Dr. Stephennie Mulder

This evening, I’ll be in conversation with George Monbiot about political dysfunction and ecological collapse, and I want to tell you all briefly about a ritual involving an ancient Hittite king, a throne, and a tree from 3,000 years ago @georgemonbiot.bsky.social

UT’s diversity of thought is real — and well worth defending | Opinion Diverse areas of study bring diverse perspectives — the hallmark of a great university. Political meddling is threatening that at the University of Texas, Steve Wechsler writes.

From guest columnist + UT faculty member Steve Wechsler: “I do not see evidence of intolerance to diverse views at UT. What I see is a range of departments seeking truth from different angles, creating a university that is greater than the sum of its parts.” ❤️

www.statesman.com/opinion/colu...

⭐️Action needed: please read this thread &write to the TAMU Regents to oppose censorship of courses that teach about race or gender or depart from the course description.This would put curricular decisions in the hands of admins, not faculty. It would drastically affect teaching & learning conditions

Concrete actions to build campus coalitions to support immigrants on campus ⬇️

I Want You to Understand Chicago Politics Chicago 2025-11-08 I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time. Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again. An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next. Understand what it is to pray in Chicago. On September 19th, Reverend David Black, lead pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was praying outside the ICE detention center in Broadview when a DHS agent shot him in the head with pepper balls. Pepper balls are never supposed to be fired at the head because they can seriously injure, or even kill. “We could hear them laughing as they were shooting us from the roof,” Black recalled. He is not the only member of the clergy ICE has assaulted. Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon was violently arrested on October 17th, and Baptist pastor Michael Woolf was shot with pepper balls on November 1st. Understand what it is to sleep in Chicago. On the night of September 30th, federal agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter to execute a raid on an apartment building on the South Sho…

Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...

Letter to the Editor: University staff are frustrated too We are the UNT chapter of the Texas State Employees Union, Communications Workers of America, Local 6186. We represent UNT workers of all job descriptions: custodians, part-time student employees, adj...

We agree with UNT staff. The conditions for staff are dire, and wage inequality is unconscionable. We urge all faculty at UNT and UT to join both AAUP & TSEU. We are stronger together! ✊🏽 www.ntdaily.com/opinion/lett...

UT Austin is discussing eliminating or consolidating our departments of African American and African Diaspora Studies, Mexican/American and Latino/Latina Studies, and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Here is what AAADS alumni have to say. 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

My University Just Taught Extremists How to Eliminate Academic Programs They Don't Like Texas Christian University handed its power to the people working hardest to dismantle learning itself.

Must read:

www.texasobserver.org/tcu-eliminat...

Thanks to the Editorial Board of the Austin American Statesman for this strong editorial opposing the Compact!

Press Release: AAUP at UT Austin Expresses Concerns about UT’s “Statement on Academic Integrity” Austin, TX November 3, 2025 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Karma Chávez, 480-586-5848, karmachavez@gmail.com Polly Strong, strongpolly@gmail.com AAUP at UT Austin Expresses Concerns about UT’s “Sta…

aaup-utaustin.org/2025/11/03/p...

Our press release on UT’s new academic integrity statement.

UT Austin students protest Compact outside investiture of President Jim Davis.

TX Republicans are redefining higher ed, creating confusion about free speech on campuses **Editor's Note: The headline has been shortened for length.At colleges across Texas last month, a series of viral campus videos, abrupt professor firings, conf

🚨 “Some students and faculty now second-guess what they can say in and out of class. Students who aren’t white, straight and cisgender say their identities are being erased. Many professors worry that fear, not inquiry, is starting to define campus life.”

cbsaustin.com/news/local/t...

Dear Secretary McMahon, Ms. Mailman, and Mr. Haley, I appreciated the opportunity to speak with you yesterday. I welcome further engagement around how we can (a) enhance the long-standing partnership between the federal government and this country's leading research universities and (b) ensure that higher education stays focused on academic excellence. As I shared on the call, I do not believe that the involvement of the government through a compact--whether it is a Republican- or Democratic-led White House- is the right way to focus America's leading colleges and universities on their teaching and research mission. Our universities have a responsibility to set our own academic and institutional policies, guided by our mission and values, our commitment to free expression, and our obligations under the law. Staying true to this responsibility is what will help American higher education build bipartisan public trust and continue to uphold its place as the envy of the world. We remain open to other ways to work with the federal government to enhance higher education. Best, Sian Leah Beilock President

Dartmouth is OUT! Thank goodness... a friend at U of A and I have been playing "Who will be the last of the 9 standing?" and it's not gonna be us!

Opinion | Our Politics Differ, But We Agree: Trump’s ‘Compact’ Violates Academic Freedom Using federal funding to dictate who colleges admit and what faculty can say crosses a dangerous line.

⭐️⭐️ Scholars of academic freedom agree: “To immunize ideas based on political standards is to impose an unacceptable test of ideological conformity. Nothing could be further from the spirit and ideals that we, despite our differences, seek for American higher education.” ⬇️

Faculty at Texas university fear entire liberal arts departments will be slashed University of Texas at Austin faculty fear changes from new taskforce that could restructure humanities programs

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Faculty at Texas university fear entire liberal arts departments will be slashed University of Texas at Austin faculty fear changes from new taskforce that could restructure humanities programs

Prof. Julie Minich: “I would vigorously dispute any characterization of area studies or ethnic studies as ideologically engaged in the indoctrination of students…My goal in the classroom is never to tell students what to think. It’s to give them tools for how to think about a complicated world.” 👏❤️

Student organizations protest Trump administration’s compact offered to UT About 200 students chanted “do not sign” in front of the Main Tower on Monday, as they protested the compact the Trump administration offered the University earlier this month. The compact would prior...

thedailytexan.com/2025/10/13/s...

Do Not Sign!

We’re so close! Just $659 and this refugee student gets his PhD! 🥳

Cmon cmon I just need thirteen kind souls to give $50 🥹🙏❤️

ICYMI: “And now, a response from the leader of the frog resistance...” 🐸 🎵 #Colbert

These funds have enabled Ahmad to not only come close to finishing his PhD but also to buy winter clothes for his daughter, to whom he is completely devoted.

I am not even making this up you guys this is a real photo of what he bought 😭 😭 Come on let’s help him out!

Thrilled and touched by a truly generous donation of $1,000 just now. That means we are only $739 from this student's goal! 🎉 🥹

Fifteen $50 donations. That’s all it will take. Let’s get him into the home stretch this week! Grateful for anything you can give to this truly worthy cause.

Prof. Karma Chavez: “I think UT’s good enough just to compete on the regular marketplace and still win.” That’s right! UT doesn’t need to trade its independence and autonomy for vague promises of “preferential” federal grant funding! 👏🧡✊ #LonghornPride

Press Release 9.27.2025.docx PRESS RELEASE American Association of University Professors (AAUP) chapter at The University of Texas at Austin Contact: Pauline Strong, PhD, Chapter President, strongpolly@gmail.com _________________...

✴️For the first time since 1945, UT does not have a representative faculty council.

Our press release on the replacement of an elected Faculty Council with faculty advisory bodies composed entirely of appointees of President Davis.

docs.google.com/document/d/1...

I teach LGBTQ+ history. The University of Texas may soon ban my course | Opinion Across Texas' public universities, faculty like me face course reviews and political pressure to erase LGBTQ+ studies, UT professor Lauren Gutterman writes.

www.statesman.com/opinion/colu...

Great opinion piece by our AAUP chapter Vice President! 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

Hello! Have you helped a refugee student save endangered heritage today? Well luckily you can do that right now! 🎉❤️

Dr. Jane Goodall filmed an interview with Netflix in March 2025 that she understood would only be released after her death.

Trump attacks 9 universities: Sign the alumni petition to defend your school now Are you an alum outraged by Trump's attacks on universities? Defend your school now by signing this alumni petition in support of these 9 universities as well as campus communities across America.

Are you an alum outraged by Trump's attacks on universities? Defend your school now by signing this alumni petition in support of these 9 universities as well as campus communities across America. alumni.controlshift.app/petitions/tr...

Friends, your support has been incredible, and we’re now just a little shy of $1,700 from his goal. I’d really like to help him get there and would be grateful for whatever you think you might be able to do, be it $10, $50, $100, or even just a reskeet! I’m grateful for it all! ❤️

The Shrines of the 'Alids in Medieval Syria The Shrines of the 'Alids in Medieval Syria

Oh! I also wrote a whole book about this: edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-shr...