Exciting update from our program, where @burnidge.bsky.social is going great work iowacapitaldispatch.com/2026/05/26/u...

University of Northern Iowa to lead collaborative religious studies initiative • Iowa Capital Dispatch

UNI professor Cara Burnidge will lead a collaborative religious studies initiative with University of Iowa and Iowa State University faculty.

iowacapitaldispatch.com

In this thread, Zach is getting at the fundamental tension of higher education: many (not all) students are coming to us for a credential. Our job is to get them to learn certain skills and ways of thinking before we give them that credential. This leads to an unfortunate tension.

Zach Weinersmith@zachweinersmith.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Not sure if this is a hot take, but the apparently frequent cheating or borderline cheating with Ai in University seems to me less about Ai and more about how sick the system has gotten. Compare for example to learning from a teacher to graft trees. In that case, cheating would be absurd. Why?

You know about the resources posted at the REL Toolbox? Now managed by @seedpods.bsky.social, the site has grown. Go see. Anyone leading a Dept in the Humanities will find it helpful. reltoolbox.ua.edu

Looking forward to talking with @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social about our work reimagining Religious Studies & the Humanities at UNI. April 29 at 3pm ET. Registration link: aarweb.org/event/strate...

This "Into the Stacks" feature was very fun to contribute to, in large part because it gave me a chance to highlight all of the wonderful work that @shafrhistorians.bsky.social have been doing in the past few decades to integrate religion more holistically into the study of U.S. foreign relations. 🗃️

Modern American History@modamhist.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Ten scholars revisit Jon Butler’s 2004 Journal of American History article, “Jack-in-the-Box Faith: The Religion Problem in Modern American History,” evaluating how it inspired historians to embed religion in “mainstream” modern U.S. history, and its legacy amidst historiographical trends.

The closing of African American Studies and GWSS at Iowa is absolutely heartbreaking. It is such an important time to study these subjects. Words really cannot express how upsetting this decision is. www.thegazette.com/higher-educa...

UI African American, Gender Studies faculty prepare for program closures

University of Iowa faculty in African American Studies and Gender, Women's, and Sexuality Studies are preparing for closure of their programs following a review of "low-enrollment" degrees and majors ...

thegazette.com

Looking forward to this @naasr.bsky.social conversation with @mccutcheonsays.bsky.social & Leslie Dorrough Smith on Thursday. Interested in the future of Religious Studies & the Humanities? I hope you'll join us.

“Politics is fully immersed in its postliterate era, and political violence, too, has become illegible.”

The Verge@theverge.com · 7mo ago

Killing in the name of… nothing

EXCLUSIVE: @laurenweberhp.bsky.social & I have spent the last year collecting school+county-level vaccination data from across the US and found that only about 28% of counties now have herd immunity for kindergartners from measles—that leaves about 5.2mn kids unprotected. Gift link: wapo.st/49zDc43

U.S. vaccination rates are plunging. Look up where your school stands.

Take a look to see what the kindergarten measles vaccination rates are in your area.

wapo.st

i think to understand the meaning of the birthright citizenship clause to the framers of the 14th amendment, you have to understand significance of dred scott to the civil war republican party. dred scott wasn't just a bad ruling, it was understood as a rejection of the declaration itself.

How have religious food movements from the early nineteenth century have to do with America’s MAHA health agenda today? @adriennekrone.bsky.social, author of FREE-RANGE-RELIGION, dives into the history in this recent blog post ⤵️ uncpressblog.com/2025/11/19/h...

How Religious Food Movements Paved the Way for MAHA - UNC Press Blog

The following is a guest blog post by Adrienne Krone, author of Free-Range Religion: Alternative Food Movements and Religious Life in the United States which is now available wherever books are sold. ...

uncpressblog.com

UNI is hiring an Assistant Professor of Instruction focused on Religious Ethics. This is a promotable, renewable position. Happy to answer questions! uni.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/UNI/job/Main... #acrel #aar #sbl

I say this extremely seriously: one of the main skills children have to learn to be adults is to do things they *don't* find interesting. This is both because many necessary things in life are boring and because sometimes interesting things take time and effort first.

Hannah Posts@hannahposts.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Here's the post

Good tips and advice here for the inevitable last minute syllabus preps, from @burnidge.bsky.social

Back to School Helps

Cara Burnidge shares four tools she likes to make syllabus prep faster, smarter, and more student-centered

usreligion.substack.com

Does anyone have examples of colleges or universities advertising themselves as AI-free or, better, anti-AI?

The thing is, by refusing to truly engage with the public and to support/value scholars who do, we cede the public understanding of history to these 'history buffs,' - and at the same time, contribute to the decline of our field, as the public doesn't know what we *do* that they should pay for.

jamelle@jamellebouie.net · last yr.

my favorite people on tiktok are the folks who call themselves “history buffs” by which they mean they read one book and then uncritically summarize it for their viewers

Useful thread on Mahmoud v. Taylor from @scribnerumcp.bsky.social.

Campbell F. Scribner@scribnerumcp.bsky.social · last yr.

5/ Alito’s opinion accepts a false binary from the District Court dissent, which found that “the Board had “force[d] the parents to make a choice—either adhere to their faith or receive a free public education for their children.” But that was not really the question before the court.

There's something really interesting going on here methodologically in Justice Jackson's Medina v. Planned Parenthood dissent. You can see it in one footnote. In short, Jackson is emphasizing that Black Americans are part of the original "public" about which "originalists" should be concerned.

amazing q&a with paul krugman

"The NHGRI Communications Office, and with it the History of Genomics Program, was completely disbanded on April 2nd. My contractual position was finally terminated on April 28th." The first piece in our series "The Losses"

The Losses: The History of Genomics Program

The archive my colleagues and I have built and maintained since 2012 is inaccessible.

contingentmagazine.org

It's the official publication day for the 25th anniversary edition of Cold War Civil Rights!! New preface sets it in the context of the contemporary global Black Lives Matter movement. press.princeton.edu/books/paperb...

Cold War Civil Rights

A Choice Outstanding Academic Title of the YearHow the fight for civil rights in America became an important front in the Cold War

press.princeton.edu

BREAKING: A federal judge in Massachusetts (the Reagan-appointed William Young) has declared the Trump administration's cuts to NIH grants — ostensibly over Trump's EOs on gender ideology and DEI — are "illegal" and "void." He's ordering many grants restored.

Melissa Hortman, who was assassinated last night, was the Speaker of the Minnesota House in the 2023-2024 session, when Democrats ran the state government. That means she had a leading role in shepherding the many landmark reforms that Dems adopted in that period—an important legacy. Brief 🧵.

Exclusive: US Marines carry out first known detention of civilian in Los Angeles, video shows reut.rs/3ZvxVoY

Exclusive: US Marines carry out first known detention of civilian in Los Angeles, video shows

Marines deployed to Los Angeles carried out the detention of a civilian on Friday, the U.S. military confirmed after being presented with Reuters images, in the first known detention by active-duty troops deployed there by President Donald Trump.

reut.rs

Really important story - army officials asked soldiers to identify themselves if they don't agree with Trump's politics that way he'd get only supportive soldiers in uniform during his political rally on base. Heavier soldiers were also barred from participating.

Bragg Soldiers Who Cheered Trump's Political Attacks While in Uniform Were Checked for Allegiance, Appearance

As Trump viciously attacked his perceived political foes, he whipped up boos from the gathered troops directed at California leaders, including Gov. Gavin Newsom.

military.com

Good odds that June 2025 goes down as a fundamental turning point in American civil-military norms longer term (for several reasons).

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last yr.

Trump goads troops at Ft Bragg into booing Biden

OSU requiring “AI fluency” within every major.

Ohio State announces every student will use AI in class

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — Starting this fall, every Ohio State student will be asked to use artificial intelligence. “Through AI Fluency, Ohio State students will be ‘bilingual’ — fluent …

nbc4i.com

Foolish and counterproductive—even on the terms set by the selective austerity hawks. $258 million is a drop in the bucket. Plus, an HIV vaccine would not only save countless lives at home and abroad; it would also make HIV prevention more effective and less costly in the long run.

The New York Times@nytimes.com · last yr.

Breaking News: The Trump administration has dealt a sharp blow to work on HIV vaccines, terminating a $258 million program critical to the research.