Tyler Derreth
@tylerderreth.bsky.social
Asst Prof at JHU. Higher Ed, community engagement, Baltimore, and other stuff
Reposted by Tyler Derreth
The government of Jamaica has set up a portal for contributing to official relief efforts. I will update this thread if anything analogous opens up for Haiti, Cuba, or the DR
supportjamaica.gov.jm
supportjamaica.gov.jm
Support Jamaica
supportjamaica.gov.jm
October 28, 2025 at 5:08 PM
The government of Jamaica has set up a portal for contributing to official relief efforts. I will update this thread if anything analogous opens up for Haiti, Cuba, or the DR
supportjamaica.gov.jm
supportjamaica.gov.jm
Reposted by Tyler Derreth
Purdue to the rescue of IU student newspaper, whose institution was attempting censorship. Details in alt!
October 18, 2025 at 7:24 PM
Purdue to the rescue of IU student newspaper, whose institution was attempting censorship. Details in alt!
Reposted by Tyler Derreth
"Can they truly be so ignorant to the words of a man they have so rushed to memorialize? I don’t know. But the most telling detail in Klein’s column was that, for all his praise, there was not a single word in the piece from Kirk himself."
Ta-Nehisi Coates, with receipts.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, with receipts.
Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause
By ignoring the rhetoric and actions of the Turning Point USA founder, pundits and politicians are sanitizing his legacy.
www.vanityfair.com
September 16, 2025 at 9:26 PM
"Can they truly be so ignorant to the words of a man they have so rushed to memorialize? I don’t know. But the most telling detail in Klein’s column was that, for all his praise, there was not a single word in the piece from Kirk himself."
Ta-Nehisi Coates, with receipts.
Ta-Nehisi Coates, with receipts.
Reposted by Tyler Derreth
This is authoritarian madness. The right unleashed a bunch of know-nothing propagandists and A&M’s President decided to give them veto power over course material.
Texas A&M University System orders audit of all courses after gender identity lesson goes viral
Details: bit.ly/42jauQZ
Details: bit.ly/42jauQZ
September 10, 2025 at 12:56 PM
This is authoritarian madness. The right unleashed a bunch of know-nothing propagandists and A&M’s President decided to give them veto power over course material.
Reposted by Tyler Derreth
Rather than tenure, I'd prefer a strong union that includes my non-tenure track colleagues. I think we'd have more power and better protection.
What happened at Texas A&M where an instructor was fired and chair and dean removed from their posts is only the latest illustration that college administrations are not reliable protectors of academic freedom. Faculty must organize around their own interests. open.substack.com/pub/academic...
Academic Freedom Rights: Use Them or Lose Them
An outrage at Texas A&M
open.substack.com
September 10, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Rather than tenure, I'd prefer a strong union that includes my non-tenure track colleagues. I think we'd have more power and better protection.
Every decision Mamdani makes seems to try to answer the question “what can we do to show people how much we love this city and how great it is.” A winning strategy when you want to lead the city!
Your first clue.
August 24, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Every decision Mamdani makes seems to try to answer the question “what can we do to show people how much we love this city and how great it is.” A winning strategy when you want to lead the city!
Reposted by Tyler Derreth
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
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
demolishing higher education is economic sabotage
It's important to note here that we're not just talking about faculty & university staff. 100s of U.S. colleges are in towns or small cities where they form the major industry & lifeblood of the community. Loss of students -> loss of rent $, restaurant $, bars, bookstores, gaming stores...
The US could see a 30-40% decline in new international student enrollment, resulting in nearly $7 billion in lost revenue and more than 60,000 fewer American jobs. https://www.nafsa.org/fall-2025-international-student-enrollment-outlook-and-economic-impact
August 4, 2025 at 12:30 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
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
demolishing higher education is economic sabotage
Reposted by Tyler Derreth
Someone should check if he’s ever falsified business records
Unquestionably the most dangerous and corrupt attack on the independence of US economic data in American history. Trump is firing the head of the BLS, a longtime civil servant confirmed 86-8 by the Senate, simply because the job numbers came in below his expectations today
August 1, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Someone should check if he’s ever falsified business records
Making the argument that structural racism is the reason we shouldn’t have affirmative action policies because structural racism doesn’t exist is a wild take
“Johns Hopkins has not merely preserved its discriminatory DEI framework — it has entrenched, expanded and openly celebrated it as a cornerstone of its institutional identity,”
www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/hi...
www.thebaltimorebanner.com/education/hi...
Conservative group files complaint against Hopkins medical school
America First Legal is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to launch a formal investigation into diversity policies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
www.thebaltimorebanner.com
July 18, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Making the argument that structural racism is the reason we shouldn’t have affirmative action policies because structural racism doesn’t exist is a wild take
We need a record of how people work out ideas!
I'm working my thoughts out on this during July in fact. It's funny, if this was the 1500s, I would be writing letters to my learned colleagues trying to tease out my thoughts on the exaggeration of the power of nudges and future generations could oo and aww. Instead, I'm just texting homies.
The damage from the Nudge era is brutal. It made politicians believe that they could secure the political outcomes they wanted w/o having to be political, w/o having to take chances on & make cases for their positions. Add a Clintonesque Third Way hangover & you get a bad, ineffective worldview.
July 15, 2025 at 3:28 AM
We need a record of how people work out ideas!
Reposted by Tyler Derreth
"O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!"
Starting the day sharing my favorite Langston Hughes poem in the family group chat before doing my own reading
poets.org/poem/let-ame...
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!"
Starting the day sharing my favorite Langston Hughes poem in the family group chat before doing my own reading
poets.org/poem/let-ame...
Let America Be America Again
Let America be America again.
poets.org
July 4, 2025 at 12:55 PM
"O, yes,
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!"
Starting the day sharing my favorite Langston Hughes poem in the family group chat before doing my own reading
poets.org/poem/let-ame...
I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!"
Starting the day sharing my favorite Langston Hughes poem in the family group chat before doing my own reading
poets.org/poem/let-ame...
Reposted by Tyler Derreth
Judge: And so given all those factual findings, I'm going to exercise the discretion I have to ORDER THE RELEASE of Mahmoud Khalil
June 20, 2025 at 5:45 PM
Judge: And so given all those factual findings, I'm going to exercise the discretion I have to ORDER THE RELEASE of Mahmoud Khalil
Look what understanding humanities and cultural-contextual analysis can do
Whoa. Spicy footnote from Justice Jackson, dissenting in the ADA case. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
![The majority’s contention that I reject “ ‘pure textualism’ [a]s insuf
ficiently pliable to secure the result [I] seek,” ante, at 10, stems from an
unfortunate misunderstanding of the judicial role. Our interpretative
task is not to seek our own desired results (whatever they may be). And,
indeed, it is precisely because of this solemn duty that, in my view, it is
imperative that we interpret statutes consistent with all relevant indicia
of what Congress wanted, as best we can ascertain its intent. A method
ology that includes consideration of Congress’s aims does exactly that—
and no more. By contrast, pure textualism’s refusal to try to understand
the text of a statute in the larger context of what Congress sought to
achieve turns the interpretive task into a potent weapon for advancing
judicial policy preferences. By “finding” answers in ambiguous text, and
not bothering to consider whether those answers align with other sources
of statutory meaning, pure textualists can easily disguise their own pref
erences as “textual” inevitabilities. So, really, far from being “insuffi
ciently pliable,” I think pure textualism is incessantly malleable—that’s
its primary problem—and, indeed, it is certainly somehow always flexi
ble enough to secure the majority’s desired outcome.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:f4d76fjna5nxqsy2fu6cgmp3/bafkreicg7mx5lddzyvnoguvadwnojtm7xcu2sf34hhizuapfesk46w7kli@jpeg)
June 20, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Look what understanding humanities and cultural-contextual analysis can do
Reposted by Tyler Derreth
Whoa. Spicy footnote from Justice Jackson, dissenting in the ADA case. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
June 20, 2025 at 2:32 PM
Whoa. Spicy footnote from Justice Jackson, dissenting in the ADA case. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...
Reposted by Tyler Derreth
W.E.B. Du Bois on Robert E. Lee:
“Either he knew what slavery meant when he helped maim and murder thousands in its defense, or he did not. If he did not he was a fool. If he did, Robert Lee was a traitor and a rebel–not indeed to his country, but to humanity and humanity’s God.”
“Either he knew what slavery meant when he helped maim and murder thousands in its defense, or he did not. If he did not he was a fool. If he did, Robert Lee was a traitor and a rebel–not indeed to his country, but to humanity and humanity’s God.”
June 11, 2025 at 12:42 PM
W.E.B. Du Bois on Robert E. Lee:
“Either he knew what slavery meant when he helped maim and murder thousands in its defense, or he did not. If he did not he was a fool. If he did, Robert Lee was a traitor and a rebel–not indeed to his country, but to humanity and humanity’s God.”
“Either he knew what slavery meant when he helped maim and murder thousands in its defense, or he did not. If he did not he was a fool. If he did, Robert Lee was a traitor and a rebel–not indeed to his country, but to humanity and humanity’s God.”
Reposted by Tyler Derreth
I’ve told the story many times. Now @katemasur.bsky.social and I have filed it in federal court: Free Black Americans were first to recognize BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP in the US. When denied it, they fought to secure it. They show us what the 14th Amendment meant and what it meant to live without it.
Historian @marthasjones.bsky.social & @katemasur.bsky.social, a member of the Historians Council on the Constitution, filed a brief against the birthright citizenship executive order. History contradicts the administration's claim that the 14th Amendment applies only to “newly freed slaves.”
www.brennancenter.org
May 29, 2025 at 12:45 PM
I’ve told the story many times. Now @katemasur.bsky.social and I have filed it in federal court: Free Black Americans were first to recognize BIRTHRIGHT CITIZENSHIP in the US. When denied it, they fought to secure it. They show us what the 14th Amendment meant and what it meant to live without it.
Reposted by Tyler Derreth
Ed researchers! @aeraedresearch.bsky.social asks that we take a 5 min survey on "how specific [IES] datasets, surveys, research, and evaluations are used and relied upon by members" by May 28th to respond to questions from the judge. I'm not including the link on purpose but please check your email!
May 23, 2025 at 10:33 PM
Ed researchers! @aeraedresearch.bsky.social asks that we take a 5 min survey on "how specific [IES] datasets, surveys, research, and evaluations are used and relied upon by members" by May 28th to respond to questions from the judge. I'm not including the link on purpose but please check your email!
Read it! This doesn’t do what most major outlets do—tell a feel good story about some answer that promises to eliminate our problems. Instead this is a hard work, know-your-power story imploring us to get together in the midst of our problems, and maybe we find our way through them.
May 24, 2025 at 1:47 AM
Read it! This doesn’t do what most major outlets do—tell a feel good story about some answer that promises to eliminate our problems. Instead this is a hard work, know-your-power story imploring us to get together in the midst of our problems, and maybe we find our way through them.
Anyone who has grieved knows that hope is not the thing you need. What you need is what Hanif Abdurraqib writes about so beautifully here.
This is one of the most profound essays I’ve read in years. You don’t need me to tell you that Hanif Abdurraqib is one of the finest writers of our time, but this essay in particular is a hard-won offering. Please read it and share with people you love.
In Defense of Despair
The feeling is most commonly framed as an end point, a level of despondency that cannot be overcome. But it doesn’t have to be so.
www.newyorker.com
May 22, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Anyone who has grieved knows that hope is not the thing you need. What you need is what Hanif Abdurraqib writes about so beautifully here.
I will shout this forever. Learning is just not an efficient process. Learning something new means rebuilding a lot of what we thought we knew…there’s a lot of roundabouts and dead ends on that road.
Not hard at all.
I may be biased. I have a lot of friends in English. But the AI admin push feels really targeted at how much English courses bedevil their funding models. They’re inefficient, they cannot shuttle it to professional schools, & weirdly students want it.
I may be biased. I have a lot of friends in English. But the AI admin push feels really targeted at how much English courses bedevil their funding models. They’re inefficient, they cannot shuttle it to professional schools, & weirdly students want it.
100%. When did my unit start getting institutional nudges to incorporate AI into our work? When they increased our teaching load and we protested that the new load (4/5) was unmanageable for the teaching of writing. It's not hard to figure out!
April 24, 2025 at 9:09 PM
I will shout this forever. Learning is just not an efficient process. Learning something new means rebuilding a lot of what we thought we knew…there’s a lot of roundabouts and dead ends on that road.
Reposted by Tyler Derreth
Not hard at all.
I may be biased. I have a lot of friends in English. But the AI admin push feels really targeted at how much English courses bedevil their funding models. They’re inefficient, they cannot shuttle it to professional schools, & weirdly students want it.
I may be biased. I have a lot of friends in English. But the AI admin push feels really targeted at how much English courses bedevil their funding models. They’re inefficient, they cannot shuttle it to professional schools, & weirdly students want it.
100%. When did my unit start getting institutional nudges to incorporate AI into our work? When they increased our teaching load and we protested that the new load (4/5) was unmanageable for the teaching of writing. It's not hard to figure out!
April 24, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Not hard at all.
I may be biased. I have a lot of friends in English. But the AI admin push feels really targeted at how much English courses bedevil their funding models. They’re inefficient, they cannot shuttle it to professional schools, & weirdly students want it.
I may be biased. I have a lot of friends in English. But the AI admin push feels really targeted at how much English courses bedevil their funding models. They’re inefficient, they cannot shuttle it to professional schools, & weirdly students want it.