Lesson #19: Sometimes Silence is SO LOUD

In this week’s episode, Nic reflects on and enjoys the blank spaces in his calendar and James makes the final push to the end of the semester before the summer break. The duo check-in about the role of Learning on the Job within the ever-expansive ecosystem of higher education. We get a little “meta” but we promise we’re not like the other podcasts. We’re a ~cool~ podcast. Shout out to all the minoritized faculty making magic! The theme is silence. Are you silent? Or – *in best Oprah voice* – are you being SILENCEDT? The recent moves around D.I.E. work (see Lesson #16) within higher education are becoming institutionalized in ways that leave both Nic and James skeptical. We’ll see where this journey leads… James continues the uncomfortable conversation around silence, its material effects on the tenure track, and how a current and new role he’s undertaking raises concerns around what’s not said. Finally, Nic and James try to make sense of the absurdity and disrespect of the decision to not grant tenure to a Pulitzer Prize-winning, MacArthur Genius Grant having, New York Times 1619 Project founding, and all-around GOAT Nikole Hannah-Jones. They may try to silence us, but we’ve got something to say. WHEW! We want to hear from you, dear listener. Contact us at [email protected] Further Reading: Colleen Flaherty, The DEI Pathway to Promotion, Inside Higher Education Asheesh Kapur Siddique, Campus Cancel Culture Freakouts Obscure the Power of University Boards, Teen Vogue Rebecca Onion, The Real Reason UNC–Chapel Hill Is Withholding Tenure From Nikole Hannah-Jones, Slate What We’re Reading: Miha Jeffra, The Violence Almanac