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Hollis Robbins

@anecdotal.bsky.social

2.5K followers 825 following 515 posts

AI is disrupting higher ed: how can we be ahead? Writing at hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com. Former Dean of Humanities & now Special Advisor for Humanities & AI at UUtah. Former Dean @ Sonoma State University. PhD Princeton, MPP Harvard KSG

Posts Replies Media

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Meanwhile at University of Utah... dailyutahchronicle.com/2026/09/21/p...

dailyutahchronicle.com

This campus parking ticket policy delays registration for some students, withholding diplomas and transcripts – The Daily Utah Chronicle

Commuter services says this policy is meant to enforce accountability. Some students say they can't afford it.

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Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Rob Sica @robsica.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

😺"Some people want a kind of boy scouts program to counter 'brain rot' and 'cognitive decline.' Jonathan Haidt’s four proposed norms call for keeping kids away from smartphones and social media, advocating 'more independence, free play, and responsibility in the real world.' Basically boy scouts."

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Relax. Humans are not degenerating.

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

H.G. Wells has had an outsized influence on how people think about evolution, about how technology (like AI) will turn us into helpless, hairless blobs. Humans will be fine. There is no Brain Rot. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/darwin-and...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Relax. Humans are not degenerating.

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

Most student born after 2006 have never held a dictionary in their hands. Never understood the weigh of words and they are There for the using, as tools. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/aristotle-...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Aristotle and AI

Before tokens, words

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

Confused about the story about the OpenAI agent swarms and the Hugging Face incident in the news? Look no further. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/just-one-m...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Just one more thing....

What Columbo might say about the Hugging Face postmortems...

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Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Chris Warren @chriswarren.info · 03/09/2026

4/ Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social likens PRoB to a "revitalizing spa for the mind." pghrev.com/hollis-robbi...

Hollis Robbins on PRoB - Pittsburgh Review of Books

Please support PRoB so that we can continue publishing engaged, incisive, and smart cultural criticism for many years to come.

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

That "big five" personality test was never robust and it is the worst possible instrument for giving AI a personality. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/teaching-t...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Teaching the Ocean to Swim

Why LLMs keep failing their Big Five personality tests

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

There's no envelope when you're chatting with an LLM. There's no presumption of privacy at all. The medium is eating the message. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/the-singul...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

The Singularity is Post-Privacy

The medium eats the message

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

There's no envelope when you're chatting with an LLM. There's no presumption of privacy at all. The medium is eating the message. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/the-singul...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

The Singularity is Post-Privacy

The medium eats the message

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

If you saw that viral Talenti gelato piece you know what I'll be saying about higher education. Quality has declined but nobody notices because of the nice packaging. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/what-if-wi...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

What if Wirecutter Rated Universities?

It might be the end of the shell game

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Those Uncivil people seem nice but their better argument is there's no scholarship in civility. @uncivil-s.bsky.social . Also read @ryanequinn.bsky.social piece today. So good. www.insidehighered.com/news/student...

insidehighered.com

The Heated Discourse About Civil Discourse

Groups advocating for “dialogue across difference” and finding better ways to discuss and disagree about controversial topics are themselves part of a polarized debate.

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Michael Carlson @micarlson.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

@anecdotal.bsky.social that old dilemma of texts & reception

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

If you saw that viral Talenti gelato piece you know what I'll be saying about higher education. Quality has declined but nobody notices because of the nice packaging. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/what-if-wi...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

What if Wirecutter Rated Universities?

It might be the end of the shell game

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Mario Rustan @mariorustan.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Yes, you might have said this in the piece but it's interesting that while in the 1970s computer research was the pride of universities, and to some degrees biotech and robotics are for today's university, but nobody shares excitement in AI research. Also nice footnote on the public phones.

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Colleges & universities are successfully saying 'no' to AI. Whether that's a win or not is up to you. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/universiti...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Universities would prefer not to.

AI and the degree monopoly

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Part 2 -- learning outcomes as a Gordian knot and a Hippocratic miasma. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/the-miasma...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

The Miasma Theory of Education

The knockoff educational product economy (Part 2)

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Why the questions you ask will have more and more similar answers. open.substack.com/pub/hollisro...

open.substack.com

Stereotype Threat

Inference and prejudice

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

This was written in response to a conversation about how hiring more conservative faculty was the most important problem higher ed should address. Ha. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/look-on-my...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Look on my Outcomes, ye Mighty and despair

The knockoff educational product economy (Part 1)

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Part 2 -- learning outcomes as a Gordian knot and a Hippocratic miasma. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/the-miasma...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

The Miasma Theory of Education

The knockoff educational product economy (Part 2)

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

This was written in response to a conversation about how hiring more conservative faculty was the most important problem higher ed should address. Ha. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/look-on-my...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Look on my Outcomes, ye Mighty and despair

The knockoff educational product economy (Part 1)

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Why the questions you ask will have more and more similar answers. open.substack.com/pub/hollisro...

open.substack.com

Stereotype Threat

Inference and prejudice

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

On all the philosophers working to make AI "better." hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/why-cant-a...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Why Can't a Model Be More Like a Man?

Everybody's Alfred P. Doolittle now

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

On all the philosophers working to make AI "better." hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/why-cant-a...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Why Can't a Model Be More Like a Man?

Everybody's Alfred P. Doolittle now

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

I'm tired of politics and so here is cultural politics: hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/how-to-lis...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

How to Listen to a Tarantino Movie

Starting with "Django Unchained"

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Thrilled to see "Notes on Spite" in the @pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social ! pghrev.com/notes-on-spi...

Notes on Spite - Pittsburgh Review of Books

Many things in the world have not been named openly; and many things, even if they are admitted, have never been described. One is the unsung sensibility – a

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

I'm tired of politics and so here is cultural politics: hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/how-to-lis...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

How to Listen to a Tarantino Movie

Starting with "Django Unchained"

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Why to resist posting what everyone else does. open.substack.com/pub/hollisro...

open.substack.com

Amor Fati Entropy

Avoid eternal return

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Thrilled to see "Notes on Spite" in the @pghreviewofbooks.bsky.social ! pghrev.com/notes-on-spi...

Notes on Spite - Pittsburgh Review of Books

Many things in the world have not been named openly; and many things, even if they are admitted, have never been described. One is the unsung sensibility – a

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Why to resist posting what everyone else does. open.substack.com/pub/hollisro...

open.substack.com

Amor Fati Entropy

Avoid eternal return

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

substack.com/home/post/p-...

For Whom the Bell Curves

AI may explode how students are evaluated

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Happy Father's Day review of @read.lukeburgis.com's book about how to be your own person. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/the-one-an...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

*The One and the Ninety-Nine* [review]

Luke Burgis's moving new book

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Are there really Marxists in higher ed? If there were, there would be more attention to students outside the elite schools. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/from-the-a...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

From the Athens of Veracruz to ChatGPT

Norma Sancho on the emptiness of online education

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Are there really Marxists in higher ed? If there were, there would be more attention to students outside the elite schools. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/from-the-a...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

From the Athens of Veracruz to ChatGPT

Norma Sancho on the emptiness of online education

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Perhaps in a few years you too could leave the rat race and start a farm on Mars. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/trad-husba...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Trad-husband jobs on Mars

Thoughts on Banff and Brigadoon

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Perhaps in a few years you too could leave the rat race and start a farm on Mars. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/trad-husba...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Trad-husband jobs on Mars

Thoughts on Banff and Brigadoon

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

My Father’s Daughter @aninsggirb.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

“…the only defensible reason for universities to remain in operation is to offer students an opportunity to learn from faculty whose expertise surpasses current AI.” - @anecdotal.bsky.social www.newyorker.com/news/fault-l...

Why the Future of College Could Look Like OnlyFans

Universities have become generic, one professor and former dean argues. In the A.I. era, students may demand something they can’t get elsewhere.

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Everyone hates them so why? open.substack.com/pub/hollisro...

open.substack.com

Discuss Among Yourselves

Federally subsidized "comments" degrees

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

Everyone hates them so why? open.substack.com/pub/hollisro...

open.substack.com

Discuss Among Yourselves

Federally subsidized "comments" degrees

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

I know this site isn't for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs but if there are any here, have at it. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/how-to-mak...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

How to make a mint off the coming higher ed contraction

Exploit the trust failure now

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

I know this site isn't for Silicon Valley entrepreneurs but if there are any here, have at it. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/how-to-mak...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

How to make a mint off the coming higher ed contraction

Exploit the trust failure now

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 17/05/2026

Incredible how this is happening even at Chicago. You’re not supposed to care who is teaching you. This is how institutions make themselves vulnerable to AI disruption. If it doesn’t matter who is teaching you, why not AI? chicagomaroon.com/52530/news/s...

chicagomaroon.com

Sosc and Civ Professors’ Names Will No Longer Be Visible During Pre-Registration

The new Core writing course Inquiry, Conversation, Argument—which will be taken by approximately half of first-years in the 2026–27 school year—will also become a prerequisite for social science Core ...

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

Millions of college degrees rest on coursework in fields that cannot vouch for what they teach, delivered through a billion-dollar credentialing infrastructure that certifies competencies the assignments inside it do not require. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/college-cr...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

College credit for this?

What that Oklahoma Bible-citing essay controversy was really about

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Peter Levine @peterlevine.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

is Black Studies Civic Studies? peterlevine.ws?p=35627 (replying to @anecdotal.bsky.social)

is Black Studies Civic Studies? | Peter Levine

Hollis Robbins has a great article about the relationship between Black Studies and Civic Studies or Civic Thought programs. This is a timely question, since Civic Thought initiatives are growing rapi...

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 12/05/2026

So delighted to talk with Jay Caspian Kang at The New Yorker about AI exploiting the existing weaknesses in higher ed. Either way it is going to be hard going ahead unless you're an expert, which you should be. www.newyorker.com/news/fault-l...

Why the Future of College Could Look Like OnlyFans

Universities have become generic, one professor and former dean argues. In the A.I. era, students may demand something they can’t get elsewhere.

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Handy guide for faculty: hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/how-to-lim...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

How to limit unauthorized AI use in the classroom

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

Handy guide for faculty: hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/how-to-lim...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

How to limit unauthorized AI use in the classroom

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

The 250th anniversary is organized around the management of an autobiographical national self that seems unable to hold the achievements and the atrocities together without splitting. hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/red-white-...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Red, White, and Psychedelic

The therapy the American family needs right now

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Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

A long read on why you are not allowed to have individuality in your "course design" hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/why-samene...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

Why sameness, not teaching, is the goal

The Transfer Industrial Complex

Reposted by Hollis Robbins

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

On redundancy in higher education hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/my-ai-thin...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

My AI thinks Civics is Black Studies

Is there really a civics-sized hole in university curricula?

Hollis Robbins @anecdotal.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

On redundancy in higher education hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/my-ai-thin...

hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com

My AI thinks Civics is Black Studies

Is there really a civics-sized hole in university curricula?