I’ve been screening our documentary with organizing communities in the South. So far, the organizers mention data centers first at every single event. From racial justice orgs to old school activists who don’t usually think about tech policy. This has legs.

“The American Association of University Professors is joined in the Texas A&M lawsuit by four faculty plaintiffs, each of whom says the policy prompted their course to be canceled or not offered.” www.chronicle.com/article/what...

‘What Are We Even Doing Here?': New Lawsuit Challenges Ban on Race and Gender Topics at Texas A&M

Plaintiffs included four faculty members whose courses were canceled or not offered.

chronicle.com

You will be surprised to learn that I do not believe there is a “moral imperative“ to teach educators about AI.

Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 6h ago

“Teaching educators about AI is a ‘moral imperative’, said Randi Weingarten, the AFT president.” “And without outside funding, it was a choice between taking big tech’s money or doing nothing, she said.”

Sometimes people with shared interests speak different languages. Last week I read the new Theory & Methodologies section on Victorian studies in PMLA with huge interest, especially @emilysteinlight.bsky.social and Josephine McDonagh's pieces on on US and UK scholars' ambitions for the field at +

BOOM. The AAUP is suing Texas A&M University System over their censorship policy that prohibits faculty from discussing topics & viewpoints related to race, sexual orientation, & gender. www.aclutx.org/app/uploads/... 1

The Trump admin is back with version 2.0 of its higher ed compact. The reason is simple: The first one failed. Compact 2.0 lacks egregious elements of its predecessor. That’s a victory & affirms that the answer to authoritarianism is organized resistance—not compliance. www.aaup.org/news/new-com...

New Compact Shows Resistance Works, but Fight for Higher Ed Isn’t Over

The Trump administration is back with a second version of its higher education compact. As with its predecessor, the best path forward is for higher education workers to organize and demand that their...

aaup.org

A 39-year-old El Salvadoran man, who was being held at Delaney Hall, has died, the man's family says. He's the father of a 12-year-old US citizen daughter and has lived in the country for nearly 20 years. www.thecityreporter.nyc/2026/08/03/s...

El Salvadoran Man Held by ICE at Delaney Hall Dies, Family Says

The detainee had an extensive medical history, including epilepsy, according to a lawsuit. He had complained about his face and hand going numb just before his death, his mother said.

thecityreporter.nyc

“There’s been a lot of fiscal mismanagement by our administration, and they’re solving it by laying off part-time workers...We are a primary engine of social mobility in the city, so we need the support of our state legislature, our governor, and our city council as well.” qns.com/2026/07/quee...

CUNY faculty and staff picket over recent Queens College budget cuts – QNS

The protest came in response to Queens College President Frank Wu — who will be retiring at the month’s end — imposing the latest round of departmental budget

qns.com

Two people have died from cyclosporiasis in Michigan, marking the first fatalities in the largest U.S. outbreak of the intestinal illness

Michigan Reports Two Deaths In Ongoing Cyclosporiasis Outbreak

Cuts across federal health agencies have complicated the government’s ability to respond to foodborne disease outbreaks.

huffpost.com

Pink Flag, Chairs Missing, 154

Mia Murphy 🏳️‍⚧️@miamurphy.com · 4d ago

What's the best three album run from a band? (the correct answer is Moving Pictures, Signals, and Grace Under Pressure by Rush, but I'm excited to learn second place)

It’s been a hard week and I nearly missed that this was finally out. I wrote “Victorian Studies and the American State” 5 years ago and have been discussing it with some of you for a decade. Surreal to see, and grateful to be in the good company of @jakeromanow.bsky.social and brilliant respondents

Victorian Studies and the American State | PMLA | Cambridge Core

Victorian Studies and the American State - Volume 141 Issue 2

cambridge.org

"All of the speculation and hype around A.I. is hiding the fact...It is the backbone of a superstructure that merges regressive politics with unchecked economic power in the guise of technological innovation." -- Tressie McMillan Cottom www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/o...

Opinion | A Reading List for Our Age of A.I. (Gift Article)

A.I. is a political theory. And it is gobbling up our democracy.

nytimes.com

Between the latest PMLA on Victorian Studies & Its Others and the recent issue of @victorianpoetry.bsky.social I’m not sure any Anglophone lit subfield is as full of critical self-reflection (complimentary!!) as Victorian studies right now. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Latest issue | PMLA | Cambridge Core

PMLA

cambridge.org

"Artificial intelligence is not just a market product or a scientific achievement. It is a political theory. And it is gobbling up our democracy." connect the dots! Dr. McMillan Cottom has homework! go to the library, host a reading group, organize your neighbors www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/o...

Opinion | A Reading List for Our Age of A.I. (Gift Article)

A.I. is a political theory. And it is gobbling up our democracy.

nytimes.com

That WIC doesn't pay for diapers should be higher up in this country's big list of crimes

The New York Times@nytimes.com · 3d ago

Wirecutter testers' favorite diapers typically perform as well as much more expensive diapers, and you could save thousands of dollars over the course of a child’s diaper-wearing years. nyti.ms/45rgHvl

Appalling cruelty — and all to fund more tax cuts for the rich.

I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful

Jake Romanow offers such a lucid and incisive analysis of the stakes of expanding and contracting the “Victorian” (and of that term’s interpretive vs institutional uses). A must-read that I look forward to teaching in the coming years!

Jacob Romanow@jakeromanow.bsky.social · last wk.

My article "Provincializing Victorian Studies" is out in the latest PMLA. It's many years in the making—thanks for reading. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

One day several years ago, I got an anonymous handwritten, threatening letter delivered to my campus mailbox, and then someone (the same person? someone else?) DM'd me on twitter from a burner account, with a photo of my driveway with my car parked in it. This is real and it's dangerous

Tressie McMillan Cottom@tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 5d ago

There are a lot of important things going on. Maybe this isn’t a top twenty concern. But, this is actually workplace harassment, the kind that can get people killed.

I believe this 100%. The moral injury of the period, the grief from not just the too and so many deaths but the kinds of lives we had before, the laying bare of disposability, the non covid deaths it sped, the institutional strain, the collective fear and distrust, the prioritization of work anyway

The Fig Economy@figgityfigs.bsky.social · last wk.

One of my Crank Theories of Everything, at least of Everything in the Recent Past, is that we are dealing (badly) with COVID trauma we’d mostly prefer to pretend never happened.

My article "Provincializing Victorian Studies" is out in the latest PMLA. It's many years in the making—thanks for reading. www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

Provincializing Victorian Studies: A. Native’s Marita among Literary Traditions | PMLA | Cambridge Core

Provincializing Victorian Studies: A. Native’s Marita among Literary Traditions - Volume 141 Issue 2

cambridge.org

It’s been a hard week and I nearly missed that this was finally out. I wrote “Victorian Studies and the American State” 5 years ago and have been discussing it with some of you for a decade. Surreal to see, and grateful to be in the good company of @jakeromanow.bsky.social and brilliant respondents

Victorian Studies and the American State | PMLA | Cambridge Core

Victorian Studies and the American State - Volume 141 Issue 2

cambridge.org

This is just nuts - in my experience, students need these resources now more than ever

The Harvard Crimson@theharvardcrimson.bsky.social · last wk.

The Harvard College Writing Center will no longer operate as a standalone unit after its director was laid off and its functions were consolidated, prompting backlash from current and former tutors. Abigail S. Gerstein and Amann S. Mahajan report. www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...

“To demand that the AAUP remain silent about the political attack on academia is ridiculous. To demand that the AAUP should do nothing to fight for academic freedom is wrong.” #academicsky

Critics of the AAUP and the Delusions of Neutrality

The AAUP is not and must not be neutral in defense of academic freedom.

insidehighered.com

Combined and uneven modernism seminar for the upcoming ACLA. In person, U of Houston, 20-23 May, 2027. How do peripheral literatures register, model, and think the historical and material configurations of the world system? www.acla.org/seminar/f2f2...

There are a lot of important things going on. Maybe this isn’t a top twenty concern. But, this is actually workplace harassment, the kind that can get people killed.

@carmenlynn.bsky.social · 5d ago

The Koch Nazis are back “A shadowy network of conservative activist groups, backed by Koch-linked dark money, is deploying hidden cameras and mass public-records requests to hunt down and destroy the careers of college professors and administrators — and it's working.”

"There's an extreme, radical, right-wing agenda coming out of the federal government targeting higher education. The AAUP won’t exist in an ivory tower and wait for politics to be done to its members. That’s not the AAUP of 2026." – Todd Wolfson, AAUP President

AAUP Embraces Political Role With Candidate Endorsements

The group says the move is a first in its over-100-year existence, and part of countering government threats. Critics say AAUP has lost its neutrality.

insidehighered.com

Today's a great day to follow @aimoratoriumnyc.bsky.social, @dianaforqueens.com, @comixaction.com, and @climatefamsnyc.bsky.social and join the fight for a moratorium on "A.i." in the public schools!

Greg Pak@gregpak.net · 6d ago

Thanks to everyone who came to the @aimoratoriumnyc.bsky.social rally and testified at the PEP meeting AGAINST "A.i." in the public schools yesterday! Here's @dianaforqueens.com with a little pal speaking at the rally!

"As Japanese financial newspaper Nikkei Asia found in a recent investigation, just five US tech giants — Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, and Oracle — are hiding an estimated $1.65 trillion in debt that doesn’t appear on balance sheets. futurism.com/artificial-i...

AI Companies Are Trying to Hide a Staggering Amount of Debt

AI companies are pouring tens of billions of dollars into enormous data centers. They're being built on top of a mountain of hidden debt.

futurism.com