Gillian Roberts
@citizenofblue.bsky.social
Settler Canadian migrant in the UK. Reader, writer, professor, knitter, runner, cyclist, roller skater, stepmom, dog mom. Dress code: blue. Co-host of Borders Talk: Dots, Dashes, and the Stories They Tell. She/her.
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
Unpleasant but not so shocking when you consider how UK universities these days are run more like businesses than institutions of research & learning. Management will inevitably focus on protecting the bottom line, principles be damned.
This is the most alarming story I’ve read today. Giving up the fight before it’s started
November 30, 2025 at 11:23 AM
Unpleasant but not so shocking when you consider how UK universities these days are run more like businesses than institutions of research & learning. Management will inevitably focus on protecting the bottom line, principles be damned.
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
Even ignoring that she probably hasn’t had a mortgage to pay since the mid-1990s, I refuse to believe that someone who’s voted Labour since they were actually a left-wing party would react this way to a tax amounting to a maximum of 0.125% of the property value that can be deferred until sale.
November 30, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Even ignoring that she probably hasn’t had a mortgage to pay since the mid-1990s, I refuse to believe that someone who’s voted Labour since they were actually a left-wing party would react this way to a tax amounting to a maximum of 0.125% of the property value that can be deferred until sale.
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
Some of our most precarious members, tutors and demonstrators on 'guaranteed hours' contracts, have had their work hours cut or disappeared entirely in management's cost cutting spree. All the money paid to Nous could have gone to them.
#StopStaffCutsatUoE
www.theferret.scot/consultancy-...
#StopStaffCutsatUoE
www.theferret.scot/consultancy-...
‘Nousferatu’: the notorious consultancy advising Edinburgh uni amid 'huge' cuts
Scotland’s largest university has turned to Nous Group at the same time as it is making savings that could lead to nearly 2,000 job losses. Staff say they were misled about the extent of its work.
www.theferret.scot
November 30, 2025 at 12:23 PM
Some of our most precarious members, tutors and demonstrators on 'guaranteed hours' contracts, have had their work hours cut or disappeared entirely in management's cost cutting spree. All the money paid to Nous could have gone to them.
#StopStaffCutsatUoE
www.theferret.scot/consultancy-...
#StopStaffCutsatUoE
www.theferret.scot/consultancy-...
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
Some quick thoughts on Thomas King's revelations, from a Red River Métis and Critical Indigenous Studies perspective.
"Hollow-gram Indigeneity and the superficiality of colonial consumption (or: the unbearable flatness of fraud)"
zoestodd.com/2025/11/26/h...
"Hollow-gram Indigeneity and the superficiality of colonial consumption (or: the unbearable flatness of fraud)"
zoestodd.com/2025/11/26/h...
Hollow-gram Indigeneity and the superficiality of colonial consumption (or: the unbearable flatness of fraud)
“Tribes are not vestiges of the past, but laboratories of the future.” — Vine DeLoria, Jr. (1965), quoted in Wilkins (2018). [alt text: image of a cream and light blue crayfish on…
zoestodd.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:46 PM
Some quick thoughts on Thomas King's revelations, from a Red River Métis and Critical Indigenous Studies perspective.
"Hollow-gram Indigeneity and the superficiality of colonial consumption (or: the unbearable flatness of fraud)"
zoestodd.com/2025/11/26/h...
"Hollow-gram Indigeneity and the superficiality of colonial consumption (or: the unbearable flatness of fraud)"
zoestodd.com/2025/11/26/h...
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
The real problem is that administrators view faculty as problems to be solved, too, rather than as colleagues and certainly not as allies. This narrow posture has reinforced their bunker mentality, keeping them from aligning with faculty, consulting world experts among us, and being united.
November 22, 2025 at 2:32 AM
The real problem is that administrators view faculty as problems to be solved, too, rather than as colleagues and certainly not as allies. This narrow posture has reinforced their bunker mentality, keeping them from aligning with faculty, consulting world experts among us, and being united.
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
AHGBI, led by Professor Sarah Wright, opposes the University of Nottingham’s move to suspend—and effectively close—all Modern Languages degrees. SRUK/CERU, led by Dr Carlos Soler Montes, has also raised concerns.
AHGBI urges immediate reconsideration.
#SaveNottinghamLanguages
AHGBI urges immediate reconsideration.
#SaveNottinghamLanguages
November 22, 2025 at 9:42 AM
AHGBI, led by Professor Sarah Wright, opposes the University of Nottingham’s move to suspend—and effectively close—all Modern Languages degrees. SRUK/CERU, led by Dr Carlos Soler Montes, has also raised concerns.
AHGBI urges immediate reconsideration.
#SaveNottinghamLanguages
AHGBI urges immediate reconsideration.
#SaveNottinghamLanguages
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
I used to handle interlibrary loans for a public library. ILL is a magnificent expression of the idea that readers deserve books, and books deserve readers. It’s libraries everywhere pooling their resources for the benefit of everyone.
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries IMLS
librarytechnology.org/pr/31973
librarytechnology.org/pr/31973
Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries
Press Release: Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries. The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island struck down the Trump Adm...
librarytechnology.org
November 22, 2025 at 3:23 PM
I used to handle interlibrary loans for a public library. ILL is a magnificent expression of the idea that readers deserve books, and books deserve readers. It’s libraries everywhere pooling their resources for the benefit of everyone.
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
Food insecurity has reached a record high of 25.5 per cent in Canadian households, according to the latest Canadian Food Sentiment Index report published by the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.
Food insecurity in Canadian households hits record high of 25.5 per cent, says report
Food insecurity has reached a record high of 25.5 per cent in Canadian households, according to the latest Canadian Food Sentiment Index report published by the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.
cheknews.ca
November 23, 2025 at 12:24 AM
Food insecurity has reached a record high of 25.5 per cent in Canadian households, according to the latest Canadian Food Sentiment Index report published by the Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University.
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
this is some DC comics villain shit
"Countries with state subsidies for abortion, transgender-friendly policies for children, hate speech laws and affirmative action policies will now be considered to be violating human rights under rules imposed at the [US] State Department..."
www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...
www.forbes.com/sites/maryro...
Abortion And DEI Policies Now Considered Violations Of Human Rights, U.S. Says
The Trump administration has overhauled how the State Department conducts its annual Human Rights Report.
www.forbes.com
November 22, 2025 at 6:11 PM
this is some DC comics villain shit
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
University of Nottingham Council meets on Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 to decide on the proposal to close modern languages degrees www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk/home#how-you...
November 23, 2025 at 10:07 AM
University of Nottingham Council meets on Monday 24 and Tuesday 25 to decide on the proposal to close modern languages degrees www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk/home#how-you...
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
For those of you in the UK, especially if you are a UK citizen, can you please take part in the consultation on changes to Indefinite Leave to Remain (Settlement) that were just proposed by the UK government. We need as many people as possible to reject these proposals. www.gov.uk/government/c...
Earned settlement
The government is consulting on how the current settlement system should be reformed and how those reforms should be implemented.
www.gov.uk
November 21, 2025 at 11:13 AM
For those of you in the UK, especially if you are a UK citizen, can you please take part in the consultation on changes to Indefinite Leave to Remain (Settlement) that were just proposed by the UK government. We need as many people as possible to reject these proposals. www.gov.uk/government/c...
Help save Modern Languages at UoN!
Colleagues and UCU members from UoN's Department of Modern Languages have put together this wonderful guide on supporting their programmes. A lot of what they suggest is also helpful in challenging the 48 courses at risk across the university
www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk
www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk
savenottinghamlanguages
The University of Nottingham has suspended applications to all languages degree programmes, with a view to permanent closure of all of its undergraduate languages degrees. Under the proposals, it…
www.savemlcatnotts.org.uk
November 21, 2025 at 4:48 PM
Help save Modern Languages at UoN!
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
Almost every senior manager in UK universities seems to be making the same bet, under the misapprehension that the university is the buildings rather than the people.
Just straight up ‘we are willing to wager that new buildings are more important to the operation and reputation of the University than having enough staff to actually teach the students they’re supposed to help recruit’
November 13, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Almost every senior manager in UK universities seems to be making the same bet, under the misapprehension that the university is the buildings rather than the people.
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
In the same week, both the University of Nottingham and the University of Leicester announced closing their Modern Languages departments. Disastrous for the sector as a whole and for the ML landscape in the Midlands: c.org/4X7VMy9MPD
Sign the Petition
Save Modern Languages courses at the University of Leicester
c.org
November 13, 2025 at 9:42 AM
In the same week, both the University of Nottingham and the University of Leicester announced closing their Modern Languages departments. Disastrous for the sector as a whole and for the ML landscape in the Midlands: c.org/4X7VMy9MPD
Please sign and help to save my former department! Goodness knows this is no time to stop teaching about and researching North America!
www.change.org/p/save-ameri...
www.change.org/p/save-ameri...
Sign the Petition
SAVE AMERICAN STUDIES TEACHING AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM
www.change.org
November 11, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Please sign and help to save my former department! Goodness knows this is no time to stop teaching about and researching North America!
www.change.org/p/save-ameri...
www.change.org/p/save-ameri...
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
You think your subject discipline is important? Nottingham might not. A sorry state of affairs. #Petitions
Even more petitions popping up. Doesn't make for a great endorsement, does it?
Please sign, spread the word, and help us push back against the constant undermining of our university:
c.org/MwqdpHLCnZ
c.org/Q6pTJXz87F
c.org/sGNYk5yGpM
Please sign, spread the word, and help us push back against the constant undermining of our university:
c.org/MwqdpHLCnZ
c.org/Q6pTJXz87F
c.org/sGNYk5yGpM
November 11, 2025 at 7:09 AM
You think your subject discipline is important? Nottingham might not. A sorry state of affairs. #Petitions
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
Thread.
1/ Michael Prescott of Hanover Communications, whose leaked memo alleging left-wing bias led to the BBC meltdown.
You could be forgiven for thinking that a corporate lobbyist & former Murdoch press hack may not have the best interests of public-service broadcasting at heart.
You could be forgiven for thinking that a corporate lobbyist & former Murdoch press hack may not have the best interests of public-service broadcasting at heart.
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
Thread.
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
An amazing day of solidarity with staff, students, and community members saying NO to compulsory redundancies and unnecessary course closures.
November 10, 2025 at 1:28 PM
An amazing day of solidarity with staff, students, and community members saying NO to compulsory redundancies and unnecessary course closures.
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
My former employer, @uniofnottingham.bsky.social, will be the first Russell Group university to cut #Theology degrees from next year onwards: thetab.com/2025/11/06/r...
Do consider to sign this student-led petitions: www.change.org/p/stop-the-r...
@uonucu.bsky.social
Do consider to sign this student-led petitions: www.change.org/p/stop-the-r...
@uonucu.bsky.social
Russell Group uni plans to axe a huge 48 courses that aren't 'financially viable' enough
The uni won't accept freshers for 15 subject areas
thetab.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:20 AM
My former employer, @uniofnottingham.bsky.social, will be the first Russell Group university to cut #Theology degrees from next year onwards: thetab.com/2025/11/06/r...
Do consider to sign this student-led petitions: www.change.org/p/stop-the-r...
@uonucu.bsky.social
Do consider to sign this student-led petitions: www.change.org/p/stop-the-r...
@uonucu.bsky.social
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
This pup is as bewildered as you are by planned course closures at UoN.
What kind of future will the next generation have without languages, music, theology, education, social work, microbiology & plant sciences, agriculture & nursing??
@uonucu.bsky.social photo credits @rullsenberg.bsky.social
What kind of future will the next generation have without languages, music, theology, education, social work, microbiology & plant sciences, agriculture & nursing??
@uonucu.bsky.social photo credits @rullsenberg.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 1:05 PM
This pup is as bewildered as you are by planned course closures at UoN.
What kind of future will the next generation have without languages, music, theology, education, social work, microbiology & plant sciences, agriculture & nursing??
@uonucu.bsky.social photo credits @rullsenberg.bsky.social
What kind of future will the next generation have without languages, music, theology, education, social work, microbiology & plant sciences, agriculture & nursing??
@uonucu.bsky.social photo credits @rullsenberg.bsky.social
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
More of Chris' photos are here: tregenza.com/uon-ucu-22nd...
UoN UCU 22nd October 2025 – Chris TREGENZA
Rally featuring Jo Grady, General Secretary of the UCU
tregenza.com
October 28, 2025 at 10:03 AM
More of Chris' photos are here: tregenza.com/uon-ucu-22nd...
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
This is well worth a read to understand what a complete mess higher education has become with @uniofnottingham.bsky.social among those leading the way muircheartblog.wpcomstaging.com/2025/11/06/q...
Quietly Axing Your Courses (but Thank You for Your Support)
In response to yesterday’s communication on course closures, a colleague—designated here only as CE-12 (Communications Entity 12)—has provided a translation that removes the corporate varnish and c…
muircheartblog.wpcomstaging.com
November 6, 2025 at 5:07 PM
This is well worth a read to understand what a complete mess higher education has become with @uniofnottingham.bsky.social among those leading the way muircheartblog.wpcomstaging.com/2025/11/06/q...
Reposted by Gillian Roberts
I leapt up swearing. Nottingham! Of Nottingham French Studies fame. A terrific, storied, innovative and important department.
November 6, 2025 at 6:21 PM
I leapt up swearing. Nottingham! Of Nottingham French Studies fame. A terrific, storied, innovative and important department.
