Greg Woolf

I wish I didn’t have to share this. But the BBC has decided to censor my first Reith Lecture.

They deleted the line in which I describe Donald Trump as “the most openly corrupt president in American history.” /1

Yes journals, and universities in many countries. There is a list at that link at bottom

Yes it is the Press, part of a broader program building on the transformative agreements through which universities and similar pay for both access to published work and for their members to publish without APCs. CUP covers those not included in TAs.

www.cambridge.org/core/service...

Delighted that from January 2026 all research articles published in the Journal of Roman Archaeology @cambup-archaeology.cambridge.org will be Open Access

view.updates.cambridge.org?qs=85c24bbd7...

That’s seven.

@reuters.com
www.reuters.com/world/us/uni...

Oct 23,2025 9:30 am PDT Disability in the Ancient Middle East and Mediterranean Dr. Eric Harvey | Stanford University "The Real Lives of Blind Mesopotamians" Watch live on the ARF YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/arf-channel Image Credit: Left: Figurine of musician (Trustees of the British Museu) Right: POW being blinded after defeat in battle (Joan Aruz 2003) ARCHAEOLOGICAL

If you're free this Thursday morning, I'll be giving a virtual lecture titled "The Real Lives of Blind Mesopotamians" as part of the 2025−2026 public lecture series hosted by the Bade Museum and Archaeological Research Facility at UC Berkeley. Come join the fun!

Dartmouth rejects Trump’s compact, saying it won’t compromise its academic freedom Dartmouth was one of nine colleges and universities asked to sign the White House’s “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” The compact offered schools preferential access to federal fu...

Dartmouth won’t trade academic freedom for favor from the Trump admin. Incredible. Yet another college rejects the Trump compact.
www.nhpr.org/2025-10-18/d...

University of Virginia Won’t Join White House’s Compact for Colleges It was the fifth school in a matter of days to refuse an offer of preferential funding treatment from the government, even as the White House has threatened schools that do not sign up.

The University of Virginia became the fifth school to rebuff a White House proposal to give universities preferential treatment if they uphold a set of government demands.

Penn, U. of Southern California Reject Trump Compact The universities follow the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brown University in rejecting the Trump administration’s proposal that would require sweeping changes.

Penn and USC have also rejected the Compact!

That makes 4 - stronger together.

www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

Brown University president declines invitation for Brown to join federal Compact In a letter to the White House, President Christina H. Paxson wrote that Compact provisions restricting academic freedom and undermining autonomy would impede the University’s ability to fulfill its m...

Very good to see Brown University joining MIT in declining to sign up to the Adminstration's proposed "Compact for Academic Excellence" www.brown.edu/news/2025-10...

A variation on Benjamin Franklin’s 1754 engraving in the Pennsylvania Gazette, published in Philadelphia, in an effort to foster cooperation among the various colonies against the tyrant king of Britain, with the American colonies replaced by the nine universities selected for special collaboration opportunities

Courtesy of colleagues at Penn

Great line up. Wish I could be there!

Congratulations!

Newsom threatens state funding for California universities that agree to Trump demands Newsom said California universities that sign what he called the “RADICAL AGREEMENT” will lose state funds, including those for scholarships.

Sorry to see schools placed in this situation but very glad Newsom is doing this. www.sfchronicle.com/politics/art...

Conference programme Mountains of Greece: Heritage Narratives from the Past for a Sustainable Future, Athens, 22-24 October 2025

Very excited to advertise the full programme and registration details for our Athens conference, 22-24 October 2025!

mountainsofgreece.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2025/09/13/c...

Hi Debby, great to see you over here!

Life’s getting a bit more crap here if you are a person from an ethnic minority 🧵

f you want something a bit more niche there's a famous burial monument at Igel, now on the borders of three EU countries. Its reliefs are a key source for the textile industry that flourished there in Roman times. www.eifel.info/en/pois/igel...

So much to see! Love the Landesmuseum although I haven't been for years. Constantine's basilica (if a bit rebuilt), the amphitheatre, bridge, two sets of amazing baths...and of course the Porta Nigra as on your pic!

Gods, Temples and Ritual Practices: The Transformation of Religious Ideas and Values in Roman Gaul (Amsterdam Archeological Studies , Part 2) Gods, Temples and Ritual Practices: The Transformation of Religious Ideas and Values in Roman Gaul (Amsterdam Archeological Studies , Part 2) [Derks, Ton] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Gods, Temples and Ritual Practices: The Transformation of Religious Ideas and Values in Roman Gaul (Amsterdam Archeological Studies , Part 2)

Also

www.amazon.com/Gods-Temples...

LA RELIGION EN GAULE ROMAINE: Piété et politique (Ier-IVe siècle apr. J.-C.) LA RELIGION EN GAULE ROMAINE: Piété et politique (Ier-IVe siècle apr. J.-C.) [Van Andringa, William] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. LA RELIGION EN GAULE ROMAINE: Piété et politique (Ier-IVe siècle apr. J.-C.)

I recommend www.amazon.com/RELIGION-EN-...

There’s still the centennial of our World Cup win coming up in 2066

I share this syllabus bc I'm one of a tiny handful of university faculty in the UK who teach trans history at a specialist level, & I'd like there to be more of us! I learned the field from scratch post-PhD, bc at my prev institution it was politically necessary - which means that you can too!

A small model of a boat with oars, all made out of gold. It is set against a dark green background

In February 1896, two men ploughing a field unearthed one of the greatest prehistoric treasures ever found on the island of Ireland – the Broighter Hoard.

#Archaeology 🏺 #SpéirGhorm #Ireland

here's a recording of our lecture from earlier this year for UCLA's Global Antiquity symposium; a preview of our in-progress book project, "Cicero and the Rhetorics of Race" @mhanses.bsky.social

As we continue on to engage other archaeological institutions, we are posting this final statement on the WAC campaign. We, unlike the World Archaeological Congress organisation, will not move quietly on, while Palestinians continue to be starved and slaughtered by Israel.

The British Academy is opening a call for evidence from individuals and organisations with expertise in the key public policy areas for social and economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Find more information and details about how to respond here: www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/programmes/c...

Thank you for writing this.

The trans rights stitch-up How government plans to silence debate on the new rules

It's very telling what happens to the comment whenever I write on this subject. Every other week, the comments in my substack are witty, funny and kind. On this topic, they're bitter, vicious, demented.

open.substack.com/pub/iandunt/...

My statement on today's news. 👇