Ronald Hartz

Poster reading "Because nothing says we care about the environment more than firing the staff that research it..."

Posters have appeared around the building. They suggest that geography, geology, & environment staff might be a bit angry at proposed redundancies, reorganisations & closures. Rightly so.

At an event in Nottingham. Nottingham Trent @jennywustenberg.bsky.social reminds us that as well as our sector as a whole, languages in particular are under attack. So important to remember this while attempting to conduct business as usual in academia.

Greens plan to crack down on ‘obscene’ pay of some uni and college principals Greens plan to crack down on ‘obscene’ pay of some uni and college principals - Times for 10:01 pay ratios to curb inequality

"A 10:1 pay ratio between the highest and lowest-paid staff is the bare minimum that we need. It would ensure that bosses can only raise their own salaries by also improving the salaries of their lowest paid staff too"

greens.scot/news/greens-...

I'm sure those poorer British students will benefit greatly from grants to attend the universities that no longer exist because Labour have bankrupted them.

Very much looking forward to this week’s Board of Governors meeting, at which the VC and his cronies will, as usual, blame others while maintaining that we’re about to hit a gold mine although sadly a lot of colleagues won’t be here to share the loot.

Oxford University Has Failed Women Over Harassment Concerns, Staff Say The university has repeatedly been slow to act against male academics accused of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior, a Bloomberg investigation found.

“They don’t want their powerful brands besmirched in the eyes of any donors” (Wyn Evans, 21 Group).

A grim read.

#HigherEd
#UKHE

www.bloomberg.com/news/feature...

'It is notable that in the last Research Excellence Framework exercise the Department of American Studies at Nottingham was ranked third in the Area Studies unit of assessment and was one of the top-performing units across the whole of the University of Nottingham.' 1/2

The 'age of AI'

Universities blame ‘societal shift’ for axing foreign language degrees Numbers taking languages at A-level and beyond has been falling for decades, although Duolingo says its app is most popular with young people

'Michael Lynas, the UK country director for the Duolingo language app, who argues there is no good substitute for the hard graft of learning a language as a way of seeing another country’s culture from the inside.' 1/3

"People who see the world in terms of hierarchies and control cannot imagine anything better. They remain trapped in endless copies of someone else's vision."

"to challenge scientific orthodoxy — in this case, that vaccines save lives"

It's just unbearable.

Gmail can read your emails and attachments to train its AI, unless you opt out A new Gmail update may allow Google to use your private messages and attachments for AI training. Here's how to turn it off.

Time to look into your settings, folks.

I can imagine that!

Universities blame ‘societal shift’ for axing foreign language degrees Numbers taking languages at A-level and beyond has been falling for decades, although Duolingo says its app is most popular with young people

"Over the past five years, nearly 50 centres of French, German, Italian and Iberian studies have closed or shrunk, while another wave of proposed closures is on the way".

What are universities for?

#HigherEd
#UKHE

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Universities blame ‘societal shift’ for axing foreign language degrees Numbers taking languages at A-level and beyond has been falling for decades, although Duolingo says its app is most popular with young people

"[...] the more impossible it becomes to make that kind of choice, the smaller the space for learning for the joy of it becomes … well, then, it will eventually only be for the elite. Modern language degrees will be the domain of the rich."

www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Good luck with the "Rennpappe" 😅!

Book cover of The Enterprise University by Marginson and Considine

Limitations of the Enterprise University:

- Leaders detached from that which they lead
- Works around and against academic cultures
- Strengthening of the 'steering core' vs. dynamic academic
cultures
- Internal institutional community thinned out
- Social ethics endangered
- Crisis of purpose

Dear academics, don't imagine your job to be permanent.

#HigherEd

𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗛𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗮: 𝗘𝗻𝗷𝗼𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝗮𝗹𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲𝘀.

𝙎𝙥𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙖𝙡 𝙄𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙚: 𝙐𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙖𝙨-𝘿𝙮𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙥𝙞𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙨 𝙎𝙤𝙪𝙧𝙘𝙚𝙨 𝙤𝙛 𝙊𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙊𝙧𝙜𝙖𝙣𝙞𝙯𝙞𝙣𝙜

𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗸𝗮𝗲𝗹 𝗣𝗲𝗶𝗿𝗼, 𝗝𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗺𝘆 𝗔𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗲𝘀, 𝗘𝗱𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿

doi.org/10.1177/0170...

State department to cut 38 universities from research program over DEI policies Exclusive: Trump administration proposal would exclude elite schools that use diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices

Well, I wonder how well the “merit-based hiring with no evidence of DEI” worked in the past?

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

I Set A Trap To Catch My Students Cheating With AI. The Results Were Shocking. "Students are not just undermining their ability to learn, but to someday lead."

To “my students and to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write and think when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so.”

www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...

#FreeSpeech #AcademicFreedom

President Piggy This is what consequence-free misogyny looks like.

A short history of just the last few weeks' misogyny.
www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

I'm spending my World Philosophy day on strike, protesting at planned redundancies and course closures at my University. If the UK government doesn't change the way universities are funded (& it shows no desire to do so), then I doubt there's a future for philosophy outside elite institutions.

State department to cut 38 universities from research program over DEI policies Exclusive: Trump administration proposal would exclude elite schools that use diversity, equity and inclusion hiring practices

'The state department is proposing to suspend 38 universities including Harvard and Yale from a federal research partnership program because they engage in diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) hiring practices, according to an internal memo and spreadsheet obtained by the Guardian.' 1/2

Spätmoderne?

I Work For an Evil Company, but Outside Work, I’m Actually a Really Good Person I love my job. I make a great salary, there’s a clear path to promotion, and a never-ending supply of cold brew in the office. And even though my j...

"My work with AI is exponentially accelerating the destruction of the 🌎, but once a month, I go camping to reconnect w my own humanity thru nature. I also bike to & from the office, which definitely offsets all the other environmental destruction I work tirelessly to enact from sunup to sundown.."

Financial crisis worsens as 45% of English universities face deficit - Research Professional News Office for Students analysis finds institutions performing worse than they had forecast in May

Financial crisis worsens as 45% of English universities face deficit.

Office for Students analysis finds institutions performing worse than they had forecast.

www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-u...

Das Bild einer Entfremdung: Die Stipendiaten der Deutschlandstiftung Integration verlassen bei der Rede des Bundeskanzlers den Saal.
Viele wollen es nicht verstehen oder wahr haben, aber die Äußerungen des Kanzlers haben enorme Kränkungen verursacht.

Universities: make your staff and students feel appreciated by switching off the heating at 5 in winter then locking them in the building *during evening classes*. Every damn week.