Randall Monty

The dominant trend in the high school and college years of “Gen Z” (since the 2010s) has been increasing restrictions on their free expression in schools, political censorship of teaching materials erroneously deemed “liberal,” and the forced introduction of “conservative” content in classrooms.

The whole essay goes straight to the bloodstream, but this part is especially potent.

Texas here: Maybe the public has been ignoring posted syllabi, but right-wing think tanks have definitely not
Ignored them.

Stephen Jay Gould’s “creeping fox terrier clone” problem is everywhere in dinosaur descriptions. Velociraptor is almost universally described as “about the size of a turkey,” which is sort of an odd metric? Wild or domestic? In what respect or dimensions?

teaching kids about reading and writing is too important to outsource to corporations

I have yeeted
the LMS
my uni
has paid for
and which
you were probably
thinking
helps you teach
Forgive me
it was surveillant
so mid
and so broke

When books were being pulled from Iowa classrooms, these teens started an after-school club to read them Three Iowa City West high schoolers founded a book club that reads some of the country's most frequently banned books after a state law removing books with sexual content was signed in 2023. Two years later, many of the books have been reshelved and parts of the law can't be enforced.

Three high schoolers founded a book club that reads some of the country's most frequently banned books after a state law removing books with sexual content was signed in 2023. Two years later, many of the books have been reshelved and parts of the law can't be enforced.

And doing *that* is important to me because I believe it's the best way to sustain a diverse, democratic community based on mutual respect and a shared understanding of the world—even when we're not in complete agreement on what to do.

#WhyIWrite for the same reason I encourage others to write: it's the best way for us to know what each other thinks, believes, and values.

Opinion Opinion by Megan McArdle The sweetheart deal is over for academia Universities must restore public trust, starting with viewpoint diversity.

The definition of “viewpoint diversity” that figures like this promote implies *censorship* (the “must” part): curbing some forms of expression to boost others. It’s an invention of orgs who advocate government censorship of teaching/research + restrictions on protected political speech in colleges.

There are basically only two opinions about the film Aliens vs Predator.

1. It is a non-stop thrill ride honoring both franchises with a powerhouse lead performance by Sanaa Lathan
2. I don’t appreciate cinema

Overall screenshot of a profile of Tori Amos from The Rocket alt-weekly in Seattle, 1994

Tori Amos has an idea. But not an idea for a song-a new drink. Returning to Seattle for her second-visit this year, Amos is eager to find an audience for her latest experi-ment in beverage concoction. "You have all your Starbucks things," she says. "Wett, I have one that tastes like pumpkin ple: It's my own invention; it's my contribution to Halloween. A little witch warmer!" 1 Amos more ardent fans would probably say she hardly needs to resort to creating pumpkin lattes to bewitch a crowd. The emotive singer/songwriter's first solo album, .1992's Little Earth quakes might not have been a com

One more PSL post because I can't resist: Apparently Tori Amos was a pumpkin spice latte innovator in 1994! And specifically contrasted it to the drinks at Starbucks.

Victor Ray, a sociology professor at the University of Iowa who studies race, said in an email that OSU’s decision to interpret federal guidance in this way “reflects the real pressure universities face as the Trump administration and Republican legislators attack higher education.” But, Ray added, it may also be exposing the true colors of many universities that were broadcasting their commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion when it was politically expedient to do so just a few years ago. “The swiftness with which these organizations have complied with legally dubious orders shows that their commitments to diversity were often paper-thin before this administration’s pressure,” he said. “In many cases, administrators with existing qualms about diversity, perhaps going too far, now have political cover to take anti-equitable actions.”

I fear that schools being willing to drop diversity programs without a fight shows how flimsy their commitment to inclusion was in the first place. People fight for things they truly believe in.

part of the reason people don't want the history of this period taught or understood is to make this illegible to people. it's easy to swallow thought ending cliches about which venerated figure was a "man of their times" if you remain studiously unaware of what their times actually were

Texas Is Asking Voters to Protect the Rich and Punish the Poor. Will They Do It? Among 17 potential constitutional amendments, voters will be deciding the fate of corporate welfare and inherited wealth.

“Here’s the ballot in plain English: If you’re wealthy, the state promises to protect your fortune forever. If you’re poor and unlucky enough to be accused of a crime, the state promises to protect the public from you (whether or not you’ve been convicted).”

thebarbedwire.com/2025/10/07/t...

Keep talking to people who aren't already hallucinating with the fascists. Keep noticing that what they say isn't what is real. It's difficult to maintain independence of thought, they know that. Find people who think outside of the fascists' propaganda.

Universities considering capitulating to the Trump “conditions” should use this real world example to understand they will simply be destroying their own institution. bsky.app/profile/nich...

If administrators can dictate what professors teach in the classroom, based on their idea of what politicians want, there is *already* no "academic freedom." The violation of that boundary ended it. There is only whatever politicians haven't yet thought to denounce, and only until they denounce it.

This is the study that the Trump administration removed from all government websites this week. It analyzed hundreds of ideologically motivated attacks over the past 35 years and found that the majority of attacks are committed by far-right extremists.

web.archive.org/web/20250911...

2) Insisting that colleges only protect free speech if a privately funded org that has no direct role in university governance says they do is a strange way to promote free expression and intellectual diversity. 2/

When Cardi B tweeted in the summer 2024 about DT telling his followers, "It'll be fixed, it'll be fine, you won't have to vote anymore," the overwhelming MSM response was that he was speaking figuratively.

Anonymous Texas A&M professor calls on students to be ‘agent of change’ Editor's note: The following is an open letter to the Texas A&M student body written by a tenured professor at A&M and provided to The Battalion. The pr

"you are the ones with the most to lose. My colleagues & I may have to leave this cherished institution & that would be a great loss for us. But we have already lived lives of consequence and can find other pursuits. You, however, would lose the education you deserve." 🔥
thebatt.com/news/anonymo...

It’s Decorative Gourd Season, Motherfuckers First published on October 9, 2009, this classic by Colin Nissan is our most-read article of all time. We’re celebrating the 16th anniversary of th...

IT IS TIME.

hbd. got em.

Our first article in 3.2 is Ryan Cheek and Isidore Dorpenyo’s "Deny, Defend, Depose: Structuring Permission for Bureaucratic Indifference, Slow (Civic) Violence, and the Institutional Betrayal of DEI.” They explore how DDD functions rhetorically amidst increasing legislative attacks on DEI work. 1/2

The TCSJ special issue co-editors have written a dedication for Kymberly, with a statement from the UMass Amherst Composition and Rhetoric program, where Morquecho was to begin her PhD program this fall. Read the dedication here: techcommsocialjustice.org/index.php/tc... 2/2

We are thrilled to share Vol. 3, Issue 2!

Contributors include R.J. Lambert, Randall W. Monty, Kymberly Morquecho, Sarah Warren-Riley (Eds.), Ryan Cheek, Isidore Dorpenyo, Sara DiCaglio, Nick Sanders, S. Marek Muller, David Rooney, Sarah Riddick, Elena Kalodner-Martin, and Courtney Fallon.

"We are told that AI is inevitable, that we must adapt or be left behind. But universities are not tech companies. Our role is to foster critical thinking, not to follow industry trends uncritically." www.ru.nl/en/research/...

That same ocean rolls now; that same ocean destroyed the wrecked ships of last year.

If professors can be fired for discussing topics not explicitly mentioned in the course description and/or not toeing the ideological line of elected political leaders, there is no academic freedom in Texas.