Nahyan Fancy
@fancynahyan.bsky.social
Professor; University of Exeter; Historian of Science and Medicine in Premodern Islamic Societies; Love Urdu poetry
An Article describing the way one education consultancy firm, Nous, is directly connected to the dismantling of multiple universities from Australia to Canada (and now UK). The Uniforum software they use for benchmarking was used @exeter.ac.uk Some gems quoted below: renthomas.ca/theres-a-nou... 1/4
There’s a Nous in Dal’s house – Ren Thomas
renthomas.ca
Brilliant from my colleague John in Politics at Exeter. democracyforsale.substack.com/p/inside-bri... #DefendExeterUni If you want to see a snapshot of the errors in @exeter.ac.uk UEB's analysis of teaching capacity see the next one 1/2
Inside Britain's university crisis
As teaching staff face job loss, their bosses have netted pay rises and bought advice from a “vampiric” management consultancy, writes Prof. John Heathershaw of the University of Exeter
democracyforsale.substack.com
New day, new insights from what’s going on at @exeter.ac.uk. It doesn’t cease to amaze me how uni management patronises its workers while deploying the most obscene kind of “caring management” attitude by offering free mental health support to those whose lives it wants to destroy. #DefendExeterUni
Share and sign, share and sign! This thing is still terrifyingly real and there's no pretending that it's softened or has gone away. #DefendExeterUni #DefendSHAPE #English #CreativeWriting #Drama #Languages #Theology #History #Arts&Humanities #SocialSciences #PureMaths #Geography c.org/xJ7bKnq7pL
Sign the Petition
Stop Redundancies at the University of Exeter
c.org
Before things kick off officially at #BSPS2026, Adrian Currie explains the attack on philosophy (among others) happening at Exeter (among others). Rousing speech followed by big applause #DefendExeterUni
Today, Filippo de Vivo, Martin Conway, @faridahzaman.bsky.social and I, along with 30 other members of the Faculty of History at the University of Oxford have written to the leadership of the University of Exeter to express our deep concern about the proposed cuts to Humanities and Social Sciences
Unsurprising that all these cuts being made to #Harvard —from the Office of Student Services to the Writing Center to now the Dudley Co-op—are happening with input from McKinsey, a firm made up of The Second Worst People I knew in college there
Mary Lewis@profmarylewis.bsky.social · 7d agoFirst it was the writing center, now Dudley House. This was the place where people like married veterans & other students who had reasons to live off campus found community at Harvard. I refuse to believe this was extremely costly. www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...
“Harvard paid McKinsey & Company at least $250,000 to consult on the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ staff restructuring efforts, according to internal documents obtained by The Crimson.” www.thecrimson.com/article/2026...
Harvard Paid McKinsey $250,000 For FAS Consultation, Internal Documents Show | News | The Harvard Crimson
Harvard paid McKinsey & Company at least $250,000 to consult on the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ staff restructuring efforts, according to internal documents obtained by The Crimson.
thecrimson.com
sakura christmas@prof-christmas.bsky.social · 6d agoUnsurprising that all these cuts being made to #Harvard —from the Office of Student Services to the Writing Center to now the Dudley Co-op—are happening with input from McKinsey, a firm made up of The Second Worst People I knew in college there
Yesterday, in her all-staff talk our VC chose to highlight the recent election of 5 FBAs from the University of Exeter. She failed to point out that 4 of us (with many of our colleagues) have just been placed at risk of redundancy. #DefendExeterUni @exeterucu.bsky.social
Morwenna Ludlow@morwennaexe.bsky.social · 3w ago
Please read and read again this stunning reflection on what’s happening at Exeter — and on the personal cost (for far too many and for far too long) of struggling to uphold the humanities within a system bent on grinding them down and squeezing them out. #DefendExeterUni
Lizzy Williamson@lizzywilliamson.bsky.social · last wk.Our registrar regularly works with them too, no conflict of interest of course. #DefendExeterUni www.instagram.com/p/DbY6dnVNzXO/
Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.
instagram.com
What is the word one uses to describe a person who habitually says the opposite of what is true...? Our VC: Exeter has one of the largest humanities and social science depts and will continue to do so. Here is a helpful chart for where it is & what will happen. #DefendExeterUni @exeter.ac.uk
“No faculty member, student, or worker should face the stripping of their livelihood for protesting a genocide or speaking out against corporate and political complicity. Academic institutions must serve as sanctuaries for rigorous debate, and free expression…”
Northwestern University’s Campaign against Free Expression
The AAUP stands in solidarity with Steven Thrasher, the inaugural Daniel H.
aaup.org
Never forget that they had to spend trillions of dollars, build massive data centers, consume millions of galloons of water and insane amounts of electricity, just to kind of do what you can do better with your imagination and a cup of coffee. That's how envious they are of what you can do.
But of course it did. Because unless you literally open up the entire set of files/data, etc. on which you train any AI and open up how and what patterns are being recorded from which it is "learning" you will have precisely this! No black boxes--make it transparent and very carefully monitored.
The Breach@breachmedia.ca · 3w agoOntario jails are using an AI tool that claims to predict prisoners’ behaviour. And it’s disproportionately placing Black prisoners in maximum security. An investigation by @desmondcole.bsky.social reveals the province knew the tool would discriminate against Black people—and used it anyway.
"you can blink all you want . . ." 🤣🤣🤣🤣
𝙽𝚊𝚜𝚑 𝙸𝚜 𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝙵𝚘𝚛 𝙸𝚝@nashishereforit.bsky.social · 3w agoThis is how to speak to every single one of those sycophants.
Mitch McConnell Clarifies Absence Due To Brief Planned Trip To Afterlife https://theonion.com/mitch-mcconnell-clarifies-absence-due-to-brief-planned-trip-to-afterlife/
On bullshit www.psypost.org/new-psycholo... "...repeating statements made by someone indifferent to facts heavily increases how truthful those statements feel..." Study: "truth-indifferent communication may pose a greater & more insidious threat to public belief than deliberate deception..."
New psychology research reveals the insidious nature of bullshit
We naturally put our guard up against known liars, but new psychology research reveals we are highly vulnerable to "bullshitters." A recent study shows that repeated, truth-indifferent claims easily t...
psypost.org
Congratulations to our new @britishacademy.bsky.social fellows. But also sobering as they point out when @exeter.ac.uk is simultaneously putting their jobs &those of a hundred others in humanities, arts and social sciences, The Academy's remit, under threat! #DefendExeterUni @exeterucu.bsky.social
New Issue of Pasts Imperfect is out. Special issue on Homer and the Odyssey, Mayan ruins and much more. Also ends with a plea (thank you @sarahebond.bsky.social) for signing the petition to #DefendExeterUni @exeterucu.bsky.social
Sarah E. Bond@sarahebond.bsky.social · 3w agoμοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, of this special Homer issue! Resident Homer sage @sentantiq.bsky.social weighs in, Yoandy Cabrera has a list of Hispanic reimaginings of The Odyssey, saving Chaco Canyon, Mayan ruins reveal an ancient astronomer, new ancient world journals via @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social & more 👁️🗨️
μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, of this special Homer issue! Resident Homer sage @sentantiq.bsky.social weighs in, Yoandy Cabrera has a list of Hispanic reimaginings of The Odyssey, saving Chaco Canyon, Mayan ruins reveal an ancient astronomer, new ancient world journals via @yaleclassicslib.bsky.social & more 👁️🗨️
Pasts Imperfect (7.16.26)
μοι ἔννεπε, μοῦσα, of this special Homer issue to prepare you to head to the theaters to see The Odyssey this week. Our resident Homer sage, Joel Christensen, discusses his new book, Why Odysseus?: Su...
pasts-imperfect.ghost.io
Total vindication for the Immortal Science, tho...
Marie Vibbert@reasie.bsky.social · 3w agoNo science fiction could have prepared us for just how stupid the end of the world can be. "The environment was on the brink of collapse, and so, rather than deal with that, we burned what fuel we had left getting computers to scam each other for money."
we need steel to build all the new shiny buildings on campus, what will happen in those buildings without any staff is anyone's guess but the buildings are what is important
Plashing Vole@plashingvole.bsky.social · 3w agoCongratulations to the government on saving 2700 jobs by nationalising British Steel. Now, about the 18,000 university jobs lost in the last 18 months, with more coming…
Another excellent example of just how incurious and limited the UK press has been about this crisis. Not one mention of the cuts to humanities that Bristol’s own VC is trying to push through at the moment in this article about her position on the cuts 🤔🙄. www.theguardian.com/education/20...
Florence Welch’s mother says cuts to arts and humanities ‘absolutely tragic’
Exclusive: Prof Evelyn Welch, vice-chancellor of Bristol University, believes her daughter’s success shows value of arts education
theguardian.com
This came in the mail today. I've been waiting 3 years for it!
The incredible Professor John Esposito, Georgetown University, died today. His legacy is immense, and to those of us who knew and worked with him, he will be deeply missed. The world has lost one of the giants of academia. 💔 His life, captured here 2 years ago: www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFwd...
The Legacy of John Esposito
YouTube video by ACMCU (ACMCU)
youtube.com
One of the OfS's biggest 'achievements' during her tenure was spectacularly mishandling the Kathleen Stock / University of Sussex free speech fiasco, which led to a catastrophic defeat at the High Court for the OfS.
Peter Whitewood@pwhitewood.bsky.social · 3w ago‘She was also paid a bonus of between £15,000 and £20,000 “for exceptional performance”’
Latest from the Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast (@mmapod.bsky.social ): "Tadghout explores how knowledge was not only preserved but actively reworked through processes of copying, annotation, and translation." On Avicenna & the Canon of Medicine. www.multiculturalmiddleages.com/post/books-w...
Books Without Borders: Arabic Manuscripts and the Making of the Global Middle Ages (Tadghout)
In this episode of The Multicultural Middle Ages Podcast, Mourad Tadghout examines the central role of Arabic manuscript culture in shaping the intellectual history of the medieval world. It follows the production, circulation, and transformation of manuscripts from major centers such as Baghdad, Cairo, Córdoba, Fes, and beyond, tracing how texts moved across linguistic, religious, and geographic boundaries.
multiculturalmiddleages.com
