Erik B. Alexander

A funny thing is that "how would they treat a Democratic President in the same situation" thing is totally hypothetical because all the huge market crashes in my lifetime happened under Republicans.

The Journal of the Civil War Era will have a special issue on political economy edited by me, @maggor.bsky.social, Sofia Valeonti & Nicolas Barreyre. I'll post again when the link is up on the Muster, but wanted to get the word out now. See CFP. Submission deadline is April 25. 🗃️

Title: Both Liberal and Conservative Judges Rule Against Trump Description: A scatter plot showing the rulings of judges against or in favor of Trump, categorized by ideology using the DIME score. The x-axis represents Judge Ideology (DIME Score), ranging from liberal (-1) to conservative (1), and the y-axis represents the case outcome (against or for Trump). • Blue dots represent liberal judges, purple dots represent moderate judges, and red dots represent conservative judges. • Some judges are labeled, including Rudolph Contreras, Lauren King, John Coughenour, and James Emanuel Boasberg on the liberal to moderate side, and Carl Nichols, Richard J. Leon, and Joseph N. Laplante on the conservative side. • A note mentions that Boasberg, though slightly right-leaning, was initially appointed by George W. Bush. • The visualization suggests that judges from both ideological backgrounds ruled against Trump.

1/🧵 Judges across ideological lines are ruling against Trump at strikingly similar rates (84% liberal, 86% centrist, 82% conservative). This isn't partisan opposition to Trump—it's the judiciary functioning as intended by cutting across partisan lines to uphold the Constitution.

Every war in which the United States lost American blood is quickly losing all meaning. What our men and women have always risked death to protect is what our traitorous POTUS gave away freely today.

Adam Rothman @arothmanhistory If teachers could indoctrinate students, more people would use apostrophes correctly.

A blast from the past (2023)

White House pauses all federal grants, sparking confusion The Trump administration has put a hold on all federal financial grants and loans, affecting tens of billions of dollars in payments.

The US Constitution does not grant the President this unilateral authority.

In Illinois, we will stand against unlawful actions that would harm millions of working families, children, and seniors.

Really appreciate the endorsement, and thrilled our essay was useful. Like Rachel, would love to hear what the students thought!

Yes yes yes this this this many thousands times over.

Please stop using “revisionist history” as a stand-in for falsehoods.

Any worthwhile work of history uses untapped sources, novel methodologies and/or new connections across fields to improve, alter and, yes, revise our understanding of history.

Truly revisionist history is a *good* thing.

Yes, thanks so much! Appreciate the endorsement!

This is top notch detective work and a great example of how the game of historical “telephone” works, and how completely invented fabrications eventually shape and become reality.

Oof not everything is digitized and quick word searches are no substitute for archival research. Method shows when one reads books and articles.

A note on AI usage A note on AI usage I genuinely want you to succeed in this class. One of my very favorite things about my job as a professor is when students are succeeding and I feel like I helped. I want you to suc...

hey bluesky, in case anyone's interested, I wrote this for my students about why I don't want them to use anything AI in my classes. It interrupts the course calendar part of the syllabus, coming immediately after the first day there's a writing assignment assigned.

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

Text on this picture reads: Call for applications: Mark and Ann Persun Visiting Scholars Program The Richards Civil War Era Center invites applications for the Mark and Ann Persun Visiting Scholars Program for tenured faculty in history at the rank of Associate Professor. The fellowship is open to scholars of the Civil War Era, broadly conceived, who study military or political history. In 2025-2026 academic year, the fellowship will be held to a scholar of political history. This fellowship is designed to provide mid-career faculty with time, support, and resources to devote to a book-length work-in-progress. The Visiting Scholar will also become an important member of the Richards Center community and will workshop sections of their book project, in addition to participating in Center events and programs. There is no teaching or service associated with this fellowship. The successful applicant will have the option to move to State College or to remain at their home institution and make several short visits to Penn State over the course of the year. A candidate's potential to relocate will have no impact on the fellowship selection process. The fellowship includes $80,000 in salary replacement funds, $7,500 in research/ conference travel, and $7,500 in moving /visit funds. The Richards Center will coordinate payment of the fellowship through the recipient's home institution. The successful applicant must receive approval from their home institution to accept the fellowship. To apply for this position, please submit an application packet including a letter of interest, a CV, a book proposal (max 10 pages), and 2 letters of recommendation to Barby Singer at bgs6@psu.edu by February 15, 2025.

🗃️ Friends, check out the @richardscenter.bsky.social CFA for the Mark & Ann Persun Visiting Scholar's Program, this cycle in Civil War Era political history. This fellowship is designed for mid-career scholars & does not require relocation. Apps due Feb 15, 2025. Details below; email or DM w/ Qs.

the frenzy over the hunter biden pardon is a good reminder that the press knows how to make something a scandal and has decided that nothing trump does is truly deserving of that treatment

Though this example is a close second :

Fugitive Doctor Accuses Devlin MacGregor Of Fraud ‘You Switched The Samples After Lentz Died,’ On-The-Loose Physician Says During Medical Conference

I mean, there are too many to count. But, I think the article recapping the climactic scene as news from 1993’s The Fugitive is probably my winner:

theonion.com/fugitive-doc...

The Chronicle frequently does this self-flagelating trash, but this one is especially infuriating in our contemporary context. We're living in a world where multiple states are banning whole disciplines and subdisciplines for political reasons utterly detached from reality, and this feeds them.

If an echo chamber is a kind group of folks who share your interests and won't constantly bombard you with petulant argumentative bullshit, then yeah. I’m super down for this echo chamber

it's frankly pretty hurtful. faculty are just people trying to get a job done and in the lounge (if there is one) we're probably just eating lunch or exchanging ideas about how to get our students to do the reading, or figure out which form we need to fill out today.

Would love to be added!

Is Texas Where Academic Freedom Will Finally Die? One state university is either a canary in the coal mine or the exception that proves the rule.

To the credit of @chronicle.com, they have covered that too. There is a real crisis surrounding academic freedom. But blaming "radical" professors based on exaggerated and hyperbolic characterizations that don't really reflect reality only worsens the problem./end

www.chronicle.com/newsletter/t...

And let's be clear: the real "political" problems facing higher ed is faculty research being targeted for daring to study marginalized groups. To take just one example, is studying this history of slavery political? It is in Texas, where course descriptions that include race are under attack.

Most of them are first generation students and can barely find the time in their schedules to balance their lives with the work in the classroom. Framing any discussion of concerns in higher ed around what's happening at elite selective institutions is disingenuous at best and irresponsible at worst

To be sure, my students are political! They're concerned about the direction of the world around them. But they are also food insecure, worried about financial struggles and paying for school, working full time, caring for children and aging family members, and constantly dealing with health crises.

But the larger problem here is framing higher ed discussions around elite, selective institutions. The *vast* majority of students and faculty are at open enrollment and non-selective institutions. Even if the author's argument is correct, his experience reflects a fraction of higher ed.

And then there is this claptrap. Putting aside the ridiculous premise that the all academic work is now "explicitly political," why should teaching elite students make faculty any more or less capable of speaking to "egalitarian values"?

Are there professors who do this? I'm sure it happens, but I'm not persuaded it's any more frequent than any other profession or work environment, and likely includes faculty from both ends of the spectrum. I know my colleagues are only concerned with teaching students the skills of our discipline.

The author points to radical professors using their bully pulpit to rail against politics in front of a captive audience. But honestly how much does this actually happen? In 10 years at my current institution, I have never observed or even heard an inkling of such behavior--in my dept. or any other.

The essay argues that over the last decade, research across numerous fields has become partisan as academics increasingly justify their research with political aims in mind--a move away from sound evidentiary based disciplines. Supposedly this has irreparably damaged the public image of higher ed.