Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
@zumhagenyekple.bsky.social
English and Comp Lit Prof. Tulane | Comparative Modernisms, Phil&Lit | Books: A Different Order of Difficulty | Wittgenstein and Modernism (both @uchicagopress.bsky.social) | Cambridge Companion to Lit&Phil | The Vanity of Wisdom (in progress)
In the standard red under a chandelier lunching with the wonderful @errante.bsky.social following her brilliant talk on improvisation in the arts and humanities at the Tulane Global Humanities Center. Inspired and inspiring.
October 20, 2025 at 11:06 PM
In the standard red under a chandelier lunching with the wonderful @errante.bsky.social following her brilliant talk on improvisation in the arts and humanities at the Tulane Global Humanities Center. Inspired and inspiring.
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
Speak up. Speak out. Don’t be silent about the injustices going on in our nation.
op: thekoreanvegan (via IG)
op: thekoreanvegan (via IG)
October 3, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Speak up. Speak out. Don’t be silent about the injustices going on in our nation.
op: thekoreanvegan (via IG)
op: thekoreanvegan (via IG)
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
My husband was detained by ICE today
Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away
I have had zero contact or updates since
#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov
Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away
I have had zero contact or updates since
#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov
October 3, 2025 at 5:12 PM
My husband was detained by ICE today
Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away
I have had zero contact or updates since
#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov
Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away
I have had zero contact or updates since
#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
Pretty clear illustration of "you may as well stand up for what you believe in, they're coming for you anyway."
So, a university president fired a professor because they taught a course that discussed there being more than two genders, and now the university president is being fired for not having fired the professor quickly enough, is where we're at. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/18/u...
Texas A&M President to Step Down After Controversy Over ‘Gender Ideology’
www.nytimes.com
September 19, 2025 at 11:26 AM
Pretty clear illustration of "you may as well stand up for what you believe in, they're coming for you anyway."
Ok it’s still a steam bath, but no more flu, so yay. And goodbye summer
August 30, 2025 at 1:21 AM
Ok it’s still a steam bath, but no more flu, so yay. And goodbye summer
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
you will not be surprised to hear there is a debate on this - see @zumhagenyekple.bsky.social's challenging and super smart book: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
A Different Order of Difficulty
Is the point of philosophy to transmit beliefs about the world, or can it sometimes have higher ambitions? In this bold study, Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé makes a critical contribution to the “resolute” pro...
press.uchicago.edu
August 24, 2025 at 4:10 PM
you will not be surprised to hear there is a debate on this - see @zumhagenyekple.bsky.social's challenging and super smart book: press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/bo...
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
say it again:
4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities
ROI for NIH and NSF for local economies is conservatively 4x, often close to 10x
demolishing higher education is economic sabotage
4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities
ROI for NIH and NSF for local economies is conservatively 4x, often close to 10x
demolishing higher education is economic sabotage
There is a false dichotomy drawn between "the ivory tower" and "the real world," and I'm here to report that in a post-industrial society, your real-world economy absolutely hinges on the university.
University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.
University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.
A must read
May 18, 2025 at 1:45 PM
say it again:
4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities
ROI for NIH and NSF for local economies is conservatively 4x, often close to 10x
demolishing higher education is economic sabotage
4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities
ROI for NIH and NSF for local economies is conservatively 4x, often close to 10x
demolishing higher education is economic sabotage
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
Reading/viewing/listening suggestions from @benwurgaft.bsky.social to make this beautiful May weekend even better. 😎
I am lucky to have time, right now, to read, listen, and view a lot. Here is a quick list of recommendations on a nice Spring morning:
1) @zumhagenyekple.bsky.social's wonderful poem "Salthill" published in the Galway Review: thegalwayreview.com/2025/04/09/k...
1) @zumhagenyekple.bsky.social's wonderful poem "Salthill" published in the Galway Review: thegalwayreview.com/2025/04/09/k...
Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé – Salthill
Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé is a professor of Comparative Literature and English at Tulane University, and the author of A Different Order of Difficulty: Literature after Wittgenstein (UChicago Press, 20…
thegalwayreview.com
May 3, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reading/viewing/listening suggestions from @benwurgaft.bsky.social to make this beautiful May weekend even better. 😎
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
I am lucky to have time, right now, to read, listen, and view a lot. Here is a quick list of recommendations on a nice Spring morning:
1) @zumhagenyekple.bsky.social's wonderful poem "Salthill" published in the Galway Review: thegalwayreview.com/2025/04/09/k...
1) @zumhagenyekple.bsky.social's wonderful poem "Salthill" published in the Galway Review: thegalwayreview.com/2025/04/09/k...
Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé – Salthill
Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé is a professor of Comparative Literature and English at Tulane University, and the author of A Different Order of Difficulty: Literature after Wittgenstein (UChicago Press, 20…
thegalwayreview.com
May 3, 2025 at 1:34 PM
I am lucky to have time, right now, to read, listen, and view a lot. Here is a quick list of recommendations on a nice Spring morning:
1) @zumhagenyekple.bsky.social's wonderful poem "Salthill" published in the Galway Review: thegalwayreview.com/2025/04/09/k...
1) @zumhagenyekple.bsky.social's wonderful poem "Salthill" published in the Galway Review: thegalwayreview.com/2025/04/09/k...
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
Half of Big Ten university senates have now voted in favor of forming a mutual defense alliance to combat federal overreach. #AcademicSky www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
Half Of Big Ten Faculty Senates Have Voted For Mutual Defense Compact
Faculty at 9 of the 18 institutions in the Big Ten Conference have now endorsed resolutions urging a mutual defense compact against attacks by the Trump administration.
www.forbes.com
April 26, 2025 at 2:16 PM
Half of Big Ten university senates have now voted in favor of forming a mutual defense alliance to combat federal overreach. #AcademicSky www.forbes.com/sites/michae...
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
If you don't see your college, university or professional org on here please write to them and encourage them to sign. If you know other alum put a letter together with as many signatures as possible. If you are faculty or staff bring a resolution through your senate. #academicsky
AAC&U Public Statement on 2025Apr22 - Signatories.csv
docs.google.com
April 26, 2025 at 4:45 PM
If you don't see your college, university or professional org on here please write to them and encourage them to sign. If you know other alum put a letter together with as many signatures as possible. If you are faculty or staff bring a resolution through your senate. #academicsky
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
A plantation museum focused on the truths of slavery had two grants for Black history and culture terminated in ‘furtherance of president’s agenda’
Trump cuts federal grants to plantation museum focused on reality of slavery
Whitney Plantation has two grants for Black history and culture terminated in ‘furtherance of president’s agenda’
www.theguardian.com
April 23, 2025 at 6:17 PM
A plantation museum focused on the truths of slavery had two grants for Black history and culture terminated in ‘furtherance of president’s agenda’
So happy to see this letter--now signed by 260 university presidents. Not at all happy to see that Tulane's president, Michael Fitts, is not one of them. Where are you,
@tulaneu.bsky.social ??? #academicsky
@tulaneu.bsky.social ??? #academicsky
More than 150 leaders of America's colleges, universities, and scholarly societies issued "A Call for Constructive Engagement" in response to the ongoing government intrusion into #highered. Read the full statement: www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-c...
April 23, 2025 at 6:49 PM
So happy to see this letter--now signed by 260 university presidents. Not at all happy to see that Tulane's president, Michael Fitts, is not one of them. Where are you,
@tulaneu.bsky.social ??? #academicsky
@tulaneu.bsky.social ??? #academicsky
We’ve known what this man & co are capable of for a very long time. Biden & Garland should’ve prosecuted them and did not. The main-stream media largely let it drop out of rotation in the cycle. I think about these kids every day. Every day that someone on TV asks if it’s really that bad yet
"SEPARATION," by Rob Jacobs is perfection
April 21, 2025 at 2:13 PM
We’ve known what this man & co are capable of for a very long time. Biden & Garland should’ve prosecuted them and did not. The main-stream media largely let it drop out of rotation in the cycle. I think about these kids every day. Every day that someone on TV asks if it’s really that bad yet
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
Coinciding with it's "No" letter Harvard has refashioned its university homepage into essentially an advertisement for the social benefits of university research. This is the current front page.
April 14, 2025 at 10:06 PM
Coinciding with it's "No" letter Harvard has refashioned its university homepage into essentially an advertisement for the social benefits of university research. This is the current front page.
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
“So this is my radical proposal for universities: Act like universities, not like businesses. Spend your endowments. Accept more, not fewer students. Open up your campuses and expand your reach not by buying real estate but by bringing education to communities. Create a base. Become a movement.”
Opinion | This Is How Universities Can Escape Trump’s Trap, if They Dare (Gift Article)
It’s been tried in other countries facing authoritarian crackdowns. It works.
www.nytimes.com
April 15, 2025 at 3:21 AM
“So this is my radical proposal for universities: Act like universities, not like businesses. Spend your endowments. Accept more, not fewer students. Open up your campuses and expand your reach not by buying real estate but by bringing education to communities. Create a base. Become a movement.”
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
Important for Dems to not only pull out all the stops to bring Garcia home but keep his story front and center. This is much more than abt immigration now - this is abt the basic foundations of our Constitution. Our country's founding fathers fought a revolution & declared independence over this.
Shamefully, immigration appears to be what has kept his overall approval numbers higher than what they should be given that he’s been getting crushed on so many other issues. If he loses the country on this, he’s heading towards late 2nd term George W territory
👀🚨JICYMI: New Quinnipiac Poll: More Americans now disapprove of Trump on immigration by 50% to 45% (including 51% independents)
MAJORITY of Americans now disapprove of Trump on deportations by 53% to 42% poll.qu.edu/poll-release...
cc: @schumer.senate.gov @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social l
MAJORITY of Americans now disapprove of Trump on deportations by 53% to 42% poll.qu.edu/poll-release...
cc: @schumer.senate.gov @hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social l
April 14, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Important for Dems to not only pull out all the stops to bring Garcia home but keep his story front and center. This is much more than abt immigration now - this is abt the basic foundations of our Constitution. Our country's founding fathers fought a revolution & declared independence over this.
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
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 Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
One reason this government can so easily frame protesters as terrorists is that others—including some at universities—have already laid the groundwork. When we treat students engaged in constitutionally protected speech like criminals, we make it easier for authoritarian governments to do the same.
Before Mahmoud Khalil's detention last week, ICE came for a Columbia PhD student. She had nothing to do with the Gaza protests, but was arrested last spring during a roundup while trying to walk home. Charges were dismissed. The State Department still revoked her visa.
How a Columbia Student Fled to Canada After ICE Came Looking for Her
Ranjani Srinivasan’s student visa was revoked by U.S. immigration authorities. That was just the start of her odyssey.
www.nytimes.com
March 15, 2025 at 4:19 PM
One reason this government can so easily frame protesters as terrorists is that others—including some at universities—have already laid the groundwork. When we treat students engaged in constitutionally protected speech like criminals, we make it easier for authoritarian governments to do the same.
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
Yesterday members of @aaup-penn.bsky.social, GETUP, @afscme590.bsky.social, CIR, @rapup-uaw.bsky.social & @phillycwu.bsky.social showed Penn what a petition signed by 1,100+ coworkers looks like. (Turn sound on!) Solidarity with higher ed workers at Columbia and everywhere. Let’s fight like hell!
March 22, 2025 at 3:57 AM
Yesterday members of @aaup-penn.bsky.social, GETUP, @afscme590.bsky.social, CIR, @rapup-uaw.bsky.social & @phillycwu.bsky.social showed Penn what a petition signed by 1,100+ coworkers looks like. (Turn sound on!) Solidarity with higher ed workers at Columbia and everywhere. Let’s fight like hell!
I don’t love a bunch of work emails on a Sunday. Hi, don’t do that.
March 17, 2025 at 12:25 AM
I don’t love a bunch of work emails on a Sunday. Hi, don’t do that.
Reposted by Karen Zumhagen-Yekplé
1/7 It is with deep sadness that we mourn the passing of Linda Williams, a pioneering scholar whose fearless work transformed film and media studies. Over her remarkable career, Williams challenged scholars to take seriously popular and often marginalized genres,
March 14, 2025 at 6:56 PM
1/7 It is with deep sadness that we mourn the passing of Linda Williams, a pioneering scholar whose fearless work transformed film and media studies. Over her remarkable career, Williams challenged scholars to take seriously popular and often marginalized genres,