Samantha Brennan

@samanthabrennan.bsky.social

3.8K followers 3.2K following 4.3K posts

Philosopher, feminist, ethicist, cyclist.
Dean of Arts, University of Guelph.
My Erdős number is 3.
My pronouns are she/her.🌈

http://linktr.ee/sjbrennan

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Samantha Jane Brennan is a British-born philosopher and scholar of women's studies who is currently dean of the College of Arts and faculty member in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Guelph. She was previously a professor in the Department of Women's Studies and Feminist Research at Western University, Canada. Brennan was Department Chair of Philosophy at Western from 2002 to 2007, and 2008–2011. She is a past president of the Canadian Philosophical Association (2017–18). .. more

Political science 53%

Sociology 13%

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Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · Nov 12

For new followers: My main bluesky themes are the College of Arts at Guelph where I'm Dean, philosophy (my home academic discipline), feminism and fitness (connected to my book and blog), and all things bike-related.

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 7h

Scholars at Risk’s most recent Free to Think report highlights the threats to academic freedom around the world, documenting 328 verified incidents of attacks on higher education in 49 countries and territories from July 2024 to June 2025.

www.caut.ca/bulletin/aca...

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 10h

Woo hoo!

fitisafeministissue.com/2025/12/09/t...

The earliest sunset is here!

The earliest sunset of the year is actually happening tonight! From here on the sun will set later. According to Google, in Toronto, the earliest sunset for late 2025 occurs around December 9th, w…

fitisafeministissue.com

Reposted by Samantha Brennan

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 12h

i suspect that for a bunch of the men in this group it will be a short step from this to whining that they aren't attractive to women

‘For the Reinvention of Man’: How a Conservative Debating Society at Harvard Pushed Women From Its Ranks | News | The Harvard Crimson

The John Adams Society began quietly excluding women from membership this semester, former and prospective affiliates told The Crimson. It is now effectively functioning as a single-sex organization.

www.thecrimson.com

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 20h

December Twelves For Christine

fitisafeministissue.com/2025/12/09/d...

December Twelves For Christine

Initially, I thought that I would follow my pattern from the last two months and just pick 12 things for the 12th month. But then I realized that I didn’t actually feel like trying new things right…

fitisafeministissue.com

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 1d

Has the Graduate-School Collapse Begun?

Funding cuts, loan caps, and visa restrictions are imperiling the sector. It might get worse.

www.chronicle.com/article/has-...

Has the Graduate-School Collapse Begun?

The Trump administration’s policies, and institutional budget cuts, are straining the delivery of master’s and doctoral degrees.

www.chronicle.com

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 1d

Making space, day 8

fitisafeministissue.com/2025/12/08/m...

Making Space 2025: Day 8

Hey everyone, For my own amusement, I decided to choose today’s videos by searching ‘8 minute workout’ and ‘8 minute meditation’ to match the fact that today is the 8t…

fitisafeministissue.com

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 1d

As It Happens with Nil Köksal, Chris Howden -

Student magazines getting axed under Trump administration

www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

www.cbc.ca

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 1d

A Winnipeg woman says an ad in a Canadian Tire Christmas flyer stopped her cold. It’s a picture of a pink toolbox, filled, not with tools, but with makeup. She and others say such marketing images send out the wrong signals to young girls and boys.

www.cbc.ca/listen/live-...

www.cbc.ca

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 1d

3. We found a skinny Christmas tree that actually fits in our living filled with bikes.

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 1d

2. Political Liberalism and LGBTQ+ Citizens, www.repository.cam.ac.uk/items/737b91..., cites Fundamentally incompetent: homophobia, religion, and the right to parent (2017) with Colin Macleod
scholar.google.ca/citations?vi...

Political Liberalism and LGBTQ+ Citizens

The key contention of this thesis is that freedom and equality have still not been secured for LGBTQ+ citizens in liberal societies. This thesis identifies several areas in which LGBTQ+ citizens still...

www.repository.cam.ac.uk

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 1d

#threegoodthings

1. Google alert to new citations my work!, especially exciting when it's something I wrote 30 years ago still being cited.

Choosing Less Harmful Alternatives link.springer.com/article/10.1..., cites Thresholds for Rights (1995), onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...,

Choosing Less Harmful Alternatives: The Ethics of Harm Reduction in Emerging Technologies - Science and Engineering Ethics

Science and Engineering Ethics - When are we obligated to choose less harmful alternatives to existing practices? This article addresses this deceptively simple question by developing the Principle...

link.springer.com

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 1d

A group of university presidents tout institutions' role in addressing Canada's challenges

Gift link

thttps://www.theglobeandmail.com/gift/9a87e783c10b182de064fff13aaee92c00093a3604c11d73928a72b5a3133dcc/O2K2AURRR5A7XAG5L3ARY7NWMI

University leaders tout institutions’ role in addressing Canada’s challenges

Nine presidents tell The Globe that the path to achieving goals for innovation, defence and economic growth will require investment in postsecondary research and teaching

www.theglobeandmail.com

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 2d

Federal funding cuts are only one problem facing America’s colleges and universities share.google/IqaPRy4A7ZXz...

Federal funding cuts are only one problem facing America’s colleges and universities

Amid federal funding cuts, the enrollment of both domestic and foreign students is falling at American colleges and universities.

share.google

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 2d

Canadians face confusion over new U.S. border crossing rules

www.ctvnews.ca/canada/artic...

Canadians face confusion over new U.S. border crossing rules

Canadians travelling to the U.S. are facing new rules at the border. On Jan. 20, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order titled Protecting the American People Against Invasion, int...

www.ctvnews.ca

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 2d

Silly fitness gifts, the 2025 edition

fitisafeministissue.com/2025/12/07/s...

Silly fitness gifts, the 2025 edition

Weeee’re back! Here are some of the newest (at least to me) silly so-called fitness gifts that you don’t need– either to give or receive– in 2025. All of them made some medi…

fitisafeministissue.com

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 2d

#pandemicmemories, #christmasdecorating

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 2d

Not just the humanities.

Steve Brusatte @stevebrusatte.bsky.social · 3d

Heartbreaking. The University of Nebraska will terminate its entire Earth science department.

One of the country's most successful and respected geology & climate programs: gone.

When ideologues & politicians are threatened by the very act of studying climate change, I wonder: who of us is next?

Celeste Labedz @celestelabedz.bsky.social · 3d

It's over.

Despite the fact that the academic council recommended against it, despite the fact that the program brought in more tuition than it cost, and despite the fact that Nebraskans need & deserve this expertise, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences will be cut.

www.dailynebraskan.com/news/adminis...

Steve Brusatte @stevebrusatte.bsky.social · 3d

Celeste Labedz @celestelabedz.bsky.social · 3d

BREAKING: ‘This hurts’: UNL eliminates 4 programs despite faculty, student pleas

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln eliminates the Earth and atmospheric sciences 8-0, educational administration 7-1, statistics 7-1, textiles, merchandising and fashion design 7-1 programs.

www.dailynebraskan.com

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 3d

Another in a series of posts in which I ask, is this real? Did Trump really post this?

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 3d

Not the 51st state but a vassal state: What Donald Trump’s national security strategy envisions for Canada
Released Thursday, the 2025 National Security Strategy is also a window into the dramatic shift in America’s official world view under Trump.

Gift link

www.thestar.com/news/world/u...

www.thestar.com

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 3d

If someone would go through my address book, by which I mean my Google contacts, and remove all the friends and family who've died, that might make the holiday season and card writing more cheerful. Can't ai do that? #aging

Reposted by Jacob T. Levy

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 3d

“We are in the midst of a crisis of massive proportions and grave global significance...a world-wide crisis in education.” That’s the opening blast from Martha Nussbaum’s new book, Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities.

philosophersmag.com/the-end-of-t...

The End of the Humanities? - The Philosophers' Magazine

Martha Nussbaum tells James Garvey why the humanities are under threat.

philosophersmag.com

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 3d

Nat’s decorating in defiance of dementia

fitisafeministissue.com/2025/12/06/n...

Nat’s decorating in defiance of dementia

My gran has been in care since 2021. Before that there were signs that she had some memory problems. Her personality changed as she forgot to be reserved. She was more joyful and spontaneous as wel…

fitisafeministissue.com

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 3d

Trump's new security strategy envisions Canada as a vassal state

www.thestar.com/news/world/u...

Not the 51st state but a vassal state: What Donald Trump’s national security strategy envisions for Canada

Released Thursday, the 2025 National Security Strategy is also a window into the dramatic shift in America’s official world view under Trump.

www.thestar.com

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 4d

DOJ orders prison inspectors to stop considering LGBTQ safety standards

www.npr.org/2025/12/04/n...

DOJ orders prison inspectors to stop considering LGBTQ safety standards

A memo obtained by NPR shows the Justice Department is telling inspectors to stop evaluating prisons using standards designed to protect trans and other LGBTQ community members from sexual violence.

www.npr.org

Reposted by Joe R. Feagin, Eric Rasmusen, Scott A. Imberman , and 2 more Joe R. Feagin, Eric Rasmusen, Scott A. Imberman, Samantha Brennan, Sebastian Karcher

Jacob T. Levy @jacobtlevy.bsky.social · 4d

True, all times are equally bad to quit caffeine.

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/04/d...

There’s Never Been a Better Time to Quit Caffeine

www.nytimes.com

Reposted by Alan Richardson, Jacob T. Levy, Samantha Brennan , and 2 more Alan Richardson, Jacob T. Levy, Samantha Brennan, Simon Lester, Tim Stephens

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 4d

Chairman Mao announces his new state-run transportation plan

I have just approved TINY CARS to be built in America. Manufacturers have long wanted to do this, just like they are so successfully built in other countries. They can be propelled by gasoline, electric, or hybrid. These cars of the very near future are inexpensive, safe, fuel efficient and, quite simply, AMAZING!!! START BUILDING THEM NOW! Thank you to the DOJ and the Departments of Transportation and Environment. ENJOY!!! President DONALD J. TRUMP

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 4d

Why do we treat art history as a frill?

rickjansonartstudio.ca/2025/12/03/w...

Why do we treat art history as a frill?

When I entered Toronto’s Scarlett Heights Collegiate Institute in the early 1970s, I thought it was normal that a significant proportion of the school’s art program was in art history. …

rickjansonartstudio.ca

Samantha Brennan @samanthabrennan.bsky.social · 5d

Conestoga College plans support staff layoffs in latest round of cost-cutting measures

A nearly 80 per cent drop in international student enrolment at the college is being blamed for measures to 'rightsize' the organization

www.guelphtoday.com/local-news/c...