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Academic Aunties

@academicaunties.com
1K followers 661 following 77 posts

Podcast about surviving academia, hosted by Dr. Ethel Tungohan (@tungohan.bsky.social). Posts from producing team. Take care, be kind to yourself, and don’t be an asshole. Subscribe at AcademicAunties.com

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Academic Aunties @academicaunties.com · 26/03/2026
New Episode! 👇
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Ethel Tungohan @tungohan.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
In @academicaunties.com this episode, I chat with Dr. Nhung Tran on graduate supervision: why boundaries are important, the gendered expectations we face, the need to form a professional relationship & more. www.academicaunties.com/episodes/goo... #academicsky
academicaunties.com
Good Supervision, Bad Supervision
The most important decision that grad students have to make is who to work with as their supervisor. A common joke in grad school is that graduate stude...
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Academic Aunties @academicaunties.com · 21/03/2026
❤️❤️❤️
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Ethel Tungohan @tungohan.bsky.social · 18/02/2026
On part 2 of "coming home" @academicaunties.com, we talk about the corrosive stereotypes that Indigenous academics face, why we do research for our people instead of prioritizing academic metrics and the importance of mentorship. www.academicaunties.com/episodes/com...
academicaunties.com
Coming Home, Part 2
On part 2 of Coming Home, we continue our conversation with Professors Mariam Georgia and Eisenstein Staats-Pangowish about what it means when our work ...
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Academic Aunties @academicaunties.com · 16/01/2026
A clip from our latest episode on #HeatedRivalry! @tungohan.bsky.social and JP Catungal, both gender + race + sexuality studies profs, dish on homonationalism and race, geopolitics, neurodivergence! Have a listen!
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Academic Aunties @academicaunties.com · 15/01/2026
New episode alert! 🚨
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Ethel Tungohan @tungohan.bsky.social · 30/10/2025
For @academicaunties.com , @aadita.bsky.social & I chat about the difficulties of supporting projects that break academic norms even in interdisciplinary environments. We also talk abt research undertaken outside the academy & why it can be more cutting edge! www.academicaunties.com/episodes/col...
academicaunties.com
Colouring Outside the Lines
Academia likes to put people into a box. The pressure to stay within disciplinary boundaries is strong. For those who reject these disciplinary regimes,...
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Ethel Tungohan @tungohan.bsky.social · 09/10/2025
We just taped an episode of @academicaunties.com about white women + white feminism. (Need to provide the usual disclaimers here that ofc we all have white women friends, not all white women are performative in their allyship etc.) It will be 🔥
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Academic Aunties @academicaunties.com · 02/10/2025
On our latest episode, we take a break from academic seriousness and get into @tungohan.bsky.social 's guilty pleasure: The Summer I Turned Pretty. Listen wherever you get your podcast! www.academicaunties.com/episodes/the...
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Academic Aunties @academicaunties.com · 18/09/2025
NEW EPISODE! @tungohan.bsky.social and Carrianne Leung talk about the energy we bring into the classroom, with students who are coping with realities of fascism, genocide, climate catastrophe, and the uncertainties of AI. Listen on your favourite podcast app: academicaunties.captivate.fm
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Anne Revillard @anne-rev.bsky.social · 12/09/2025
I recently discovered the @academicaunties.com podcast ❤️🔥💪. Many thanks to @tungohan.bsky.social and the production team for their work. I particularly recommend this episode on academic freedom and Palestine - initially aired in Nov, 2023 but sadly still very relevant 😥 pca.st/episode/ce5b...
pca.st
Academic Freedom and Palestine
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Academic Aunties @academicaunties.com · 18/09/2025
Psst…we’re back! Our first episode of season 6 (!) drops tomorrow. @tungohan.bsky.social speaks to Dr. Carrieanne Leung about the energy we bring as the school year returns, and carving a space for joy amidst the dark times we find ourselves in.
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Academic Aunties @academicaunties.com · 13/07/2025
We had the honour of speaking with Sheila back in 2022, who reminded us that being a scientist means taking sides. She never stopped fighting for what was right. We will miss you 💔 www.thestar.com/news/gta/she...
thestar.com
‘Sheila just went for it’: York University scientist Sheila Colla remembered as a fierce advocate to save wild bees
Colla, 43, died Sunday of cancer. She successfully fought for the rusty-patched bumblebee to become the first bee listed as an endangered species in Canada and the U.S.
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Ethel Tungohan @tungohan.bsky.social · 14/05/2025
Can't believe we're done with @academicaunties.com this season! Elisha Lim & I talk about why relationship building is crucial when organizing, the culture shock we faced when entering academia & the generative possibilities of using AI as activists! www.academicaunties.com/episodes/org... /1
academicaunties.com
Organizing, Mobilizing…and AI
Season finale! The past year, we’ve talked a lot about just how much we’ve had to fight for the university. From authoritarian leaders who wish to s...
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Eileen Clancy 🧿 @clancyny.bsky.social · 11/05/2025
Rümeysa Öztürk spoke briefly at a press conference held when she arrived at Logan Airport tonight. "My dear professor and lab mates are here today. I just want to highlight that. ... My advisor sent my dissertation proposal to the prison. My lab mates have been reading me books on the phone."
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ACLU @aclu.org · 10/05/2025
Today, our client Rümeysa Öztürk was released on bail from ICE detention in Louisiana, and she will return to New England to continue her studies. 📸 Giancarlo D’Agostaro
Two woman walking and embracing each other in front of an ICE detention center. The woman on the left is wearing a black dress and heels. The woman on the right is smiling and wearing a white hijab, glasses, and a pink garment. Members of the press are in the background.Two women standing, smiling, and embracing each other with grass, water, and the sky in the background. The woman on the left is wearing a white hijab, glasses, and a pink garment. The woman on the right is wearing a black dress.Two woman stand next to each other and hold onto one another. The woman on the left is wearing a black dress. The woman on the right is smiling and wearing a white hijab, glasses, and a pink garment. In the background is the fence of an ICE detention center.
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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
UPDATE: Judge Sessions just entered a written order reaffirming his earlier order that Ozturk be immediately released without travel restrictions. Order implies that, as of 4:50 p.m. ET, Ozturk had not yet been released.
The Court held a telephonic conference with counsel for
Petitioner and counsel for Respondent at 4:50pm. The Court
reaffirmed its ruling made at the bail hearing earlier on
5/9/25. In light of the Court's finding of no risk of flight and
no danger to the community, Petitioner is to be released from
2:25-cv-00374-wks Document 131 Filed 05/09/25 Page 2 of 2
ICE custody immediately on her own recognizance, without any
form of Body-Worn GPS or other ICE monitoring at this time.
Petitioner is not subject to any travel restrictions.
Respondent's counsel shall submit proposed conditions of release
after conferring with ICE no later than 5/12/2025.
DATED at Burlington, in the District of Vermont, this 9th
day of May 2025.
/s/ William K. Sessions III
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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 09/05/2025
Johnson talks about how well she knows Ozturk. Office down the hall, social events, text messages, etc. She communicates w/ her frequently. On screen, Ozturk coughs.
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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 27/04/2025
University leaders need to understand: they are holding INCREDIBLY good cards. It is so rare in today's polarized era to have the support of 70+ percent of the public against the Trump admiministration on anything. Universities have that—AND winning legal arguments.
Graphic of Washington Post poll from April 18-22, 2025, showing "Majorities of Americans oppose various Trump proposals"

highlighting two lines in particular:
"Increasing the Federal Government's role in how private universities operate" - 28 percent support, 70 percent oppose
"Reducing federal funding for medical research" - 21 percent support, 77 percent oppose
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Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 21/04/2025
The conservative movement has turned against reality on every scientific issue of our time, from gun violence to climate change to epidemiology. If campuses are ideologically homogenous, it's not because academia has ostracized conservatives. It's because conservatives have ostracized academia.
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Anna Bower @annabower.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
NEW: A coalition of students from more than 15 law schools across the country have signed a pledge not to work for any firm that “gives in to Trump administration demands…” Signatories include students from Harvard, Georgetown, University of Chicago, UT-Austin… docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
docs.google.com
Law Student Firm Pledge
This pledge is being organized by law students collaborating across several law schools to counter the lawlessness of the Trump administration and major firms' cowardice in responding. We are the fut...
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Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
Wow—15 international students at the University of Central Florida have had their visas revoked as a result of the school's signed partnership with ICE. One was detained. Literally handed over to immigration cops by their own university. Despicable.
wesh.com
Visas terminated for 15 UCF students
"We reach out to relay that information to the student and advise they leave the country."
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Arctic Velocipedist @arcticvelocipedist.bsky.social · 24/04/2025
They is why we can’t fund government by donation. It make us a slave to the wealthy.
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David Noll @david.noll.org · 24/04/2025
jeez this is bleak www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...
wsj.com
Fearing Trump’s Visa Crackdown, College Students Race to Scrub Op-Eds
Campus newspapers confront ethics debates as foreign students ask that their names and views be removed from past articles.
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Megan Zahneis @mzahneis.bsky.social · 19/04/2025
Here's a copy of an NSF grant termination notice that went out today. "NSF is issuing this termination to protect the interests of the government pursuant...on the basis that they no longer effectuate the program goals or agency priorities." Not subject to appeal. #HigherEd #AcademicSky
Text of email: Dear [redacted],

The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) has undertaken a review of its award portfolio. Each award was carefully and individually reviewed, and the agency has determined that termination of certain awards is necessary because they are not in alignment with current NSF priorities. Effective immediately, the following are terminated: [redacted]

NSF is issuing this termination to protect the interests of the government pursuant to NSF Grant General Conditions (GC-1) term and condition entitled Termination and Enforcement; on the basis that they no longer effectuate the program goals or agency priorities. This is the final agency decision and not subject to appeal. Costs incurred as a result of this termination may be reimbursed, provided such costs would otherwise be allowable under the terms of the award and the governing cost principles. In accordance with your award terms and conditions, you have 30 days from the termination date to furnish a summary of progress under the award and an itemized accounting of allowable costs incurred prior to the termination date. 

Sincerely, [redacted] Division Director 
Office of Budget Finance and Award Management (BFA) 
Division of Grants and Agreements (DGA)
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Gale Anne Hurd @galeannehurd.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Lest we forget…what is past is indeed prologue. theconversation.com/universities...
theconversation.com
Universities in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union thought giving in to government demands would save their independence
Before the Nazis, German universities were among the best in the world. Step by step, the universities gave up their independence until they were instruments of the state.
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ACLU @aclu.org · 11/04/2025
BREAKING: An immigration court determined our client Mahmoud Khalil to be removable from the U.S. based solely on his political speech. The fight isn't over — we'll keep fighting for Mahmoud's freedom and all of our First Amendment rights in federal court.
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Climate Psychology Alliance of North America @climatena.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
This is terrible news. For Mahmoud Khalil and for all of us.
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Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley @pressley.house.gov · 04/04/2025
🚨UPDATE: Rümeysa Öztürk has now suffered three separate asthma attacks while in DHS custody. She has not received her required asthma medications—a violation of her fundamental right to medical care. This is cruelty, it is neglect, and it is a damning moral and legal failure.
Pressley, Warren, Markey Sound Alarm on Rümeysa Öztürk’s Medical Neglect, Renew Urgent Calls for Her Release (1/2):

“It is unconscionable that Rümeysa Öztürk—a young woman pursuing her education, exercising her First Amendment rights, and contributing to her community—remains detained by DHS. Her ongoing incarceration is not only a blatant violation of her constitutional rights to due process and free speech, but it is now an egregious denial of her fundamental right to medical care. Pressley, Warren, Markey Sound Alarm on Rümeysa Öztürk’s Medical Neglect, Renew Urgent Calls for Her Release (2/2):

“According to her lawyer, Rümeysa has not received her required asthma medications and has now suffered three separate asthma attacks while in custody. This is cruelty, it is neglect, and it is a damning moral and legal failure.

“As her representatives in Congress, we demand DHS immediately provide Rümeysa with access to the health care she needs, and absent compelling evidence justifying her detention and the revocation of her status, we call for Ozturk’s release and the restoration of her visa. Every minute she remains in custody is another minute her health and rights are at risk, and DHS must move with urgency.”
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Iron Spike @ironspike.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
Consequences? For MY actions???? etc. etc.
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John Washington @jwashing.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
🚨 Scoop: At least 8 students at Arizona State University have had their student visas revoked in recent days. Meanwhile University of Arizona advises international students to carry copies of passports/visas at all times. azluminaria.org/2025/04/02/e...
azluminaria.org
Eight international students at ASU have had their visas revoked - AZ Luminaria
Eight international students at Arizona State University have had their visas revoked amid the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts and a crackdown on students expressing their political views. An ASU spokesperson confirmed Wednesday in an email to Arizona Luminaria that the students’ visas were revoked recently — in the first two days of April and […]
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Mai El-Sadany @maitelsadany.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
As universities increasingly make decisions that make their students less safe and that compromise academic freedom, I hope their alumni remember that they can do something about it -- through their voices, their actions, and their wallets.
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Alanna Vagianos @alannavagianos.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
NEW: The Trump administration pulled funding for research to protect pregnant women from domestic violence, citing it as a “DEI” initiative.
huffpost.com
Trump Admin Pulls Research Funding To Protect Pregnant Women From Domestic Violence
Homicide by an abusive partner is the leading cause of death for pregnant women in the U.S. – and researchers are gutted by the sudden cuts.
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irina cerić @irinaceric.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Pleasantly surprised that CBC’s Front Burner podcast ran this uncompromising and principled interview with @illdottore.bsky.social about the situation at Columbia and beyond www.cbc.ca/radio/frontb...
cbc.ca
'Professors are the enemy': Trump's war on higher education. | CBC Radio
A dispatch from Columbia University, ground zero for the Trump administration's war on higher education. Following a year of pro-Palestinian protest, America’s ‘Activist Ivy’ finds itself in the cross...
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Academic Aunties @academicaunties.com · 26/03/2025
We’re still working on this week’s episode so stay tuned. We talk about WTF is happening in the US and the attacks on academics from all fronts.
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Ashton Pittman @ashtonpittman.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
They keep kidnapping LEGAL RESIDENTS and throwing them in ICE prisons in Louisiana because they believe they'll get more favorable decisions for Trump under the 5th Circuit's jurisdiction (which has mostly Republican appointed judges).
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Academic Aunties @academicaunties.com · 21/03/2025
“A lot of what’s hitting the elite schools now echoes a blueprint set out by red states.“
politico.com
Universities are caving to Trump with a stunning speed and scope
Some of the nation’s oldest and wealthiest institutions are swiftly bending to President Donald Trump, who is acting on longstanding conservative criticisms of universities as elitist and progressive.
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Sanho Tree @sanho.bsky.social · 19/03/2025
Please boycott my country and tell US airlines that you won’t waste money on a ticket to nowhere. Make the airlines lobby the administration to end this fascist madness. They will scream loudly when their lucrative international revenue dries up.
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Ethel Tungohan @tungohan.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
Grifters who rebranded themselves as DEI experts despite having zero research on race, gender & "diversity" politics when there was tons of DEI funding are now rebranding again to pivot away from DEI. I think now we'll really see who's really with us & who are just performative allies. #feministskya
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Ethel Tungohan @tungohan.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
With the backlash to DEI, Angie Beeman& I talk about the difference between performative DEI & one that centres an analysis of race. We also talk about targeted racial harassment, liberal white supremacy and the importance of accomplices. www.academicaunties.com/episodes/dei... #feministsky
academicaunties.com
DEI in Academia
There is a backlash to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. All around us, we see the dismantlement of various DEI initiatives including in academia. Instit...
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Asheesh Kapur Siddique @asheeshks.org · 12/03/2025
Wouldn’t be surprised if they start detaining more academics. This is part of Trump’s plan to destroy higher ed. As the Khalil case shows being in a blue state is no protection. University administrators are not prepared to defend their students, faculty, and staff, & some will be actively complicit
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Adriana Guatame-García @adriguatame.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
A friend included this anti-acknowledgement section on her PhD thesis. She also added the proposition: “Systematic bullying and undermining of girls and women in STEM starts early on and is the reason why they do not stay in science and related fields.” Absurd we still need to go through this 🧪👩‍🔬
There have been people less than helpful in my journey here. I wanted to acknowledge those too, bc I know I am not unique in this experience.
No thank you to the physics study assoc that made me sing songs about how women couldn't study physics without sleeping with the professor, the day I stepped into university life. No thank you to the 5th year physics student that decided to assign me a stripper name within the first minute of meeting me in the physics coffee corner in my first year. No thank you to the technician that was responsible for onboarding me on the use of the cluster in my third year who raised his eyebrows and asked me if that meant I was some sort of computer girl. No thank you to the senior researcher that sent me utterly inappropriate texts after a conference, then proceeded to apologise months later by telling me they had not been meant for me anyway so no hard feelings remain hopefully And no thank you to him for attending every conference I've been to since. No thank you to the people who told me that it was surprising that I was doing a PhD since I was a girl. No thank you to the man who mistook me for a coffee lady at a conference, and after having to correct him two times that I did not work there, responded with you should consider it. No thank you to the researcher that asked me what I was wearing underneath my outfit during a conference. No thank you to the physicist who declared to a room full of other physicists that biologists don't know how to design an experiment. No thank you to the people who have called me scary instead of strong and intimidating instead of intelligent.
And finally, no thank you to the exec board of the TU Delft, whose knee-jerk reaction to being held up a mirror about the social safety at the university, was to sue the party holding up the mirror instead of looking at the problems they highlighted.
... You have made me feel like I do not belong in science & I cannot forgive you for that.
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
The details are disturbing. It basically looks like a kidnapping. They even got his legal status wrong but proceeded to detain him anyway. The agents didn’t even identify themselves at first and refused to show a warrant. His wife is 8 months pregnant
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Yan Matusevich @ymatusik.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
Just got an email from the Fulbright Association. As of right now, funding has been cut off to 12,500 US citizens currently abroad and and more than 7,400 foreigner scholars and students in the United States
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Katrine Beauregard @katrinebeau.bsky.social · 04/03/2025
Finally catching up on the latest podcast and it's scary how the situation at York is similar to what is going on at ANU, including the involvement of Nous consulting group
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Academic Aunties @academicaunties.com · 03/03/2025
Latest from the newsletter! Read about how management consultants are influencing universities in really problematic ways. #AcademicSky
newsletter.academicaunties.com
Nous: Academic Management Consultant Grifters?
Whether it is disastrous restructuring at the University of Alberta, massive layoffs and program closures at Laurentian, or suspension of academic admissions to programs like Indigenous Studies and ge...
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