Alex Karner
@alexkarner.bsky.social
associate professor//community & regional planning. mobility justice, transportation equity, civil rights, environmental justice, accessibility, GIScience, etc. views my own. longer-form writing: https://alexkarner.substack.com
once a candidate clears the viability threshold, many other considerations come into play: are they likely to get competing offers? do they have familial ties to this place? do they have a spouse who also needs a job? kids? the idea that the "most qualified" always gets the TT job is not true.
Joe Stieb@joestieb.bsky.social · last mo.So tyler harper was a DEI hire but he was also highly qualified? Which one is it?
TRB rolling over for the administration actually didn't protect the NAS. Suprise surprise.
Carl T. Bergstrom@carlbergstrom.com · 2mo agoTrump is going after the National Academy of Sciences. Gift link.
Weird not to see real estate expansion projects, chatbot TAs, or ed-tech privatization on this report of what makes university experience valuable to students
Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 4mo ago'The key findings were said to be “surprisingly simple”: “a good student academic experience ultimately comes down to quality teaching, access to in person interaction with teachers and a strong sense of belonging”.' 2/3
Just had a paper desk rejected five weeks after submission because the editor considered the preprint we posted on a public server to be a prior publication. For good measure, he accused us of academic misconduct as well. How is this still happening? Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying 🤦🏼♂️
Ten times more than the usual annual Federal spend on walking and bicycling transportation projects
Seung Min Kim@seungminkim1.bsky.social · 6mo agoWASHINGTON (AP) — Pentagon tells Congress the first week of the Iran war cost the US $11.3 billion, an AP source says.
I wrote about how creeping authoritarianism in higher ed and the proliferation of AI are combining and creating terrible outcomes for our students. Curious how other faculty are dealing with these issues.
Higher Education in Crisis
A report from Texas on creeping authoritarianism and AI
alexkarner.substack.com
UT’s Women's and Gender Studies won a department. Then came the political pressure www.statesman.com/news/educati...
UT’s Women's and Gender Studies won a department. Then politics closed in
UT faculty say women's and gender studies is a long-established discipline that’s being gutted and defined without their input or voice.
statesman.com
The University of Texas System’s Board of Regents unanimously approved a rule requiring its universities to ensure students can graduate without studying “unnecessary controversial subjects,” despite warnings it could leave them less prepared for the real world.
University of Texas regents OK limits on controversial subjects
Opponents warned the policy’s vagueness could push professors to self-censor and leave students less prepared for the workplace.
texastribune.org
This is a univ that, despite whatever efforts they've put in since 1954, still has a Black student population that sits between 5% and 6%, despite Black ppl making up 12% - 13% of the Texas population. In 1979, 2.4% of the student pop was Black. They've barely doubled that in almost half a century.
This is AWFUL. Univ of Texas is consolidating 4 depts into 1: African and African Diaspora Studies and Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies, American Studies, and Mexican American and Latino Studies will become "a Social and Cultural Analysis department." www.texastribune.org/2026/02/12/t...
UT-Austin to merge race, ethnic and gender study programs
More than 800 students are pursuing degrees in the affected departments, which include African, Latino and gender studies.
texastribune.org
We knew something like this was coming. Still--a big shock.
Texas Conference of the AAUP@texasaaup.bsky.social · 7mo ago🚨 UT Austin is planning to shutter its African and African Diaspora Studies (AADS); Mexican American and Latina/o Studies (MALS); Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies (WGSS); and American Studies departments. 👇 aaup-texas.org/blog/f/ut-au...
They will create a world so dangerous that you feel you have no choice except to drive a car, or own a gun, or flee a country that they violently destabilized. And they will use that car, that gun, that decision to seek asylum as an excuse to shoot and kill you.
One day, if we are lucky, the erasure of American history will itself be remembered as a shameful chapter in American history
Philadelphia Inquirer@inquirer.com · 8mo ago
Some interpret "abundance" to mean an "abundance of highways." Ben of America Walks is leading a panel at the #crossroadsconvening on "Centering Transportation Equity in the Abundance Agenda" to do better than that. FYI, "some" is the Abundance Caucus in Congress, cdn.sanity.io/files/ifn0l6...
cdn.sanity.io
"We are at a crossroads, figuratively and in reality" Do we choose disinvestment and harm or repair and renewal? @theycallmeoboi.bsky.social at #CrossroadsConvening
Alex Karner@alexkarner.bsky.social · 8mo agoUpdate for tomorrow's #CrossroadsConvening: We send our best to Dr. Bullard who is unable to join us. However, we're grateful to announce that @theycallmeoboi.bsky.social, President & CEO of Equiticity, will now be giving the keynote address!
Update for tomorrow's #CrossroadsConvening: We send our best to Dr. Bullard who is unable to join us. However, we're grateful to announce that @theycallmeoboi.bsky.social, President & CEO of Equiticity, will now be giving the keynote address!
Post a perfect album from the 90s that isn't Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Alice in Chains.
iainham iainspur but spookier@iain.coys.social · 9mo agoPost a perfect album from the 90s that isn't Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Alice in Chains. Might get my punk card revoked for not saying 24 Hour Revenge Therapy.
This is going to be a fun event where—unlike at the @nationalacademies.org Transportation Research Board—we're going to actually talk about issues of equity, justice, and mobility. Register if you can make it to DC in January!
Alex Karner@alexkarner.bsky.social · 9mo agoFree public registration is now open for the Crossroads Convening on Transportation Equity and Justice, 1/15/26 at the MLK Library in DC. Registration is free. We've got three sessions across four tracks. Confirmed speakers include Robert Bullard, Anna Zivarts, Naomi Doerner, and Gretchen Goldman.
Free public registration is now open for the Crossroads Convening on Transportation Equity and Justice, 1/15/26 at the MLK Library in DC. Registration is free. We've got three sessions across four tracks. Confirmed speakers include Robert Bullard, Anna Zivarts, Naomi Doerner, and Gretchen Goldman.
Crossroads: A Transportation Equity and Justice Convening
Join the Union of Concerned Scientists and our transportation partners for a one-day event to discuss transportation equity and justice. Thursday, January 15, 2026, 8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. ET, at the Ma...
secure.ucs.org
I posted some thoughts on Deborah Archer's book Dividing Lines. She recommends creating something called a "racial equity impact study" for transportation projects and I don't think that's a good idea. We need actions that planners and engineers can undertake now, given the laws/regs we have.
Do We Need Racial Equity Impact Studies?
Thoughts on Deborah Archer's 2025 book Dividing Lines
alexkarner.substack.com
I was really proud to write an endorsement for @carterlavin.bsky.social's book, which is essential reading for anyone who wants to turn their theoretical love of stuff like biking, walking, buses, and mobility justice into political campaigns that actually change our world. Get a preview here. 👇
This Author Wrote the Book on How to Be a Better Transportation Advocate — Streetsblog USA
Step one: read this book.
usa.streetsblog.org
