May I Present: A Holly Dolly Xmas And a happy new blog!

If you need a bit of Dolly this holiday season, I made a playlist and post about some of my fav Dolly xmas songs. open.substack.com/pub/sarahdee...

I really liked this book! I used it in my article on comparative philology & the study of Native American religions. doi.org/10.1163/1570...

I'll have my robots talk to your robots

I love it! 🤩

In addition to many other important programs, IU Bloomington is eliminating its Folklore and Ethnomusicology Department, one of the most storied and successful in the country.

👀 The Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy has just published an article by A3P Sr. Counsel Josh Hammer, Timon Cline, & Yoram Hazony. It calls on SCOTUS to reverse the 1947 Everson case, which held that the Establishment Clause applies to the states & requires a separation of church & state. 1/

!!!!!!!

Indiana public colleges cut almost 20% of degrees Public Indiana colleges and universities have eliminated 19 percent of their degree programs to meet requirements added to the state’s budget, according to the Commission for Higher Education.

So, here it is. Thanks to a new state law that was NEVER DEBATED, Indiana University has committed itself to abolishing majors in African-American/African Diaspora Studies: American Studies; Art History; French; Italian; Religious Studies etc. DOZENS of majors. www.ipm.org/news-section...

A picture of comedian Pete Davidson with a caption that says “One of the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ. He was a close friend of Jesus and is involved in many of the most famous Gospel stories.”

The result of a Google search I just did for “famous Peters.” Maybe AI should rewrite history after all

& many more available for purchase and download justseeds.org/shop/?js-sub...

Print of two people reading books in front of a skyline and blue sky, with the words "dream," "empower," "question," and "study" floating upward from the books.

I've been thinking about public education and education as a public good this week, and it reminded me of the amazing work by @justseeds.bsky.social. So much great education-themed art! (Like this one by Pete Railand.)

Just for the record. See? Sovereignty-wise, Tribes outrank states. No supremacy clause for them.

I received tenure so I might do something wild like add a ridiculous quotation to my email signature

"May each step you take bring you closer to the things you seek to find" - George Jones

Indigenous leaders call on new Pope to return thousands of artifacts | CBC News The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations (FSIN) is calling for the Vatican to return sacred First Nation artifacts that were taken from Indigenous communities during the residential school era.

Indigenous leaders call on new Pope to return thousands of artifacts | CBC News www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...

Graphic with ACLS, AHA, and MLA logos with excerpt: “Congress believed NEH to be essential to the functioning of our democracy, and the public interest would be served by honoring that determination."

Yesterday, ACLS, @historians.org, and @modernlanguage.bsky.social filed a Memorandum of Law in Support of Motion for a preliminary injunction to reverse the cancellation of grants and the firing of NEH staff.

Read it in full here: bit.ly/3Sr4oJf

Maybe what I want to throw out there is just the thought that we *will* figure out how to deal with AI in higher education because we *must* figure out how to deal with AI in higher education.

I know I'm not saying anything new, and so many educators are thinking and talking about this at the moment... Over the next year I intend to dive into this conversation and do some overhauls of my assignments...

But also stubborn resolve: That writing and research assignments themselves are valuable and shouldn't be scrapped completely. That struggle is necessarily part of learning. That humanities classes provide opportunities for students to learn how to think for themselves, which is *so* important.

Grading papers in this early age of AI raises so many thoughts/feelings. Concern that so many students appear to be turning to algorithms to produce writing for them. Frustration at trends in higher education (and the world) that have laid the foundation for this largely uncritical turn to AI.

Universities in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union thought giving in to government demands would save their independence Before the Nazis, German universities were among the best in the world. Step by step, the universities gave up their independence until they were instruments of the state.

From @us.theconversation.com: Universities in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union thought giving in to government demands would save their independence theconversation.com/universities...

The Routledge Handbook of Research Methods in the Study of Indigenous Religions Exciting developments in research among, with and by Indigenous scholars and communities are enriching a wide range of disciplines, methodologies and trans-disciplinary conversations. This growing fie...

It's publication day for this volume! Please consider requesting it as a library purchase if you're able to do that. I don't have a copy yet, so I haven't been able to read any of the other chapters, but they look great. www.routledge.com/The-Routledg...

ACLS Member Societies Respond to Executive Orders Impacting Higher Education ACLS member societies have released statements and advocacy efforts responding to recent Executive Orders and federal budget cuts that target higher education.

ACLS member societies have released statements a responding to recent Executive Orders and federal budget cuts that target academic freedom, higher education, and other issues related to their fields: bit.ly/426DqLb

Joint Statement on Executive Order to Dismantle Department of Education ACLS has issued a joint statement with The Phi Beta Kappa Society.

Today, ACLS issued a joint statement with The Phi Beta Kappa Society on the March 20, 2025, executive order to close the US Department of Education: bit.ly/4hwNfb9

Dismantling of the Department of Education will result in catastrophic implications for students, faculty, communities, and the nation.

American flag washed out

📢 History should be told as it happened—not erased, distorted, or manipulated. The OAH, together with the @historians.org, condemns recent efforts to censor historical content.
Read the statement: 🔗 ow.ly/1cY650VhEw9

International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE) The International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE) office administers Title VI (domestic) and Fulbright-Hays (overseas) grant and fellowship programs.

Getting informal reports that as part of the mass layoffs at the Department of Education, the International and Foreign Language Education (IFLE) Office has been "abolished."

IFLE administers Title VI and Fulbright-Hays grant and fellowship programs.

A disaster.

www.ed.gov/about/ed-off...

beepbooping primary sources doesn't constitute legit analysis... it's an imitation of analysis. trying to think about some sort of new descriptor for the mishmash sort of info that AI produces

Reflecting on the talk I had w my upper-level class about sources yesterday, I had the thought that

AI-produced info = beepboops of primary sources + summaries & syntheses of secondary sources (so, tertiary sources), all masquerading as legit secondary sources (analyses of primary sources).

The latest issue of Religion and American Culture: A Journal of Interpretation is now available through Cambridge University Press. The Journal explores the interplay between religion and other spheres of American culture.
Follow along as we share more about these articles!

I would like to respectfully request that Dolly Parton, Beyoncé, and/or Taylor Swift purchase the Washington Post.

Not only do I read in bars, I carry around a small unobtrusive book light so dimly lit bars do not foil my plans to read in them!