Seth Kimmel

The universe in a book The notion of the universe as a book, an ancient trope that Ernst Robert Curtius traced in European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages (1948), works in

😲 @thetls.bsky.social www.the-tls.co.uk/history/earl...

Thanks for this great review, Víctor!

In defense of our institutional independence This University is a proud public university that belongs to all of us and generations to follow. It is a place to test ideas, shape futures and pursue, not prescribe, truth.

University of Michigan Regents come out squarely and publicly in defense of academic freedom against political coercion and the role of higher education and research in making America prosperous, secure ... and well ... maybe even Great? www.michigandaily.com/opinion/op-e...

Why Universities Must Start Litigating—and How The litigation would afford schools a high-profile venue in which to detail the Trump administration’s lawlessness and aggression.

“To protect both themselves and the entire educational system, then, university leaders should commit, collectively and immediately, to challenge unlawful demands that threaten academic freedom and university self-governance” @thenation.com

www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Nominating “viewpoint diversity” as the euphemism of the year so far.

The DOGE Axe Comes for Libraries and Museums The Institute of Museum and Library Services has long received bipartisan support. But after years of trying, President Donald Trump has delivered it a crushing blow.

The Trump administration, with Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has gutted a small federal agency that provides funding to libraries and museums nationwide.

This threatens student field trips, classes for seniors, and access to digital library services.

“There are other people who urge, ‘Well, are there other ways that you can accommodate the government in some way, or bend to the government’s policy preferences in order to restore funding?’ I think that’s the wrong way, at least, for an academic institution, to be thinking…”

In Bloomberg interview, Eisgruber signals that Princeton will not make concessions University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 signaled that Princeton would not make concessions to the federal government after news broke that the Trump administration had suspended dozens of the U...

www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2025...

Gonna bring this energy back to NYC.

Madre mía, la cola en la heladería del barrio el sábado de la tarde, a la hora de la merienda.

I know I'm late to the game but I've pulled together some reading recommendations for anyone who might be interested in learning more about Spanish as a language of the United States in the wake of the EO three weeks ago effectively saying that it isn't one. wp.nyu.edu/sjpearce/202...

Meanwhile in Seville it’s currently possible to purchase an empanadilla de torrija.

FACULTY UNIONS SUE TRUMP ADMIN: NO HALTING SCIENCE RESEARCH TO SUPPRESS SPEECH NEW YORK– The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the AFT today sued the Trump administration on behalf of their members for unlawfully cutting off $400 million in federal funding...

@aaup.bsky.social and @aftunion.bsky.social sue over government “using cuts as a cudgel to coerce a private institution.” www.aft.org/press-releas...

Sky line, plane line, grass line, worm line

TODAY @ NOON ET in NYC:

COLUMBIA PROFESSORS TO HOLD EMERGENCY VIGIL AGAINST ADMIN CONCESSIONS TO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION.

Columbia gates at 116th & Amsterdam Ave (Not Broadway)

• Hands Off Our Students, Faculty, & Research

• Defend Science

• Defend Academic Freedom

• Defend Freedom of Speech

Opinion | Universities Gave Us the iPhone, the Jet Engine and Gatorade. We’re Tossing That Away. The postwar compact on research that powered America’s economic and military dominance is under threat.

Former Provost of Columbia unhappy with capitulation. Former President of Columbia has been quoted along similar lines. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/o...

Columbia Concedes to Trump’s Demands After Federal Funds Are Stripped The administration has moved to cut $400 million in federal funding to the university without changes to its policies and rules.

Columbia University has failed to defend academic freedom & freedom of speech & allowed a great institution to be bullied & extorted into submission by an administration hellbent on contorting higher education to their will.

The AAUP condemns this capitulation. We can & must fight back.

The shame of Columbia University In surrendering to Trump, it's opening all universities to Trump's tyranny

The Shame of Columbia: violating academic freedom

“Not even during the communist witch hunts of the early 1950s did a university agree to put an entire academic department under special oversight because of what its faculty researched or taught.”
open.substack.com/pub/robertre...

Why Hasn’t Columbia U. Sued to Protect Itself? Legal scholars say the university would have a strong case to make if it wanted to use the courts to fight for its funding to be restored.

I have the same question.

www.chronicle.com/article/why-...

A Statement from Constitutional Law Scholars on Columbia | Eugene Volokh, Michael C. Dorf, David Cole We write as constitutional scholars—some liberal and some conservative—who seek to defend academic freedom and the First Amendment in the wake of the

In which constitutional law scholars make me fear for other recipients of federal aid besides universities: “K-12 schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and business and agricultural initiatives.” @nybooks.com www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...

Words have histories.

The Cost of the Government’s Attack on Columbia American universities have given the country prosperity and security. The Trump administration’s attack on academic freedom endangers all of that.

The president of Princeton defending Columbia and American higher education in @theatlantic.com.

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Window display at La Despensa de Palacio advertising semana santa pastries, sold in boxes that celebrate the Virgin de la Macarena.

“Tortas de la pasión” in the windows:

Would love to hear university presidents use some of this language. How about Columbia hosts a summit for the presidents of those 60 universities on the government’s list?

Columbia University Must Choose Between Courage and Cowardice Appeasing Trump won’t work — and there’s still time to take a stand.

Better late than never, choose courage:
nymag.com/intelligence...

Covers of four novels: Cosas vivas by Munir Hachemi, El invierno de los jilgueros by Mohamed El Morabet, Supersaurio by Meryem El Mehdati, and Nadie salva a las rosas by Youssef El Maimouni.

Been reading these. Suggestions for what to read next?

Sharing letter w/4 Columbia colleagues @pagefortna.bsky.social @vickymurillo.bsky.social Allison Carnegie & Turku Isiksel in which we speak only for ourselves, imagining how we would respond to the govt. This is *not* an official university statement. Grateful to @dandrezner.bsky.social for posting.

La detención de estudiantes y activistas propalestinos siembra el miedo en la Universidad de Columbia Después del arresto de Mahmoud Khalil, recién graduado y uno de líderes de las protestas por la guerra de Gaza en el campus, al menos una estudiante ha sido detenida y otra ha aceptado marcharse del p...

My colleague Patricia Dailey cited at length about what’s happening at Columbia:

www.eldiario.es/internaciona...

As an American Jew, I Feel Completely Reassured for My Safety Now That Trump Has Targeted the Epicenter of American Antisemitism, Columbia University “The Trump administration said Friday that it’s pulling $400 million from Columbia University, canceling grants and contracts because of what the g...

The rugelach probably won’t be as good in Greenland, @mcsweeneys.net:

www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/as-...