iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

"We never imagined [the Kalven Report] would be adopted by other institutions." Lots of insights (and opinions) here on free speech and academic freedom, especially with respect to college faculty, at this new Forum for Free Inquiry and Expression event at UChicago. news.uchicago.edu/story/uchica...

news.uchicago.edu

UChicago convenes leaders from across country to explore free expression, academic freedom

Participants at Academic Freedom Institute debate ideas and share experiences from their campuses

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Evergreen insight: “We realized that the obstacle to these fixes is not always resources. It’s faculty culture and the absence of structured opportunities to surface and work through disagreement… and that requires a sustained investment in faculty development that most programs have yet to make.”

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

About the CEO exclusion: How are small business owners accounted for here—tradesmen, for example. Would an independent plumber (LLC) be excluded?

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

💃"Let's. Do. The Time. Warp. Again!!!"💃🍞👄 @nytimes.com 2001 --> @chronicle.com 2026

New York Times Op-ed by Richard Chait and Cathy Trower titled, "Professors at the Color Line," dated September 11, 2001, with a red marker circling the block quote that reads: "Student bodies are more diverse. The faculty is not."

A screenshot of the Chronicle of Higher Ed article, "College Faculty Remain Mostly White as Student Bodies Diversify," by Jacquelyn Elias, dated June 3, 2026, with the title circled in red marker.

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 08/05/2026

Best film adaption of The Odyssey, wrong answers only.

Waterworld, starring Kevin Costner. Because of the runaway costs of the production, some critics dubbed it "Fishtar" and "Kevin's Gate", alluding to the flops Ishtar and Heaven's Gate.

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Early childhood graduates?! What kind of prodigies are they raising there in Wisconsin?!

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

Education!!! Also, my Latin and Greek professors are so disappointed in me for having to look up “Thanatology”.

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 01/05/2026

Another quality use of metaphor in explaining the illogics for Alito’s opinion eviscerating the Voting Rights Act.

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

Oh sorry, I meant 4/23 (“TBA”), maybe on diversity and schools?

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

From the brilliant @alvintilleryjr.bsky.social, the analogy we’ve been looking for Alito’s argument re: Louisiana v. Callais. “like arguing that a homeowner must tear down their fence because the fence discriminates against a burglar’s right of access.“ open.substack.com/pub/alvintil...

For Alito to now suggest — with apparent sincerity — that Section 2 must be neutered to protect the rights of white voters in Louisiana from a remedial Black majority district is like arguing that a homeowner must tear down their fence because the fence discriminates against a burglar’s right of access. The analogy would be laughable if its real-world consequences were not so monstrous.

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Thanks for sharing (and teaching) this. Who was your guest speaker last week? On diversity‘s benefits, esp. in higher ed, might I recommend Daryl G. Smith‘s ”Diversity’s Promise” (2024), now in its 4th edition? Great in print and in person.

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Boards are stewards of tangible assets (eg endowments) AND intangible ones (eg reputation). The two are bound: no solvent institution = no mission fulfilled. When they truly conflict, mission governs. That’s why boards can *lawfully* wind down institutions that can’t serve theirs.

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Is a university board’s duty to protect the institution or its mission? Per AGB, it’s the mission. The “duty of obedience” requires boards ensure their institution operates to further its stated purposes—and to amend the mission itself when necessary. Mission is the North Star. 1/2

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

In lieu of building your own tables w/IPEDS data @ NCES, you can play with the public Tableau datavizzes at @aaup.org, which are derived from the same source and a little more intuitive: public.tableau.com/app/profile/...

public.tableau.com

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

I think the first breakdown should be by control, i.e. isolating for-profit entities. When I personally looked at these figures ~5 years ago, I found that the *numbers* of tenured and tenure-track faculty had increased over time, but their *proportion* had fallen relative to NTT “VITAL” faculty.

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 20/04/2026

I'm looking for Hanover Research's 2023 report, "Higher Education Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Survey." Anybody have it? No longer on their website. "Insights Blog" post disappeared. LinkedIn posts about it deleted. The Internet Archive Wayback Machine: web.archive.org/web/20240812...

hanoverresearch.com

Reports & Briefs Archives

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

An Ivy+ Mellon Leadership Fellows gets Duke’s award for those who reject the false choice between being a great scholar and being a great teacher. #facultyadvancementnetwork

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Another accolade to add to the exemplary career you’re making for yourself, Lauren. Congratulations. I’m sure your dad is there beside you—maybe even trying out that fancy chair.

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · 23/03/2026

Never not shouting that this is DOUBLE wage theft, from the staffer who should be doing the work, and from the reimbursee forced to do it, purely for the purpose of channeling often public university funds into private app developer coffers and it sucks.

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

For the FAN Fellows engaging this year’s Institute on Faculty Voice & Collaborative Leadership, file this under “faculty rights and responsibilities“. #academicfreedom

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Aaron Clauset @aaronclauset.bsky.social · 21/08/2025

This analysis of how ideas spread in the early scientific revolution, from person to person and place to place, lines up so nicely with @alliemorgan.bsky.social's 2018 paper on the diffusion of scientific ideas via modern faculty hiring networks epjdatascience.springeropen.com/articles/10....

epjdatascience.springeropen.com

Prestige drives epistemic inequality in the diffusion of scientific ideas - EPJ Data Science

The spread of ideas in the scientific community is often viewed as a competition, in which good ideas spread further because of greater intrinsic fitness, and publication venue and citation counts cor...

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Woody Guthrie Center @woodyguthriecenter.bsky.social · 19/08/2025

“There is just one way to save yourself, and that’s to get together and work and fight for everybody.” – Woody [Text: Woody quoted in “Woody Guthrie: A Life,” Joe Klein, 1980, Alfred A. Knopf.]

Photo: Woody Guthrie, NYC, 1943. Photograph by Robin Carson.

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Woody Guthrie Center @woodyguthriecenter.bsky.social · 15/08/2025

"All of you workers everywhere, you will see, you will know, who’s on your side, who’s working and fighting for you." – Woody [Text: Quoted in “Woody Guthrie: A Life,” Joe Klein, 1980, Alfred A. Knopf.]

Photo: (Untitled illustration), by Woody Guthrie, NYC, December 1942. © Woody Guthrie Publications, Inc. Courtesy of the Woody Guthrie Archives.

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 12/07/2025

Building a playlist for music to meet the moment, I’ve only just discovered this sweet 2m40s from early in The Mountain Goats’ discography: themountaingoats.bandcamp.com/track/color-... “They came in by the dozens, walking or crawling / Some were bright-eyed, some were dead on their feet…”

themountaingoats.bandcamp.com

Color in Your Cheeks, by the Mountain Goats

from the album All Hail West Texas (Remastered)

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 13/06/2025

This is a high-quality take on trustees in @insidehighered.com, incl. Toor's comparison of boards + profs: "As with faculty development, those who are eager to get better at their jobs attend learning sessions and those who most need training rarely show up." www.insidehighered.com/opinion/view...

insidehighered.com

A Few Words About Trustees (opinion)

Most faculty and staff know very little about the president-trustee relationship, Rachel Toor writes.

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 05/06/2025

Where did you source that table? I’ve done some work on % of TT faculty *at* Ivies w/PhD *from* Ivies and the data could use some triangulating.

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 02/06/2025

"The world disappoints, but the universe never does." - Priyamvada Natarajan, Professor of Astronomy at @yale.edu

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 30/05/2025

That’s a really good point! We’ve been designing a curriculum of communication strategy, crisis leadership, foundational knowledge (tenure, academic freedom, university finances), storytelling… but I think we’re missing an oppty if we don’t engage faculty with these modes/platforms. Thank you!🙏

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

A small start, but I’m curious for your insight: If someone delivered 50 tenured faculty randomly selected from across the Ivies and gave you 2 full days to help them find + use their voice/influence—internally and externally—how would you do it? What would that 2-day program look like?

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 29/05/2025

“Yet [Mordecai] firmly said that he would sooner shut down his university than allow anyone to dictate what its STUDENTS COULD OR COULD NOT LEARN.” Is there a more crisp defense of academic freedom? This framing by @jelaniya.bsky.social seems unassailable. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

newyorker.com

A Tumultuous Spring Semester Finally Comes to a Close

The biggest mistake that some universities have made is to presume that the White House is operating in good faith. It is not.

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Albany (NY) had a helpful sign on the way into the city that read, “We’ve got it Albany.” I don’t think the GA version of Albany would have this sign. (I thought they should have had a Paul Simon endorsement deal where he sings, “You can call me Albany!”)

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Julia Strand @juliafstrand.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

It has been loads of fun and is super popular (full auditoriums). It also happens to be very little work to organize. If you'd like to offer Guess Lectures at your institution, I wrote up a set of instructions to make it easier for you. Reach out with questions! docs.google.com/document/d/1...

docs.google.com

Guess Lectures Instructions

Guess Lectures Notes and instructionsJulia Strand, Carleton College The Premise: In Guess Lectures, faculty give 7-minute talks using someone else’s slides from an unrelated discipline, sight unseen...

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

Recently recommended because the transcripts of confidential search committee meetings "will occupy real estate in your brain forever": When Two Bodies Are (Not) a Problem: Gender & Relationship Status Discrimination in Academic Hiring, by @larivera.bsky.social advance.charlotte.edu/wp-content/u...

Table 2. Gender Breakdown of “Above the Bar” Candidates Whose Relationship Status Was Discussed in Hiring Committee Meetings by Discipline (Percent). Humanities Men: 0. Social Science Men: 20. Natural Science Men: 0. Humanities Women: 100. Social Science Women: 100. Natural Science Women: 100.

Lydia [to Mary]: Have you checked the New York Times weddings section?
Mary: Yes, that's how I found out about Elizabeth's wedding.
Lydia [looking up from her computer, surprised]: Does Elizabeth have an announcement?
Mary [nodding yes]: Have you checked Weddingchannel[.com]? [She brings up a listing and later finds Elizabeth's wedding
registry.]
Lydia visits site, too. She then shows her computer to Ronald, who begins looking at the registry and commenting on the gifts.
Ronald: Do people really need this stuff?

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 14/05/2025

“Brown Professor Avoids Defunding by Adding ‘For Bombs’ to Research Abstract” by Ray Theon “At press time, Norman was encouraging a colleague in the Africana Studies Department to add ‘for white people too’ to the title of her upcoming talk.” thenoser.com/article/Brow...

Brown Professor
Avoids Defunding By Adding "For Bombs" To Research Abstract
said Professor Amani Norman, looking up from her work that explores the intersec-tionalities between textuality and race in queer narratives. "And I figured if you can't beat 'em, bomb'em!"
"My work focuses on analyzing how our heterodivergent pathologies shape media," said Norman, sitting next to a scale replica of an intercontinental ballistic mis-sile. "I aim to further our collective under-
BY RAY THEON

Amid nationwide research funding cuts, one Brown professor has managed to avoid defunding by adding "For Bombs" to her research abstract.

"I realized there was a common denominator between the projects that were safe from cuts. They were for serving our nation's great military industrial complex," standing of cinematography and identity."

This project is really gonna slay (people).

"Of course this work is for the sake of supporting the creation of precision missiles for our great warriors in the Middle East," Norman added, thumbing through her copy of Marx's Capital. "This work will further the great mission of the United States military and is sponsored by a pioneering and innovating firm that shares my values of diversity, equity, and bombs.

Thank you for your support, Lockheed
Martin."
At press time, Norman was encouraging a colleague in the Africana Studies Department to add "for white people too" to the title of her upcoming talk.

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

The @bigtenacademic.bsky.social has issued a statement! That "mutual defense compact" faculty are excited about? It is (still) not going to happen: btaa.org/big-ten-acad...

btaa.org

Big Ten Academic Alliance Statement on Mutual Defense Compact Resolutions

Mutual Defense Compact MADC BTAA

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 13/05/2025

Perhaps there are proportionally fewer white men on Harvard's faculty because the 👏old 👏ways👏were👏 discriminatory--white men were OVERrepresented. Now (thanks to DEI?) processes are 👏less 👏discriminatory. (❤️ @emmajanepettit.bsky.social for White-Lewis insight, too.) www.chronicle.com/article/facu...

chronicle.com

Faculty Hiring Is Under Federal Scrutiny at Harvard

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has pointed to the university’s data showing a declining proportion of white, male professors.

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Roopika Risam @roopikarisam.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

A truly wonderful experience for me, thanks to @dartmouthartsci.bsky.social & the inimitable @faculty.bsky.social & his team (I miss Dustin already!)

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 01/05/2025

I'm inspired by these faculty who, many times over the course of a difficult year, found time away from the constant pressures of their work/lives to rethink + reinvent the "Ivy Plus" norms (+ other powers/privileges) they've inherited. #selfpromotion facultyadvancement.duke.edu/news/strengt...

facultyadvancement.duke.edu

Strengthening Academic Leadership in an Uncertain Time | Office for Faculty Advancement

This year’s cohort of Duke Ivy+ Provost Leadership Fellows included Lisa Huettel, Jacquelyn McMillian-Bohler, Jian Pei, Jen’nan Read, Charlotte Sussman and Jennifer Clare

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 29/04/2025

Gratuitous self-citation to my skeets about this 17d ago: bsky.app/profile/facu... Fortunately for us, @guttergeek.bsky.social has unpacked the resolution's problems in detail.

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 28/04/2025

Also by @garceslm.bsky.social + @jackiepedota.bsky.social: Universities must collectively invest in faculty capacity to navigate legal pressures + disrupt suppression. Include a history lesson on academic freedom because minoritized scholars are less protected. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

tandfonline.com

A Call to Build Coalitions to Disrupt a Climate of Suppression

Published in Change: The Magazine of Higher Learning (Vol. 57, No. 2, 2025)

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Another banger by @aaronclauset.bsky.social + @jenniebrand.bsky.social: When early-career researchers work in diverse teams, they're more likely to build their own diverse teams in the future — helping to break the usual pattern where people mostly work with others who are similar to themselves.

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Travis T. York, Ph.D. (he/they) @travisyork.bsky.social · 25/04/2025

🧪 Reports from inside NSF - staff were informed another huge set of grants were terminated today, that NSF will have at least a 50% total RIF, & no Acting Director has been appointed. So, who is leading NSF? #SciSky @science.org @scinews.bsky.social @aaas.org @aeraedresearch.bsky.social

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 22/04/2025

“How randomisation has changed the British Academy’s approach to research funding” 🧪

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Kiernan Mathews @faculty.bsky.social · 21/04/2025

I was an altar boy in a parish convulsed by the "agony of the sex-abuse crisis". The Church's many failures of contrition pushed me out; Francis called me back. But to Douthat, compassionate, pastoral leadership is weak. It wasn't JP2 or Benedict, but Francis who ended "infallibility's mystique".

nytimes.com

Opinion | Pope Francis and the End of the Imperial Papacy (Gift Article)

Papal weakness has also opened up other possibilities for Christian and Catholic witness.

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