Kathryn Paige Harden

Dwayne has his job back because we organized for it. We fight or we die. Join AAUP today www.aaup.org/join

New Trump plan offers UT funding benefits with conditions on academics The Trump administration named the University of Texas as one of nine schools that can access funding benefits in exchange for demands outlined in a compact.

We left Austin (and UT) for personal reasons, not political ones. That said, this story makes me relieved that we got out when we did—and despondent for the future of an amazing institution that played a really important role in my life; and whose students, staff, faculty, and alumni deserve better:

Non-paywalled link to my commentary on @vw1234.bsky.social and colleagues new paper in @nature.com rdcu.be/eI2NG

‘Unprecedented in history’: global academic freedom group warns of dismantling in US Report from Scholars at Risk counts some 40 attacks against academic freedom in the US in the first half of 2025

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
A global academic freedom group has warned that the Trump administration’s assault on universities is turning the US into a “model for how to dismantle” academic freedom. ...

“People who believe so richly in the inherent goodness of whiteness that they believe empathy alone will grow the hearts of fascists are both hustlers and easily hustled.” - Hanif Abdurraqib, There’s Always This Year

Only one of these men sounds like he’s ever been near an Evangelical church before.

Sincerely wish that Klein would have someone like Jen Hatmaker on, to disabuse him of this notion that no one on “our” side is having difficult conversations in Evangelical churches

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/28/o...

Hard to choose just one quote from this piercingly articulate essay:

www.bostonreview.net/articles/wha...

in addition to not seeming to get the scandalous claim at the heart of her religion—count it all joy, the meek shall inherit the earth, God incarnate was an innocent victim—she also really doesn’t understand how science works:

💯💯💯💯💯💯

Opinion | The Grand Strategy Behind Trump’s Crackdown on Academia

The irony of two people who both profess to worship a crucified Christ complaining about ”culture of victimhood.”

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/o...

“There is no state or federal law that prohibits instruction on gender identity in college classes.“ This sentence is essential. They aren’t even bothering to pass laws now. The SB17 law in Texas specifically exempts instruction! They are just making things up and calling it law.

This morning I was supposed to be giving a keynote address for #SRP2025 — but instead laid up at home after blowing out my knee. Perhaps it’s fitting to be prescribed opiate painkillers on a day I was supposed to be talking about the genetics of substance use disorders?

Texas Tech Moves to Limit Academic Discussion to 2 Genders

“I’m emotionally shellshocked right now,” said one professor in the Texas Tech system. “What does it say about academic freedom? It says we don’t have it.” The professor spoke by phone from the inside of a car to avoid being overheard by colleagues.

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/u...

“On Friday, a Hays County judge ruled that a fired Texas State University (TXST) professor will be reinstated to his job while his lawsuit against the school proceeds, according to the professor’s attorney.” 👏✊🙌

A brief history of the birth control movement that acknowledges Sanger’s ties to eugenics while affirming the necessity of birth control to improve maternal health, & connects that history to current problems faced by people he wants to represent, & promises material help for that problem!

“Drawing on feminist rhetorical theory and histories of evangelicalism in the US, 'I Grew Up in the Church' argues that these writers model alternatives to the conservative politics, rhetorics of certainty and combat, and rigid gender roles that have been hallmarks of the movement.“

Ordered!

"shame serves as a robustly liberal alternative to . . .political violence. It is, quite literally, the least one can do to ensure rules of social conduct that upheld minimal levels of dignity for all involved. Most of the alternatives involve either subjugation, combat, or both."

How Can We Live Together? - Boston Review Ezra Klein is wrong: shame is essential.

An excellent essay on the necessary function of shame in liberal society, from @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social

www.bostonreview.net/articles/how...

I have been saying this for years:

There is nothing inherently progressive about emphasizing environmental causes over genetic ones.

Bad speculation about environmental causes can also be dangerous.

I wish, though, that the current administration hadn’t illustrated my point so spectacularly.

book tour schedule coming soon!

if the recent entwined rise of MAHA & Christian nationalism have you wondering how fundamentalist Christian ideas about sin & blame shape attitudes about genetics, mental illness, and psychological differences, I have a book recommendation for you:

Alt text: Screenshot of a document outlining a new university policy. The bullet points state: No discussion of transgender topics or anything suggesting more than two genders. All information in syllabi about transgender topics must be removed. Instructors must use students’ given names, not preferred names. Safe-space stickers, LGBTQ flags, etc. are banned and must be removed. Employees must remove pronouns from email signatures. The university will not support faculty who teach or discuss these topics in class.

Under pressure from Texas government officials, Angelo State University in Texas is banning all discussion or mention of the existence of trans people along with banning the LGBTQ pride flag from campus and forced misgendering of trans people.

conchoobserver.com/2025/09/19/a...

all of which to say, to characterize conservative Evangelical christians as down for debate & civil dialogue, while universities are painted as “bastions” is so upside down and detached the reality of evangelical spaces

The antagonist of one of the best selling Christian books of the 1990s was a psychology professor who used secular teaching to infect her students with literal demons. The only way to not get demon-infected was to literally plug your ears when she talked.

My evangelical pastor growing up once brought a sponge and a tub of dirty kitchen water to demonstrate how “secular” teaching poisoned our minds so that we wouldn’t be able to be used for Christ’s purposes.

They built huge audiences and continue to change minds— and were shunned from the church for it, their books pulled off Christian bookstore shelves and pulped. Even Beth Moore, for heavens sake.

There are many progressive women within the church who, despite having their prodigious gifts shunted into “women’s ministry,” have engaged in heart-changing dialogue—not debate, dialogue— on abortion, gay rights, feminism: Jen Hatmaker, Glennon Doyle, Sarah Bessey, the late Rachel Held Evans

As a progressive & ex-Evangelical, I would LOVE to tour evangelical churches and talk with (genuinely talk with, not use as fodder for YouTube gotcha videos) church members.

Unfortunately, evangelical churches don’t allow women to teach men.

Texas A&M President to Step Down After Controversy Over ‘Gender Ideology’

President of Texas A&M resigns.
This is the second Texas A&M President chased out of College Station in two years as a result of right wing politicians and activists attacks on academic freedom.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/u...