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Ben Chappell

@benchappell.bsky.social
1.9K followers 6.8K following 958 posts

Antifascist. Interdisciplinary ethnographer. Critical * studies. Midwesterner. Union grievance officer. Loves mass transit and espresso. Hates structural violence and oligarchy.

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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 18h
Our baby union is deep into the grievance process. The student press has been proactive in covering all of our efforts.
instagram.com
University Daily Kansan on Instagram: "United Academics at KU filed a grievance with the University of Kansas administration for cutting a lecturer’s position from full-time to part-time. Emilee Kern ...
93 likes, 0 comments - universitydailykansan on September 30, 2026: "United Academics at KU filed a grievance with the University of Kansas administration for cutting a lecturer’s position from full-t...
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Pro tip- find a companion who will be there when you're having a lovely time, and take a photo. Thanks @msophiej.bsky.social
a man with a bald head and prominent glasses, in a blue button shirt, smiles and sits in an airy restaurant dining room, with floor-to-ceiling windows facing green space.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Read @karmachavez.bsky.social on "The Myth of the Academic Social Contract."
journals.sagepub.com
Sage Journals: Discover world-class research
Subscription and open access journals from Sage, the world's leading independent academic publisher.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
I volunteer as the control group if anybody wants to study whether Meta Muse makes life better
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The difference between this and dead internet slop is real, recognizable, and essential.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Good take. One detail I can't quite wrap my head around- Harvard offers every student and faculty member $2500 a month in tokens??
thecrimson.com
Artificial Education | The Harvard Crimson
Machine conversation is not free. It comes at the cost of our common life together as teachers, learners, and researchers, colleagues, mentors, and friends.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
new keyword of the year: intellectual atrophy
forbes.com
Why Intellectual Atrophy Is The Real Reason To Fear AI
For all the worrying about how artificial intelligence may lead to job losses, we may be fearing the wrong thing.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
The frozen water gang has been wreaking havoc in southwest Kansas, and have finally gotten the attention of the business interests that depend on Latine labor. It's a very soft expression of concern but a massive break with conventional silence.
kla.org
Media Statement from the Kansas Livestock Association, Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association and Texas Cattle Feeders Association Regarding the Ongoing ICE Operations in Oklahoma, Kansas, and Texas
(TOPEKA) — The Kansas Livestock Association, Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association and Texas Cattle Feeders Association are closely monitoring reported U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activi...
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
People literally out here just saying anything
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
One tenured professor who is a Koch Chair of Free Enterprise, making $300,000. Four lecturers, each making $50,000. The average salary of this group is $100,000. Please keep this hypothetical but plausible situation in mind when hearing things about higher ed.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Lepa Radić, Yugoslav partisan fighter, tortured for three days and put to the gallows by Nazis at age 17. They told her she could save her life by naming names. "My comrades will reveal themselves when they avenge me."
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Hasan Piker would not be controversial in a functioning democracy.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
September is my nation-envy season. I wish we had songs like this. I wish we had the history to back them up. youtu.be/bhfalJWnVUk
youtu.be
Corrido de la Independencia
YouTube video by Cía. Infantil de Televicentro de Armando Torres - Topic
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
I still have to do the nine clicks to get around the paywall, but this is a very promising title. www.chronicle.com/article/harv...
chronicle.com
Opinion | The Ivy League’s Surrender to AI Is Insane
When college leaders drink the corporate Kool-Aid, the liberal arts die.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
A corduroy jacket that I wore in grad school has been waiting in the closet for me to fit into it again, but today it went to the vintage clothing store. So there's that.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
"La historia es nuestra y la hacen los pueblos." Salvador Allende, 11 Sep 1973.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Pull the plug. The AI race that is reportedly tilting towards killing us all is entirely optional.
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Reposted by Ben Chappell
Jay Troyer @gr8flbluejay.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Criselda Vasquez, American, The New American Gothic, 2017, oil on canvas, 72 x 48 in, private collection The artist's father, portrayed in the painting, was kidnapped by ICE on 31 March 2026
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
The Critical University Studies Seminar is off and running at the Hall Center for the Humanities, University of Kansas!
13 people gather smiling before a projected sign announcing Critical University Studies Seminar opening discussion, Sep. 3, 2026.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
The band names on this bill have a rhythm that tickles my brain.
A graphic image of a cassette tape accompanies the text "Replay Lounge presents: Flower Gun, Figure Model, Small Uncle, Notebook. August 27th 6pm-9pm/All ages."
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
KC Tenants Union won a rent strike in Kansas City, in case you need good news. They are leading the way.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Grieving for Dolly Parton goes on and now it's Fred Hampton's birthday. We have to hold onto the memory of those who brought people together in unforeseen ways.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
30 years since I started grad school, first cracked open a page of Marx, and thought what have I gotten Iinto
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Reposted by Ben Chappell
Bryan 🌐 🇺🇦 Slava Ukraine personal opinions only @papootx.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Letter To Kids From Dolly Parton Imagination Library Dear Imagination Library Graduate. My, how time flies. It seems it was only yesterday when your family and friends read you your first story. You were iust a baby. Now you're five years old and about to go to school. How exciting
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
We will always love you #Dolly
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
"Let them eat ramen" when people already do...
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Voting early, Kansas don't forget to say No meant No.
A man in glasses wears a sticker reading "My vote honors Kenneth Graeber, A vet," and holds a small paper zine titled "DSA Guide to the August 4th election in Lawrence, KS #LFKDSA
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Starting on a long journey home, hope I haven't angered any gods
A deep yellow moon rises over the red roofs of a historic European town, alongside the bank of a river where two ships are docked
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Could we find a way to put some daylight between the worst person in the world and the richest person in the world? Maybe something with distribution?
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
With a lot of world cup visitors in the states this summer, the timeless topic of American "portion sizes" came up again. I agree that it's a real contrast
A hand holds a bottle of Bavarian helles beer, half-liter size.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 26/07/2026
I like it. This post is zuzai.
zuzai.org
Zuzai, a new word, indicates the absence of AI
About the word zuzai, coined to denote things made or done without artificial intelligence.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
The American people are concerned
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 22/07/2026
An outrageous anti-intellectual attack, in which a president who holds unearned tenure vetoes the achievement of a scholar on what can only be ideological grounds. This institution was so important in my own formation but now, actions like this negate its legitimacy.
expressnews.com
UT border surveillance scholar was a shoo-in for tenure. UT denied him.
American Studies scholar Iván Chaar López fears UT’s unexplained tenure denial violated his academic freedom amid scrutiny of controversial fields.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 19/07/2026
Photo by Marike, Szentendre, Hungary
A narrow path of grey cobblestone leads down a tight alley between two white, stucco walls. Well down the path a figure wearing a black backpack steps forward towards daylight.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Centrist panic is because Mamdani is sitting there in office saying we can have nice things while the likes of Brooks and Chait have built lucrative careers and unearned prominence on saying we can't.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
Really exciting in form and content
airesistlist.org
The AI Resist List
A living directory of ways communities resist AI harms—and build alternatives worth fighting for.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
The smiling angel
Light streams into a Gothic cathedral, falling on a statue of a smiling woman holding a banner that reads Ave Maria
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 09/07/2026
greatness excellence exceptionalitude amazingation 110-percentanity
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Something about being near moving water
Trees and buildings on a river shore, glimpsed from beneath an ancient stone bridge
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
holding onto 2-0 must be one of the most difficult feats in team sports.
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Reposted by Ben Chappell
Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 04/07/2026
100 years ago.
The klan marching in front of the US Capitol in 1926
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
DSA LFG
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
This all day
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 15/06/2026
Everyday colors
Blue sky glimpsed between red, yellow, green and orange buildings
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Reposted by Ben Chappell
Leibniz ScienceCampus Europe and America - Regensburg @europeamerica.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
📯Join us! The roundtable brings together Marie Beyrich (Regensburg), Ulf Brunnbauer (Regensburg), Marike Janzen (Kansas), Livia de Souza Lima (Regensburg), and Marta Vicente (Kansas). Chaired by Ben Chappell (Kansas).We are delighted that UR's strategic partner, KU, is represented so well!
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Academic freedom panel in Regensburg this week.
Poster for a roundtable discussion: "The (In)Dependence of Knowedge? Academic Freedom Today, part of the conference In(ter) dependence: Transitions of Power, Frictions of Freedon, 17-19 June 2026. Leibniz ScienceCampus, Regensburg, Germany.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 14/06/2026
Australia is the unofficial football world champion
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 13/06/2026
I hope everyone is ready for the Unofficial Football World Championship match tonight, when Turkey defends against Australia in that other tournament.
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Ben Chappell @benchappell.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
When the Germanist in the family brings home a postcard from the archive- Benjamin's note from 1940 that maybe revolution isn't the locomotive of history, but when the people try to pull a handbrake.
A postcard of a handwritten archival note in German. Walter Benjamin: "Marx says that revolutions are the locomotive of world history. But perhaps it is quite otherwise. Perhaps revolutions are an attempt by the passengers on this train – namely, the human race – to activate the emergency brake."
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