Seth Kimmel
@skimmel.bsky.social
Associate Professor of early modern cultural studies in the Department of Latin American and Iberian Cultures at Columbia University. Living in Seville for the 2024-25 academic year.
Thanks for this great review, Víctor!
Hot off the presses: my review of @skimmel.bsky.social’s The Librarian’s Atlas (a book that proves shelving books was once a form of imperial strategy):
asphs.net/article/revi...
asphs.net/article/revi...
May 4, 2025 at 8:34 AM
Thanks for this great review, Víctor!
Reposted by Seth Kimmel
University of Michigan Regents come out squarely and publicly in defense of academic freedom against political coercion and the role of higher education and research in making America prosperous, secure ... and well ... maybe even Great? www.michigandaily.com/opinion/op-e...
In defense of our institutional independence
This University is a proud public university that belongs to all of us and generations to follow. It is a place to test ideas, shape futures and pursue, not prescribe, truth.
www.michigandaily.com
April 23, 2025 at 3:17 AM
University of Michigan Regents come out squarely and publicly in defense of academic freedom against political coercion and the role of higher education and research in making America prosperous, secure ... and well ... maybe even Great? www.michigandaily.com/opinion/op-e...
“To protect both themselves and the entire educational system, then, university leaders should commit, collectively and immediately, to challenge unlawful demands that threaten academic freedom and university self-governance” @thenation.com
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
Why Universities Must Start Litigating—and How
The litigation would afford schools a high-profile venue in which to detail the Trump administration’s lawlessness and aggression.
www.thenation.com
April 7, 2025 at 8:30 PM
“To protect both themselves and the entire educational system, then, university leaders should commit, collectively and immediately, to challenge unlawful demands that threaten academic freedom and university self-governance” @thenation.com
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
Nominating “viewpoint diversity” as the euphemism of the year so far.
April 4, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Nominating “viewpoint diversity” as the euphemism of the year so far.
Reposted by Seth Kimmel
The Trump administration, with Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has gutted a small federal agency that provides funding to libraries and museums nationwide.
This threatens student field trips, classes for seniors, and access to digital library services.
This threatens student field trips, classes for seniors, and access to digital library services.
The DOGE Axe Comes for Libraries and Museums
The Institute of Museum and Library Services has long received bipartisan support. But after years of trying, President Donald Trump has delivered it a crushing blow.
www.wired.com
April 2, 2025 at 6:16 PM
The Trump administration, with Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, has gutted a small federal agency that provides funding to libraries and museums nationwide.
This threatens student field trips, classes for seniors, and access to digital library services.
This threatens student field trips, classes for seniors, and access to digital library services.
“There are other people who urge, ‘Well, are there other ways that you can accommodate the government in some way, or bend to the government’s policy preferences in order to restore funding?’ I think that’s the wrong way, at least, for an academic institution, to be thinking…”
April 2, 2025 at 11:00 AM
“There are other people who urge, ‘Well, are there other ways that you can accommodate the government in some way, or bend to the government’s policy preferences in order to restore funding?’ I think that’s the wrong way, at least, for an academic institution, to be thinking…”
Gonna bring this energy back to NYC.
El llanito hipnotiza oyéndolo hablar. Es el verdadero spanglishandakúh.
April 2, 2025 at 9:23 AM
Gonna bring this energy back to NYC.
Madre mía, la cola en la heladería del barrio el sábado de la tarde, a la hora de la merienda.
March 29, 2025 at 4:17 PM
Madre mía, la cola en la heladería del barrio el sábado de la tarde, a la hora de la merienda.
Reposted by Seth Kimmel
I know I'm late to the game but I've pulled together some reading recommendations for anyone who might be interested in learning more about Spanish as a language of the United States in the wake of the EO three weeks ago effectively saying that it isn't one. wp.nyu.edu/sjpearce/202...
March 26, 2025 at 2:53 PM
I know I'm late to the game but I've pulled together some reading recommendations for anyone who might be interested in learning more about Spanish as a language of the United States in the wake of the EO three weeks ago effectively saying that it isn't one. wp.nyu.edu/sjpearce/202...
Meanwhile in Seville it’s currently possible to purchase an empanadilla de torrija.
March 26, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Meanwhile in Seville it’s currently possible to purchase an empanadilla de torrija.
@aaup.bsky.social and @aftunion.bsky.social sue over government “using cuts as a cudgel to coerce a private institution.” www.aft.org/press-releas...
FACULTY UNIONS SUE TRUMP ADMIN: NO HALTING SCIENCE RESEARCH TO SUPPRESS SPEECH
NEW YORK– The American Association of University Professors (AAUP) and the AFT today sued the Trump administration on behalf of their members for unlawfully cutting off $400 million in federal funding...
www.aft.org
March 25, 2025 at 1:51 PM
@aaup.bsky.social and @aftunion.bsky.social sue over government “using cuts as a cudgel to coerce a private institution.” www.aft.org/press-releas...
Sky line, plane line, grass line, worm line
The cords threaded through the front board were used to line pages before adding text! The cover isn’t attached to the textblock & loose pages are wrapped in a case, a binding style common on West African books.
Mukhtasar (epitome of Maliki law) manuscript copied in 18c?, Yale Arabic MSS 198
Mukhtasar (epitome of Maliki law) manuscript copied in 18c?, Yale Arabic MSS 198
March 25, 2025 at 8:53 AM
Sky line, plane line, grass line, worm line
Reposted by Seth Kimmel
TODAY @ NOON ET in NYC:
COLUMBIA PROFESSORS TO HOLD EMERGENCY VIGIL AGAINST ADMIN CONCESSIONS TO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION.
Columbia gates at 116th & Amsterdam Ave (Not Broadway)
• Hands Off Our Students, Faculty, & Research
• Defend Science
• Defend Academic Freedom
• Defend Freedom of Speech
COLUMBIA PROFESSORS TO HOLD EMERGENCY VIGIL AGAINST ADMIN CONCESSIONS TO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION.
Columbia gates at 116th & Amsterdam Ave (Not Broadway)
• Hands Off Our Students, Faculty, & Research
• Defend Science
• Defend Academic Freedom
• Defend Freedom of Speech
March 24, 2025 at 12:30 PM
TODAY @ NOON ET in NYC:
COLUMBIA PROFESSORS TO HOLD EMERGENCY VIGIL AGAINST ADMIN CONCESSIONS TO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION.
Columbia gates at 116th & Amsterdam Ave (Not Broadway)
• Hands Off Our Students, Faculty, & Research
• Defend Science
• Defend Academic Freedom
• Defend Freedom of Speech
COLUMBIA PROFESSORS TO HOLD EMERGENCY VIGIL AGAINST ADMIN CONCESSIONS TO TRUMP ADMINISTRATION.
Columbia gates at 116th & Amsterdam Ave (Not Broadway)
• Hands Off Our Students, Faculty, & Research
• Defend Science
• Defend Academic Freedom
• Defend Freedom of Speech
Former Provost of Columbia unhappy with capitulation. Former President of Columbia has been quoted along similar lines. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/o...
Opinion | Universities Gave Us the iPhone, the Jet Engine and Gatorade. We’re Tossing That Away.
The postwar compact on research that powered America’s economic and military dominance is under threat.
www.nytimes.com
March 24, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Former Provost of Columbia unhappy with capitulation. Former President of Columbia has been quoted along similar lines. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/o...
Reposted by Seth Kimmel
Columbia University has failed to defend academic freedom & freedom of speech & allowed a great institution to be bullied & extorted into submission by an administration hellbent on contorting higher education to their will.
The AAUP condemns this capitulation. We can & must fight back.
The AAUP condemns this capitulation. We can & must fight back.
Columbia Concedes to Trump’s Demands After Federal Funds Are Stripped
The administration has moved to cut $400 million in federal funding to the university without changes to its policies and rules.
www.nytimes.com
March 22, 2025 at 2:32 AM
Columbia University has failed to defend academic freedom & freedom of speech & allowed a great institution to be bullied & extorted into submission by an administration hellbent on contorting higher education to their will.
The AAUP condemns this capitulation. We can & must fight back.
The AAUP condemns this capitulation. We can & must fight back.
Reposted by Seth Kimmel
The Shame of Columbia: violating academic freedom
“Not even during the communist witch hunts of the early 1950s did a university agree to put an entire academic department under special oversight because of what its faculty researched or taught.”
open.substack.com/pub/robertre...
“Not even during the communist witch hunts of the early 1950s did a university agree to put an entire academic department under special oversight because of what its faculty researched or taught.”
open.substack.com/pub/robertre...
The shame of Columbia University
In surrendering to Trump, it's opening all universities to Trump's tyranny
open.substack.com
March 22, 2025 at 3:21 AM
The Shame of Columbia: violating academic freedom
“Not even during the communist witch hunts of the early 1950s did a university agree to put an entire academic department under special oversight because of what its faculty researched or taught.”
open.substack.com/pub/robertre...
“Not even during the communist witch hunts of the early 1950s did a university agree to put an entire academic department under special oversight because of what its faculty researched or taught.”
open.substack.com/pub/robertre...
In which constitutional law scholars make me fear for other recipients of federal aid besides universities: “K-12 schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and business and agricultural initiatives.” @nybooks.com www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
A Statement from Constitutional Law Scholars on Columbia | Eugene Volokh, Michael C. Dorf, David Cole
We write as constitutional scholars—some liberal and some conservative—who seek to defend academic freedom and the First Amendment in the wake of the
www.nybooks.com
March 20, 2025 at 8:24 PM
In which constitutional law scholars make me fear for other recipients of federal aid besides universities: “K-12 schools, hospitals, nursing homes, and business and agricultural initiatives.” @nybooks.com www.nybooks.com/online/2025/...
Words have histories.
What’s something that’s a banal observation in your field, but which really blows students’ minds the 1st time they encounter it?
I’ll go 1st—when we talk about how technological history gets narrated & I say "no human being has ever lived in a historical period—they’ve only lived in the present"
I’ll go 1st—when we talk about how technological history gets narrated & I say "no human being has ever lived in a historical period—they’ve only lived in the present"
March 19, 2025 at 2:22 PM
Words have histories.
The president of Princeton defending Columbia and American higher education in @theatlantic.com.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
The Cost of the Government’s Attack on Columbia
American universities have given the country prosperity and security. The Trump administration’s attack on academic freedom endangers all of that.
www.theatlantic.com
March 19, 2025 at 1:02 PM
The president of Princeton defending Columbia and American higher education in @theatlantic.com.
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...
Would love to hear university presidents use some of this language. How about Columbia hosts a summit for the presidents of those 60 universities on the government’s list?
Columbia AAUP chapter on the administration's unprecedented assault on Columbia U and higher ed generally: "At this fraught moment we must all stand together against the external assault on our institution."
www.aaupcu.org/campaigns
www.aaupcu.org/campaigns
March 18, 2025 at 10:20 PM
Would love to hear university presidents use some of this language. How about Columbia hosts a summit for the presidents of those 60 universities on the government’s list?
Better late than never, choose courage:
nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com/intelligence...
Columbia University Must Choose Between Courage and Cowardice
Appeasing Trump won’t work — and there’s still time to take a stand.
nymag.com
March 18, 2025 at 8:48 PM
Better late than never, choose courage:
nymag.com/intelligence...
nymag.com/intelligence...