Colby
@ckdoeswork.bsky.social
Associate Prof of Sociology. Son of a steel mill worker from western PA. #firstgen
ORCID: 0000-0002-7582-0375
ORCID: 0000-0002-7582-0375
Reposted by Colby
No. No. No.
Punitive processes make narrowly targeted programs *less* efficient and *more* costly. Because more scrutiny requires more bureaucracy.
Punitive processes also make it *less* likely that people will get aid for which they qualify. Because of the roadblocks and stigma scrutiny creates.
Punitive processes make narrowly targeted programs *less* efficient and *more* costly. Because more scrutiny requires more bureaucracy.
Punitive processes also make it *less* likely that people will get aid for which they qualify. Because of the roadblocks and stigma scrutiny creates.
January 4, 2026 at 8:48 PM
No. No. No.
Punitive processes make narrowly targeted programs *less* efficient and *more* costly. Because more scrutiny requires more bureaucracy.
Punitive processes also make it *less* likely that people will get aid for which they qualify. Because of the roadblocks and stigma scrutiny creates.
Punitive processes make narrowly targeted programs *less* efficient and *more* costly. Because more scrutiny requires more bureaucracy.
Punitive processes also make it *less* likely that people will get aid for which they qualify. Because of the roadblocks and stigma scrutiny creates.
Reposted by Colby
I am struggling with what might be a generational experience. The gulf war was pretty politically formative for me. It’s not history so much as memory this time.
It is destabilizing to see almost the exact same gameplan but this time without the guardrails that at the time I took for granted.
It is destabilizing to see almost the exact same gameplan but this time without the guardrails that at the time I took for granted.
January 3, 2026 at 11:09 PM
I am struggling with what might be a generational experience. The gulf war was pretty politically formative for me. It’s not history so much as memory this time.
It is destabilizing to see almost the exact same gameplan but this time without the guardrails that at the time I took for granted.
It is destabilizing to see almost the exact same gameplan but this time without the guardrails that at the time I took for granted.
Reposted by Colby
Saving this screenshot from Threads as a new reaction image
January 3, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Saving this screenshot from Threads as a new reaction image
Reposted by Colby
Do other countries have this weird notion that you’re not a “real” representative of the nation if you live in an urban center? Like do the French say Parisians aren’t really French? Are you considered not a real German if you live in Berlin? Or is this mainly a weird American thing?
January 1, 2026 at 4:19 PM
Do other countries have this weird notion that you’re not a “real” representative of the nation if you live in an urban center? Like do the French say Parisians aren’t really French? Are you considered not a real German if you live in Berlin? Or is this mainly a weird American thing?
Reposted by Colby
In conclusion: generational lingo/slang is a real issue. Diverse perspectives matter. And speak up to your superiors sometimes, regardless of where you work. You may make lasting friendships along the way.
December 24, 2025 at 10:00 PM
In conclusion: generational lingo/slang is a real issue. Diverse perspectives matter. And speak up to your superiors sometimes, regardless of where you work. You may make lasting friendships along the way.
Reposted by Colby
here’s a gift link to the piece wapo.st/49uy2q1
74 suicide warnings and 243 mentions of hanging: What ChatGPT said to a suicidal teen
Analysis of high-schooler Adam Raine’s ChatGPT account by attorneys for his parents shows how the chatbot became a confidant as he planned to end his life.
wapo.st
December 28, 2025 at 5:51 PM
here’s a gift link to the piece wapo.st/49uy2q1
Reposted by Colby
I feel like "academic hiring" discourse is always kind of downstream of the fact that in the 50s we started building a giant public system to make a college education almost universally available and in the 80s and 90s we started taking it apart to go back to the only-the-rich model
December 20, 2025 at 2:22 PM
I feel like "academic hiring" discourse is always kind of downstream of the fact that in the 50s we started building a giant public system to make a college education almost universally available and in the 80s and 90s we started taking it apart to go back to the only-the-rich model
Reposted by Colby
We ran into these issues during the MOOC days and ended up just sort of giving up on enforcement because of this boondoggle. I sincerely hope that every professor sues their outgoing institutions on these very grounds. May the legal morass bog us down for a generation.
If syllabi are UNC IP, does this mean that a faculty member who leaves Chapel Hill for another university would be barred from teaching the same or a similar course at the new institution?
December 20, 2025 at 12:40 PM
We ran into these issues during the MOOC days and ended up just sort of giving up on enforcement because of this boondoggle. I sincerely hope that every professor sues their outgoing institutions on these very grounds. May the legal morass bog us down for a generation.
Reposted by Colby
Beware natural scientists doing social science
You wouldn't trust an economist doing physics or chemistry or astronomy. So don't trust the reverse
You wouldn't trust an economist doing physics or chemistry or astronomy. So don't trust the reverse
There is a growing problem of big name natural-science journals publishing social science that is "problematic".
This reflects a inability to accept the statistical standards and skills in social science are often much much higher than in many areas of the natural sciences.
(I'm a chemist btw).
This reflects a inability to accept the statistical standards and skills in social science are often much much higher than in many areas of the natural sciences.
(I'm a chemist btw).
You remember that Nature Aging paper about how multilingualism protects against accelerated aging? Well…
December 17, 2025 at 11:05 AM
Beware natural scientists doing social science
You wouldn't trust an economist doing physics or chemistry or astronomy. So don't trust the reverse
You wouldn't trust an economist doing physics or chemistry or astronomy. So don't trust the reverse
Reposted by Colby
Those of us who study higher ed know that price has been flat for a while. A point is that especially at public research universities (flagship types) have been hoarding enrollments, taking them away from regional campuses, precisely because they’re unable to charge much more per student.
College costs are soaring! www.brookings.edu/articles/wha...
December 17, 2025 at 1:09 AM
Those of us who study higher ed know that price has been flat for a while. A point is that especially at public research universities (flagship types) have been hoarding enrollments, taking them away from regional campuses, precisely because they’re unable to charge much more per student.
Reposted by Colby
Grading and googling hallucinated citations, as one does nowadays, and now that LLMs have been around for a while, I've discovered new horrors: hallucinated journals are now appearing in Google Scholar with dozens of citations bc so many people are citing these fake things
December 15, 2025 at 8:41 PM
Grading and googling hallucinated citations, as one does nowadays, and now that LLMs have been around for a while, I've discovered new horrors: hallucinated journals are now appearing in Google Scholar with dozens of citations bc so many people are citing these fake things
Reposted by Colby
“At Texas A&M, internal emails show staff are using AI software to search syllabi and course descriptions for words that could raise concerns under new system policies restricting how faculty teach about race and gender.”
www.texastribune.org/2025/12/15/t...
www.texastribune.org/2025/12/15/t...
Texas universities deploy AI for course audits
Records obtained by The Texas Tribune show how universities are using the technology to reshape curriculum under political pressure, raising concerns about academic freedom.
www.texastribune.org
December 15, 2025 at 1:32 PM
“At Texas A&M, internal emails show staff are using AI software to search syllabi and course descriptions for words that could raise concerns under new system policies restricting how faculty teach about race and gender.”
www.texastribune.org/2025/12/15/t...
www.texastribune.org/2025/12/15/t...
Reposted by Colby
Couldn’t Sam Altman just ask ChatGPT how to make itself profitable
December 6, 2025 at 4:38 AM
Couldn’t Sam Altman just ask ChatGPT how to make itself profitable
Reposted by Colby
NEWS: The Institute of Museum & Library Services has restored ALL previously canceled federal grants to libraries, following a ruling by a federal judge in Rhode Island last month.
This is a massive win for libraries & communities in every state & territory!
Learn more: www.ala.org/news/2025/12...
This is a massive win for libraries & communities in every state & territory!
Learn more: www.ala.org/news/2025/12...
December 3, 2025 at 10:18 PM
NEWS: The Institute of Museum & Library Services has restored ALL previously canceled federal grants to libraries, following a ruling by a federal judge in Rhode Island last month.
This is a massive win for libraries & communities in every state & territory!
Learn more: www.ala.org/news/2025/12...
This is a massive win for libraries & communities in every state & territory!
Learn more: www.ala.org/news/2025/12...
Reposted by Colby
Hey all,
The Onion is accepting applicants for our writing, video and graphics fellowships.
Fellowships last six months, pay well, and provide full benefits.
You can apply at theonion.com/fellowship.
The Onion is accepting applicants for our writing, video and graphics fellowships.
Fellowships last six months, pay well, and provide full benefits.
You can apply at theonion.com/fellowship.
Fellowship
theonion.com
December 3, 2025 at 9:26 PM
Hey all,
The Onion is accepting applicants for our writing, video and graphics fellowships.
Fellowships last six months, pay well, and provide full benefits.
You can apply at theonion.com/fellowship.
The Onion is accepting applicants for our writing, video and graphics fellowships.
Fellowships last six months, pay well, and provide full benefits.
You can apply at theonion.com/fellowship.
Reposted by Colby
"the issue isn’t that we need more 'boy-friendly' reforms. It’s that boys are socialized to compete only with boys and to read girls’ success as illegitimate or emasculating. The result is dissonance, resentment, and disengagement for boys—and hostile climates for girls."
time.com/7335723/auto...
time.com/7335723/auto...
The Real Way Schools are Failing Boys
“If we really want boys to succeed, we need to ensure that they know how to both beat—and lose— to girls."
time.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:21 AM
"the issue isn’t that we need more 'boy-friendly' reforms. It’s that boys are socialized to compete only with boys and to read girls’ success as illegitimate or emasculating. The result is dissonance, resentment, and disengagement for boys—and hostile climates for girls."
time.com/7335723/auto...
time.com/7335723/auto...
Reposted by Colby
Reposted by Colby
This is so incredible. You have to see the photos. These workers held the line for THREE YEARS www.publicsource.org/post-gazette...
November 25, 2025 at 5:29 AM
This is so incredible. You have to see the photos. These workers held the line for THREE YEARS www.publicsource.org/post-gazette...
Reposted by Colby
If you think that professors exist as repositories of knowledge that students ask for answers, you’re missing the entire point of a college education.
We’re here to teach students how to do research, how to analyze and argue, how to think for themselves — how to find the answers on their own.
We’re here to teach students how to do research, how to analyze and argue, how to think for themselves — how to find the answers on their own.
Wow. Just wow.
"Students pay premium prices for information that AI now delivers instantly and for free. A business student can ask ChatGPT to explain supply chain optimization or generate market analysis in seconds. The traditional lecture-and-test model faces its Blockbuster moment."
"Students pay premium prices for information that AI now delivers instantly and for free. A business student can ask ChatGPT to explain supply chain optimization or generate market analysis in seconds. The traditional lecture-and-test model faces its Blockbuster moment."
When Knowledge is Free, What are Professors For?
Higher Education Must Stop Competing with AI on Information and Start Teaching What Machines Can’t Do
www.forbes.com
October 16, 2025 at 1:45 PM
If you think that professors exist as repositories of knowledge that students ask for answers, you’re missing the entire point of a college education.
We’re here to teach students how to do research, how to analyze and argue, how to think for themselves — how to find the answers on their own.
We’re here to teach students how to do research, how to analyze and argue, how to think for themselves — how to find the answers on their own.
Reposted by Colby
hey this is fun
And congratulations to @jamellebouie.net for winning the American Historical Association's Tikkun Olam Prize for promoting public historical literacy www.historians.org/award-grant/...
Tikkun Olam Prize for Promoting Public Historical Literacy – AHA
The Tikkun Olam Prize for Promoting Public Historical Literacy honors individuals whose work has promoted literacy in public culture.
www.historians.org
October 15, 2025 at 7:36 PM
hey this is fun
Reposted by Colby
What would we have to see for us to not take the "soaring cost" of higher ed talking point at face value? How many data points do we need? How many years of tuition freezes at UW? We could have a sensible discussion about college costs around levels, but we can't even get the delta stuff right.
October 14, 2025 at 5:07 PM
What would we have to see for us to not take the "soaring cost" of higher ed talking point at face value? How many data points do we need? How many years of tuition freezes at UW? We could have a sensible discussion about college costs around levels, but we can't even get the delta stuff right.
Reposted by Colby
I know it is beside the point because this administration simply wants resegregation but conferences for Black professional associations have always been open to everyone. Typically, the started as a response to white exclusion, and did not replicate that.
Very bad: OSU unilaterally cancelled the registration of grad students attending the joint conference of the National Society of Black Physicists and the National Society of Hispanic Physicists. And OSU won't fund recruiting at the Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science.
Ohio State changes policy on group conferences after Trump administration threats
A federal investigation into potentially discriminatory practices at Ohio State prompted the university to change its policies regarding conferences.
www.dispatch.com
October 14, 2025 at 1:17 PM
I know it is beside the point because this administration simply wants resegregation but conferences for Black professional associations have always been open to everyone. Typically, the started as a response to white exclusion, and did not replicate that.
Reposted by Colby
Hey, I'm an @insidehighered.com reporter writing today about how the ongoing shutdown may be affecting, or about to affect, university research. If you have a story to share, please DM me or email ryan.quinn@insidehighered.com today. Thank you.
October 13, 2025 at 5:07 PM
Hey, I'm an @insidehighered.com reporter writing today about how the ongoing shutdown may be affecting, or about to affect, university research. If you have a story to share, please DM me or email ryan.quinn@insidehighered.com today. Thank you.
Reposted by Colby
Attacks on the federal workforce are also attacks on Black workers, who are overrepresented in the public sector.
Black unemployment is 7.5%. I'm reminded of Coates' observation that Black Americans regularly experience conditions that would be considered a crisis if whites faced them.
Black unemployment is 7.5%. I'm reminded of Coates' observation that Black Americans regularly experience conditions that would be considered a crisis if whites faced them.
Black Unemployment Is Surging Again. This Time Is Different.
www.nytimes.com
October 12, 2025 at 12:51 PM
Attacks on the federal workforce are also attacks on Black workers, who are overrepresented in the public sector.
Black unemployment is 7.5%. I'm reminded of Coates' observation that Black Americans regularly experience conditions that would be considered a crisis if whites faced them.
Black unemployment is 7.5%. I'm reminded of Coates' observation that Black Americans regularly experience conditions that would be considered a crisis if whites faced them.
Reposted by Colby
Please acknowledge what is happening to American professors right now.
We do not deserve this.
We do not deserve this.
October 9, 2025 at 10:38 PM
Please acknowledge what is happening to American professors right now.
We do not deserve this.
We do not deserve this.