David Huyssen
@davidhuyssen.bsky.social
Historian (political economy, class, culture), writer, editor, teacher.
https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674281400
https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674281400
University Boards of Trustees always justify wildly outsized salaries in senior manager posts by saying they're necessary to "recruit talent."
The "talent" in question: a willingness to make bank while immiserating faculty, abetting authoritarianism, & poisoning any positive institutional legacies.
The "talent" in question: a willingness to make bank while immiserating faculty, abetting authoritarianism, & poisoning any positive institutional legacies.
worth noting that the $30.2 million deficit the school is facing can be traced to ballooning admin salaries, real estate, and admin benefits, according to the economics department's analysis. the salaries for the actual professors is in line with or *below* the school's revenue growth
November 19, 2025 at 7:29 PM
University Boards of Trustees always justify wildly outsized salaries in senior manager posts by saying they're necessary to "recruit talent."
The "talent" in question: a willingness to make bank while immiserating faculty, abetting authoritarianism, & poisoning any positive institutional legacies.
The "talent" in question: a willingness to make bank while immiserating faculty, abetting authoritarianism, & poisoning any positive institutional legacies.
Reposted by David Huyssen
Shows the thinking, leadership we need from unions representing education workers - all of us. pre-K through highered, wall to wall. Kudos and solidarity with the New School Full-time Faculty union @aaup.org. Know someone who can join? Send this link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
November 19, 2025 at 2:03 PM
Shows the thinking, leadership we need from unions representing education workers - all of us. pre-K through highered, wall to wall. Kudos and solidarity with the New School Full-time Faculty union @aaup.org. Know someone who can join? Send this link: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Reposted by David Huyssen
worth noting that the $30.2 million deficit the school is facing can be traced to ballooning admin salaries, real estate, and admin benefits, according to the economics department's analysis. the salaries for the actual professors is in line with or *below* the school's revenue growth
November 19, 2025 at 4:33 PM
worth noting that the $30.2 million deficit the school is facing can be traced to ballooning admin salaries, real estate, and admin benefits, according to the economics department's analysis. the salaries for the actual professors is in line with or *below* the school's revenue growth
Reposted by David Huyssen
I agree, although whenever anyone mentions Miss Cleo I remember my friend who worked as one of her telephone psychics and told me that part of the job was knowing when to tell people to hang up and dial 911.
We need a public awareness campaign to start treating generative AI like Miss Cleo. “For entertainment purposes only.”
”Doctors agreed that long wait times for appointments were bad, yet also expressed concerns about patients turning to magic 8 balls for medical advice”
November 19, 2025 at 3:38 PM
I agree, although whenever anyone mentions Miss Cleo I remember my friend who worked as one of her telephone psychics and told me that part of the job was knowing when to tell people to hang up and dial 911.
Reposted by David Huyssen
A two-year LABOR HISTORY postdoc @brownhist.bsky.social and @watsonschoolbrown.bsky.social
Possible foci: migration/displacement/ human trafficking; automation/technology/processes of global integration; or gender/sexuality/politics of reproductive labor
Please apply!
Possible foci: migration/displacement/ human trafficking; automation/technology/processes of global integration; or gender/sexuality/politics of reproductive labor
Please apply!
Apply - Interfolio
{{$ctrl.$state.data.pageTitle}} - Apply - Interfolio
apply.interfolio.com
November 18, 2025 at 8:12 PM
A two-year LABOR HISTORY postdoc @brownhist.bsky.social and @watsonschoolbrown.bsky.social
Possible foci: migration/displacement/ human trafficking; automation/technology/processes of global integration; or gender/sexuality/politics of reproductive labor
Please apply!
Possible foci: migration/displacement/ human trafficking; automation/technology/processes of global integration; or gender/sexuality/politics of reproductive labor
Please apply!
Reposted by David Huyssen
when @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I started working on this book, it felt excitingly ambitious to imagine it being used by students at a range of levels in literary studies
...and now we hear it's being picked up by high school teachers, historians, professors of law, and more -- I'm truly floored
...and now we hear it's being picked up by high school teachers, historians, professors of law, and more -- I'm truly floored
Am I the first law professor wanting to assign parts of this book to law students, esp. the Introduction by @johannawinant.bsky.social and @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social
November 18, 2025 at 8:16 PM
when @dan-sinnamon.bsky.social and I started working on this book, it felt excitingly ambitious to imagine it being used by students at a range of levels in literary studies
...and now we hear it's being picked up by high school teachers, historians, professors of law, and more -- I'm truly floored
...and now we hear it's being picked up by high school teachers, historians, professors of law, and more -- I'm truly floored
Reposted by David Huyssen
Still processing that an economic advisor to multiple administrations, business leaders, and top institutions was asking a known sex trafficker of minor age girls to be his wingman for attempting to coerce his academic mentee into a sexual relationship—years after he said that women aren’t as smart
November 18, 2025 at 3:44 AM
Still processing that an economic advisor to multiple administrations, business leaders, and top institutions was asking a known sex trafficker of minor age girls to be his wingman for attempting to coerce his academic mentee into a sexual relationship—years after he said that women aren’t as smart
Reposted by David Huyssen
When anyone asks me for a fast example of how global neoliberalism is structurally racist, I share Larry Summers’ famous memo describing Africa as “under polluted” and of “little marginal utility” as grounds for shipping toxic waste to the continent
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summers...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summers...
Summers memo - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 18, 2025 at 5:08 AM
When anyone asks me for a fast example of how global neoliberalism is structurally racist, I share Larry Summers’ famous memo describing Africa as “under polluted” and of “little marginal utility” as grounds for shipping toxic waste to the continent
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summers...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summers...
Reposted by David Huyssen
Larry Summers is on the board of OpenAI
November 18, 2025 at 6:11 AM
Larry Summers is on the board of OpenAI
This White House is not beating the "we protect sex offenders" charges, and the idea that there is no political mileage in that for Democrats—alongside a positive vision that mobilizes the Party's base—is baffling.
NEW: When Andrew Tate landed in the US, Customs & Border Protection seized his electronic devices. But @propublica.org found that a White House official told DHS to return the devices, emphasizing that the request came from the White House.
By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro
By @robert-faturechi.bsky.social & Avi Asher-Schapiro
The White House Intervened on Behalf of Accused Sex Trafficker Andrew Tate During a Federal Investigation
Federal authorities were chided for seizing electronic devices from Tate and his brother, and told to return them, records and interviews show. Experts said the intervention was highly inappropriate.
www.propublica.org
November 18, 2025 at 12:45 PM
This White House is not beating the "we protect sex offenders" charges, and the idea that there is no political mileage in that for Democrats—alongside a positive vision that mobilizes the Party's base—is baffling.
Reposted by David Huyssen
we should take teaching more seriously
Larry Summers tells @theharvardcrimson.bsky.social
he’s stepping back from all public commitments in light of his messages with Epstein, saying he is “deeply ashamed” and hopes “to rebuild trust and repair relationships.”
He will continue teaching.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
he’s stepping back from all public commitments in light of his messages with Epstein, saying he is “deeply ashamed” and hopes “to rebuild trust and repair relationships.”
He will continue teaching.
www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
November 18, 2025 at 1:27 AM
we should take teaching more seriously
Reposted by David Huyssen
test the plausibility of this for yourself: ask "what sort of efforts would fully counteract the sociological effects of a system where people routinely sold their own children into labor camps?" and see how different your answer is from "years of open terrorism in defense of retrenching apartheid"
The south was a chattel slave empire until the 1860s and a de facto ethnic authoritarian state for the following century, which is well in living memory. I don't think we need to pretend that that hasn't left a distinctive cultural mark.
November 17, 2025 at 9:39 PM
test the plausibility of this for yourself: ask "what sort of efforts would fully counteract the sociological effects of a system where people routinely sold their own children into labor camps?" and see how different your answer is from "years of open terrorism in defense of retrenching apartheid"
Reposted by David Huyssen
Well this is very lovely - Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain named a book of the year by the great @eriklinstrum.bsky.social for History Today!
November 17, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Well this is very lovely - Liverpool and the Unmaking of Britain named a book of the year by the great @eriklinstrum.bsky.social for History Today!
Reposted by David Huyssen
Imagine writing a policy that required you to be explicit that you would not forcibly confiscate refugees’ wedding rings
Ministers now appear to be confirming in broadcast interviews that they would audit and could confiscate assets (including jewellery) excepting wedding rings from the jewellery that they could confiscate.
November 17, 2025 at 10:10 AM
Imagine writing a policy that required you to be explicit that you would not forcibly confiscate refugees’ wedding rings
Reposted by David Huyssen
The fact that @harvard.edu's Larry Summers is teaching three courses this semester while Texas A&M Professor Melissa McCoul was fired tells you all you need to know about what "gender ideology" is allowed and which is not. @aaup.org
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: Jeffrey E. Epstein.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
Dhruv T. Patel and Cam N. Srivastava report.
As Summers Sought Clandestine Relationship With Woman He Called a Mentee, Epstein Was His ‘Wing Man’ | News | The Harvard Crimson
When former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers was pursuing a romantic relationship with a woman he described as a mentee, he turned to a longtime associate for guidance: convicted sex offender…
www.thecrimson.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:10 AM
The fact that @harvard.edu's Larry Summers is teaching three courses this semester while Texas A&M Professor Melissa McCoul was fired tells you all you need to know about what "gender ideology" is allowed and which is not. @aaup.org
Reposted by David Huyssen
This piece makes it sound totally normal that the police gets to decide whether or not to "work with" Mamdani as mayor, and it continues, as nearly all the paper's coverage, to wield normative terms like "moderate" and left" in a prejudicial way. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/n...
The N.Y.P.D. Prepares for Mayor Mamdani and a New Era in Public Safety
www.nytimes.com
November 16, 2025 at 5:58 PM
This piece makes it sound totally normal that the police gets to decide whether or not to "work with" Mamdani as mayor, and it continues, as nearly all the paper's coverage, to wield normative terms like "moderate" and left" in a prejudicial way. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/16/n...
Reposted by David Huyssen
We just raised $1 million dollars for our transition to City Hall. The groundwork to make this city a fairer and more affordable place is happening because of you.
November 16, 2025 at 2:32 PM
We just raised $1 million dollars for our transition to City Hall. The groundwork to make this city a fairer and more affordable place is happening because of you.
Reposted by David Huyssen
I can reassure the New York Times that networks of mutual protection, and misogynist retaliation efforts that benefit abusive men at the expense of the young women they prey upon, are very much still intact post-Me Too.
This is nauseating: “As the emails stretch through the years, they show how that protected realm vanished into the mists of time, pulled under by the rising forces of the internet and the #MeToo movement.” A “Gone With the Wind” framing for sexual abuse and harassment.
Seriously, what is wrong with these people?
November 16, 2025 at 2:13 PM
I can reassure the New York Times that networks of mutual protection, and misogynist retaliation efforts that benefit abusive men at the expense of the young women they prey upon, are very much still intact post-Me Too.
Reposted by David Huyssen
*spits out coffee*
November 16, 2025 at 1:14 PM
*spits out coffee*
Reposted by David Huyssen
Congrats and thanks to @aaup.org —this is a big victory that will help protect universities across the country.
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 15, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Congrats and thanks to @aaup.org —this is a big victory that will help protect universities across the country.
Reposted by David Huyssen
Those claiming Dems should retreat on racial justice aren't hard-headed realists, they're pushing against the electoral tide rather than leaning into it. The story of Gen Z isn't about racist backlash or red-pilled young men. It's the most racially progressive generation in American history. 🧵
November 14, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Those claiming Dems should retreat on racial justice aren't hard-headed realists, they're pushing against the electoral tide rather than leaning into it. The story of Gen Z isn't about racist backlash or red-pilled young men. It's the most racially progressive generation in American history. 🧵
Reposted by David Huyssen
Honestly love to see it and want to see it 49 more times
(Source for the screenshot within a screenshot: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...)
(Source for the screenshot within a screenshot: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...)
November 14, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Honestly love to see it and want to see it 49 more times
(Source for the screenshot within a screenshot: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...)
(Source for the screenshot within a screenshot: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...)
Reposted by David Huyssen
NEW: The first two years of Massachusetts' millionaire tax has raised $3 billion more than expected.
And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.*
Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:
And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.*
Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:
Millionaire Tax That Inspired Mamdani Fuels $5.7 Billion Haul in Massachusetts
A millionaire levy in Massachusetts that New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani holds up as a model for taxing the rich has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing...
www.bloomberg.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:01 PM
NEW: The first two years of Massachusetts' millionaire tax has raised $3 billion more than expected.
And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.*
Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:
And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.*
Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:
Reposted by David Huyssen
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
BREAKING: In AAUP et al v. Trump (wall-to-wall union lawsuit challenging the administration’s unlawful use of TItle VI to reshape the University of California system), the faculty and staff of the UC system WON!!!
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
We were granted our preliminary injunction! @aaup.org
November 15, 2025 at 12:01 AM
WE WON. I am *begging* you to take note of who did this. *Not* UCLA admin—they’re still scuttling around behind closed doors, attempting to appease—but FACULTY AND STAFF, led by AAUP.
Reposted by David Huyssen
And we knew this. This wasn't speculation. We studied it, we had the talking points. We trained volunteers to explain this to people. It's not a surprise. Rich people don't flee places with good quality of life when we increase the quality of life. They might try to cheat us, but they don't leave.
NEW: The first two years of Massachusetts' millionaire tax has raised $3 billion more than expected.
And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.*
Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:
And rather than driving the rich away, IPS researchers found that the number of millionaires has *increased.*
Tax the rich. Greg Ryan in @bloomberg.com:
Millionaire Tax That Inspired Mamdani Fuels $5.7 Billion Haul in Massachusetts
A millionaire levy in Massachusetts that New York City mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani holds up as a model for taxing the rich has generated $3 billion more in revenue than expected without forcing...
www.bloomberg.com
November 14, 2025 at 4:16 AM
And we knew this. This wasn't speculation. We studied it, we had the talking points. We trained volunteers to explain this to people. It's not a surprise. Rich people don't flee places with good quality of life when we increase the quality of life. They might try to cheat us, but they don't leave.