John Warner
@biblioracle.bsky.social
Writer, speaker, consultant. Chicago Tribune columnist, blogging at Inside Higher Ed. Coming soon, More Than Words: How to Think About Writing in the Age of AI. Previously: Why They Can't Write and The Writer's Practice. biblioracle.substack.com
I was assured that Dartmouth is a world historical leader in developing AI. Don’t think this is what they meant.
The college at which I'm employed, which has signed a contract with the AI firm that stole books from 131 colleagues & me, paid a student to write an op-ed for the student paper promoting AI, guided the writing of it, and did not disclose this to the paper. www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026...
College approached and paid student to write op-ed in The Dartmouth
The Dartmouth ran the article on Nov. 17 without knowledge that the College had been involved.
www.thedartmouth.com
January 30, 2026 at 12:32 AM
I was assured that Dartmouth is a world historical leader in developing AI. Don’t think this is what they meant.
Reposted by John Warner
The Dept. of Appearing to Take Things Rather Seriously While Wearing a Navy Sport Coat and No Tie is actively searching for a Dean of Comfortably Ordering Wine in a DC Steakhouse Where Denny Hastert Used to Sit Right Over There. The position will pay $580,000. The history department is abolished
Yale is launching a new Presidential Senior Fellowship to expand access to the transformative work of universities. As part of this program, author and columnist David Brooks will join the Jackson School of Global Affairs starting February 1.
Read more in Yale News: bit.ly/49QpJoY
Read more in Yale News: bit.ly/49QpJoY
January 29, 2026 at 9:45 PM
The Dept. of Appearing to Take Things Rather Seriously While Wearing a Navy Sport Coat and No Tie is actively searching for a Dean of Comfortably Ordering Wine in a DC Steakhouse Where Denny Hastert Used to Sit Right Over There. The position will pay $580,000. The history department is abolished
There are actual experts in the world Yale could draw on if they were serious about this mission. Instead...this.
Yale is launching a new Presidential Senior Fellowship to expand access to the transformative work of universities. As part of this program, author and columnist David Brooks will join the Jackson School of Global Affairs starting February 1.
Read more in Yale News: bit.ly/49QpJoY
Read more in Yale News: bit.ly/49QpJoY
January 29, 2026 at 8:01 PM
There are actual experts in the world Yale could draw on if they were serious about this mission. Instead...this.
May have to write a sequel to my imagined narrative of what makes someone very much like David Brooks, but who is also a fictional invention...tick. biblioracle.substack.com/p/the-road-t...
January 29, 2026 at 7:31 PM
May have to write a sequel to my imagined narrative of what makes someone very much like David Brooks, but who is also a fictional invention...tick. biblioracle.substack.com/p/the-road-t...
Reposted by John Warner
Teaching exercise that is helpful with my policy students. Based on the solution, hiring this fella to a fancy position and giving him $$$ in this environment, what is the root of skepticism with higher ed that Yale is attempting to solve? Whose skepticism do they seek to assuage?
OH COME ON. Brooks knows fuck-all about "society at large".
January 29, 2026 at 7:16 PM
Teaching exercise that is helpful with my policy students. Based on the solution, hiring this fella to a fancy position and giving him $$$ in this environment, what is the root of skepticism with higher ed that Yale is attempting to solve? Whose skepticism do they seek to assuage?
I can confirm one aspect of Ian's story based on my travels speaking and doing workshops about teaching and AI, the smaller liberal arts colleges have an easier time having more meaningful discussions about what to do. The problem isn't solved, but the work is clearly productive. The other group...
Higher education is a hellscspe right now, attacked by the freedom government in one side and AI on the other.
This fall, I spent a month visiting elite liberal arts colleges, on the instinct that they would be more resilient in every way. My story (gift link):
This fall, I spent a month visiting elite liberal arts colleges, on the instinct that they would be more resilient in every way. My story (gift link):
The Accidental Winners of the War on Higher Ed
Go to a small liberal-arts college if you can.
www.theatlantic.com
January 29, 2026 at 2:36 PM
I can confirm one aspect of Ian's story based on my travels speaking and doing workshops about teaching and AI, the smaller liberal arts colleges have an easier time having more meaningful discussions about what to do. The problem isn't solved, but the work is clearly productive. The other group...
Amen. If I see one of those obvious AI illustrations on a piece I now reflexively recoil and often decide not to read it. Can't wholly explain my own reaction, but it's genuine.
I kind of miss the generic stock photos that people were using before everybody switched to diffusion model pap.
January 29, 2026 at 2:12 PM
Amen. If I see one of those obvious AI illustrations on a piece I now reflexively recoil and often decide not to read it. Can't wholly explain my own reaction, but it's genuine.
Reposted by John Warner
If you grant that AP and IB should count for college credit, there is no leg to stand on when it comes to the Classic Learning Test’s forthcoming version of the same.
"More than 300 colleges nationwide already recognize the CLT as an alternative to the ACT or SAT, he said, and those relationships could help CB gain broader acceptance."
There's nothing to stop legislators from demanding that colleges grant credit for the program.
readlion.com/classic-lear...
There's nothing to stop legislators from demanding that colleges grant credit for the program.
readlion.com/classic-lear...
Classic Learning Test to challenge education monopoly through new baccalaureate program, scoring system - The Lion
With American students earning the lowest math and reading scores in more than 20 years, an organization focused on restoring classical, traditional education is launching the Classical Baccalaureate ...
readlion.com
January 28, 2026 at 8:59 PM
If you grant that AP and IB should count for college credit, there is no leg to stand on when it comes to the Classic Learning Test’s forthcoming version of the same.
This is an observation, not a complaint. I'm just saying that putting a book's success on garnering review coverage is a very unlikely proposiiton.
Via email I've been pitched 19 books for possible review coverage today. I write a weekly column and a newsletter so at most I can cover maybe 70 books a year. Most of these are not contenders (categories I don't read), but in a week I'm pitched more plausible candidates than I read in a year.
January 28, 2026 at 8:39 PM
This is an observation, not a complaint. I'm just saying that putting a book's success on garnering review coverage is a very unlikely proposiiton.
Via email I've been pitched 19 books for possible review coverage today. I write a weekly column and a newsletter so at most I can cover maybe 70 books a year. Most of these are not contenders (categories I don't read), but in a week I'm pitched more plausible candidates than I read in a year.
January 28, 2026 at 8:38 PM
Via email I've been pitched 19 books for possible review coverage today. I write a weekly column and a newsletter so at most I can cover maybe 70 books a year. Most of these are not contenders (categories I don't read), but in a week I'm pitched more plausible candidates than I read in a year.
I "know" without having to articulate it to myself that injecting LLMs into the experience of learning to write is bad for learning how to write. It changes writing into something else. Whether this other thing has value or not I can't say and don't think we'll know for a while. I also know that...
January 28, 2026 at 3:11 PM
I "know" without having to articulate it to myself that injecting LLMs into the experience of learning to write is bad for learning how to write. It changes writing into something else. Whether this other thing has value or not I can't say and don't think we'll know for a while. I also know that...
Reposted by John Warner
"The skater dudes, grandmothers, and dog walkers forever taunt us, my love."
A Letter to Home from a Weary ICE Agent
Dearest Beloved, I received your missive of Thursday last with the greatest of gratitude, as I and my brave compatriots have five hours now awaited...
buff.ly
January 28, 2026 at 2:20 AM
"The skater dudes, grandmothers, and dog walkers forever taunt us, my love."
Reposted by John Warner
Problem: You are not a very good writer.
Solution: Your narrator is not a very good writer.
Solution: Your narrator is not a very good writer.
Twenty Solutions to Common Story Problems
1. Problem: The story you are writing has plot holes. Solution: Unreliable narrator. - - -2. Problem: The story you are writing has severe, glaring...
buff.ly
January 28, 2026 at 1:30 PM
Problem: You are not a very good writer.
Solution: Your narrator is not a very good writer.
Solution: Your narrator is not a very good writer.
Reposted by John Warner
Check out this new organization lead by Mike to protect higher education and advance equity. I’m proud to be a member of the Alliance’s Speaker Bureau.
Higher ed is where we name who we are and dream of who we want to become. That dream is under threat. I’m proud to introduce the @alliancehighered.bsky.social and humbled to serve as its inaugural president. Join the movement in support opportunity and democracy: allianceforhighered.org
The Alliance
allianceforhighered.org
January 27, 2026 at 3:56 PM
Check out this new organization lead by Mike to protect higher education and advance equity. I’m proud to be a member of the Alliance’s Speaker Bureau.
Reposted by John Warner
Media coverage of censorship at TAMU has gone global.
The whole world is watching. It's time for TAMU to end its censorship policy and to let students learn and faculty teach openly.
The whole world is watching. It's time for TAMU to end its censorship policy and to let students learn and faculty teach openly.
January 27, 2026 at 7:07 PM
Media coverage of censorship at TAMU has gone global.
The whole world is watching. It's time for TAMU to end its censorship policy and to let students learn and faculty teach openly.
The whole world is watching. It's time for TAMU to end its censorship policy and to let students learn and faculty teach openly.
Reposted by John Warner
Higher ed is where we name who we are and dream of who we want to become. That dream is under threat. I’m proud to introduce the @alliancehighered.bsky.social and humbled to serve as its inaugural president. Join the movement in support opportunity and democracy: allianceforhighered.org
The Alliance
allianceforhighered.org
January 27, 2026 at 2:59 PM
Higher ed is where we name who we are and dream of who we want to become. That dream is under threat. I’m proud to introduce the @alliancehighered.bsky.social and humbled to serve as its inaugural president. Join the movement in support opportunity and democracy: allianceforhighered.org
This collection of dopes, grifters, 2nd rate influencers and nobodies is going to save broadcast journalism? Good luck with that.
The new CBS contributors:
Elliot Ackerman, Peter Attia, Masih Alinejad, Arthur Brooks, Caroline Chambers, Clare de Boer, Niall Ferguson, Roland Fryer Jr., Andrew Huberman, Coleman Hughes, Mark Hyman, Janna Levin, Casey Lewis, HR McMaster, Patrick McGee, Reihan Salam, Lauren Sherman, Derek Thompson
Elliot Ackerman, Peter Attia, Masih Alinejad, Arthur Brooks, Caroline Chambers, Clare de Boer, Niall Ferguson, Roland Fryer Jr., Andrew Huberman, Coleman Hughes, Mark Hyman, Janna Levin, Casey Lewis, HR McMaster, Patrick McGee, Reihan Salam, Lauren Sherman, Derek Thompson
January 27, 2026 at 6:29 PM
This collection of dopes, grifters, 2nd rate influencers and nobodies is going to save broadcast journalism? Good luck with that.
I was reassured that Dwight Garner’s review of Saunders’ new novel “Vigil” gibes with mine. I’d share mine too, but it’s behind the Chicago Tribune’s impenetrable paywall. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/b...
George Saunders Serves a Heavy Helping of Virtue in a New Novel
www.nytimes.com
January 26, 2026 at 1:18 PM
I was reassured that Dwight Garner’s review of Saunders’ new novel “Vigil” gibes with mine. I’d share mine too, but it’s behind the Chicago Tribune’s impenetrable paywall. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/26/b...
As a Geese fan I thought their choice of songs for SNL was a deliberate challenge/minor act of self-sabotage to thwart the hype. Personally, I approve. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/a...
Geese Gives ‘Saturday Night Live’ Viewers Something to Talk About
www.nytimes.com
January 25, 2026 at 8:46 PM
As a Geese fan I thought their choice of songs for SNL was a deliberate challenge/minor act of self-sabotage to thwart the hype. Personally, I approve. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/25/a...
Greg Bovino on CNN is just beyond infuriating. We cannot have a country when our officials lie like this in the face of overwhelming evidence in front of his face.
January 25, 2026 at 2:15 PM
Greg Bovino on CNN is just beyond infuriating. We cannot have a country when our officials lie like this in the face of overwhelming evidence in front of his face.
The University of Texas has decided that teaching is not something they're interested in supporting. Learning itself is apparently now part of unacceptable "DEI." www.chronicle.com/article/ut-a...
UT-Austin Is Closing Its Teaching Center. Faculty Members Ask: Why?
A series of shutdowns announced by the provost are short on detail. Professors say they make little sense.
www.chronicle.com
January 23, 2026 at 3:04 PM
The University of Texas has decided that teaching is not something they're interested in supporting. Learning itself is apparently now part of unacceptable "DEI." www.chronicle.com/article/ut-a...
Convinced the only people who are going to be at these screenings will be journalists writing about how no one is attending these screenings.
You can reserve tickets now to "Melania: Twenty Days to History," only on Amazon Prime. Thanks to $40 million from Amazon, you can "step inside Melania Trump's world as she orchestrates inauguration plans" and watch exclusive footage of "never-before-seen environments" www.amazon.com/salp/melania...
Melania: Twenty Days to History
Exclusively in Theaters January 30
www.amazon.com
January 23, 2026 at 2:51 PM
Convinced the only people who are going to be at these screenings will be journalists writing about how no one is attending these screenings.
Great illustration of something I've seen over and over as I've travelled talking about genAI and learning. Students want experiences that have them interacting with each other and that help them figure out their own lives. They crave agency. We can give it to them. (This was true pre ChatGPT too.)
Last term I tried an experiment: I walked into my Tech and Design Ethics class, admitted that I had *no idea* what to do about ChatGPT - so I would let them figure it out.
As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class.
Here's what happened:
As in: their first project was to decide and write the ChatGPT policy for the class.
Here's what happened:
January 23, 2026 at 2:02 PM
Great illustration of something I've seen over and over as I've travelled talking about genAI and learning. Students want experiences that have them interacting with each other and that help them figure out their own lives. They crave agency. We can give it to them. (This was true pre ChatGPT too.)
Reposted by John Warner
Rubio who made a career for himself by decrying Cuban representation knew that he was deporting people for protected speech and tried to do it anyway
“The documents indicate that in nearly all instances, the arrests of the students were recommended based on their involvement in campus protests and public writings... They also show that officials privately anticipated the possibility that the deportations might not hold up in court”
D.H.S. Cited Foreign Students’ Writings and Protests Before Their Arrests
www.nytimes.com
January 23, 2026 at 1:42 PM
Rubio who made a career for himself by decrying Cuban representation knew that he was deporting people for protected speech and tried to do it anyway
Reposted by John Warner
Love the perspective that LLMs give us a chance to STOP bullshitting each other.
If a requested communication can be convincingly generated by an LLM, is it the responsibility of the requester to investigate why bullshit serves? In uneven power relationships, maybe.
If a requested communication can be convincingly generated by an LLM, is it the responsibility of the requester to investigate why bullshit serves? In uneven power relationships, maybe.
I've seen reports via social media and my email about students using AI on their personal statements for grad programs. This is an opportunity to rethink the what and why of the writing we ask for in these situations. www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
What Does It Mean to Use an LLM for a “Personal Statement”?
Is this still a worthy tool for graduate admissions?
www.insidehighered.com
January 22, 2026 at 2:49 PM
Love the perspective that LLMs give us a chance to STOP bullshitting each other.
If a requested communication can be convincingly generated by an LLM, is it the responsibility of the requester to investigate why bullshit serves? In uneven power relationships, maybe.
If a requested communication can be convincingly generated by an LLM, is it the responsibility of the requester to investigate why bullshit serves? In uneven power relationships, maybe.