.social in the Chronicle. Read it below ⬇️

www.chronicle.com/article/a-co...

When I leave for campus, Momo sits on his bread toy like this and blocks the door. Let the semester end so he can live in peace and I can stop answering to these big eyes!

Don’t mind me. Just thinking about @kippdawson.bsky.social seeing her shirts on display for the first time 🥹

A pie-chart of federal research funding, using 2023 figures. The funding slices for the NIH (83%) and NSF (17%) are so large that the slices for the NEH and NEA round to 0%.

Again, it is worth keeping in mind when comparing the rate of discoveries that public funding for medicine and the sciences is orders of magnitude larger than for the humanities. We work slow in part because we work on a shoestring.

UT Austin wants to eliminate its Black studies, Latino Studies, and gender studies departments. Tell them you won't stand for it. UT President, Jim Davis, president@utexas.edu UT Executive Vice President and Provost, William Inboden, provost@utexas.edu College of Liberal Arts Interim Dean, David Sosa, david_sosa@austin.utexas.edu #EducationalLiberty #SaveUT

🚨🚨 @utaustin.bsky.social is working to eliminate its Black studies, Latin studies, and gender studies depts -- utterly reneging on its mission and depriving students of the full educational opportunities they deserve. Please--scholars AND publishers--share & write to UT leaders. #SaveUT

Oh hey. I curated this show all about feminist tshirts at Chatham University. Please come through! Opening reception (Oct 15) will feature a talk by Dawson which will also be live-streamed. Register for the opening here: chatham.edu/events/detai...

Design by the very talented Megan Urban

Zuko, a black and white tuxedo cat, staring at the camera with big sad eyes

Everytime I travel for work, this exact image of Zuko greeting me after a trip pops into my head and I suddenly feel immense guilt. Shout out to @rachaelvm454.bsky.social for giving him all the pets while I’m gone. 🫶

“Scab Terminator” mutt circa 1980s picket line from @kippdawson.bsky.social’s Solidarity Scrapbooks.

Illustrated flyer for a Summer Book Drive asking for gently used social justice books on topics like race, gender, class, and more. Donations accepted at 116 Suffolk St, NY, Tues-Sun 1-6pm, by 9/1.

Our co-founder @prisonculture.bsky.social is also running a summer book drive to help support Bluestockings in keeping their doors open. 📚 Drop off or mail new or gently used social justice focused books! More details in the flyer.

1967. “The Medium is the Message.”
Carnegie Mellon’s Fence

1991. And, last but not least, students protest the Gulf War, taking to the streets around campus and Squirrel Hill alongside Pitt and Duquesne students.

In short, anyone who says protest at CMU has only looked one way or never happened at all, is a liar. 7/7

1991. Students link hands protesting SEI and department of defense contracts anticipating arrests.

1988. Students demand divestment from South Africa apartheid, covering Warner Hall in banners and leading “unapproved” protests across campus. 5/7

1970. Strom Thurmond, notorious racist, was pelted with marshmallows during his visit. The student paper made this iconic series of images the cover of the newspaper mocking him. (Personal favorite) 4/7

1969. Black Construction Coalition protests shut down construction on campus over unfair union policy that kept Black workers from joining. The cover of the Tartan (student paper) read “And they said it couldn’t happen at tech,” referring to administration claiming protest couldn’t happen at CMU. 3

1968. Students raid the ROTC office on campus in protest of the Vietnam war and recruitment on campus. 2/7

T’was the night before D*n*ld Tr*mps visit to Carnegie Mellon, and I’m here to remind you CMU students have always been anti-fascist. Some of my personal favorite CMU responses to fascism on campus through the eyes of student journalists. 1/7

Screenshot of the top of the article which reads: Harvard University Press Employees Say Director Drove Down Acquisitions and Morale Since George T. Andreou ’87 became the press’s director in 2017, staff alleged — in interviews, union surveys, and letters to Harvard officials — that he belittled employees and mismanaged the publishing house. By William C. Mao and Veronica H. Paulus

Output of New Titles by Press (2012 - 2024) figure. Shows trend over time for University of Chicago Press, Princeton University Press, and Harvard University Press. Early on Chicago publishes the nether number around 140 while Princeton and Harvard were both near 100. But, over time, Chicago and Princeton have pulled away from Harvard so that by last year they publish around 128 while Harvard is publishing only 26.

Y'all know I love publishing industry mess and The Crimson is delivering today! I had no idea Harvard University Press was publishing so little.

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...