Roxanne Shirazi

New Report: Civil Rights Law Weaponized to Chill Speech A report published today is the first systematic empirical study of government investigations and private lawsuits against US colleges and universities under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

This strategy has been detailed in a new report by @aaup.org and @mesa1966.bsky.social:

USCBS Releases Statement on the Iran Conflict and Cultural Heritage - US Committee of the Blue Shield

“The destruction of cultural heritage is irreversible. It erases identity, history, and the shared memory of civilizations. No military or political objective justifies the willful or negligent destruction of humanity’s common inheritance.”

uscbs.org/statement-ir...

A giant Iranian lion and sun flag, widely used by the Shah’s supporters in the Iranian diaspora, hanging from a shop in LA with a cyber truck parked in the foreground. From a Financial Times article on “Tehrangeles”

Cursed image from my home town

Iran cannot participate in the 2026 World Cup after the United States killed their leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the sports minister, Ahmad Donyamali, said on Wednesday. The United States and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran nearly two weeks ago, killing the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, leading to a region-wide conflict in the Gulf. “Considering that this corrupt regime [the US] has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup,” the minister told state television. “Our children are not safe and, fundamentally, such conditions for participation do not exist. “Given the malicious actions they have carried out against Iran, they have forced two wars on us over eight or nine months and have killed and martyred thousands of our people. Therefore, we certainly cannot have such a presence.”

Iran will not participate in the men’s World Cup.

“Considering that this corrupt regime [the US] has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup. Our children are not safe and, fundamentally, such conditions for participation do not exist.”

Amen.

They’ve ruined everything

I have been reading Arundhati Roy’s memoir, and she writes:

“Like most people in the world, then as well as now, we grew up between shouting and silence. Some of us made up our own minds, others had their minds made up for them.”

Between shouting and silence. Yes.

Have we checked on the prediction markets yet? 😵‍💫

🙃

I’m just here to marvel at Bam Adebayo. The world truly is upside down

Here’s a better way of putting it: if you’d like to know why faculty are so upset about CU unilaterally signing a $2 million contract with Open AI here are a few reasons 👇

Just heard from a friend in Tehran who says reality is even worse than the pictures. When they hit the depot in Aghdasiyeh, he could hear and feel it from 15km away.

He says if he could reach internet he’d say: “today is the day the world shall end, as the scripture has foretold,” he says.

“The hour of the barbarian is at hand. The modern barbarian. The American hour. Violence, excess, waste, mercantilism, bluff, conformism, stupidity, vulgarity, disorder.”

Aimé Césaire, Discourse on Colonialism

Classy

I have "not actually Iranian" in my bio because despite being Roxanne Shirazi from Los Angeles I'm just your average Mexican-Swedish-Scotch-German mutt who married into an Iranian American family at the tender age of 25, gaining a whole lot of Iranian relatives that my children and I haven't met yet

Today’s military strikes on Iran — carried out by the United States and Israel — mark a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression. Bombing cities. Killing civilians. Opening a new theater of war.

*protecting your personal peace* is not the important thing when your country is murdering people across the world. please be serious.

How to Write About Iran: A Guide for Journalists, Analysts, and Policymakers Whether you are working from your DC office or your home in LA or New York, here’s all you need to know to become an expert on Iran. 1. Always refe...

This, from 2021, is required reading today

How to Write About Iran: A Guide for Journalists, Analysts, and Policymakers www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/how...

Statement from Carney, who is in Mumbai to meet Modi. You cannot make this up

The US and Israel are bombing Iran. Anyone reporting it as “preventive” is engaging in propaganda, by definition. There is no interpretation of what’s happening as anything else than a crime.

You don’t have to like the Iranian regime to understand why this is bad.

"its not a war, let alone bad war, when we do it; in fact, it's peace, because it's us doing it, and besides, look whom we're doing it to"

I see the US is bombing people to free them again. I’m so tired of The American Way

A judge just tossed out Columbia University's disciplinary actions against 22 students over the 2024 Hamilton Hall occupation, finding the school relied on sealed arrest records and held individuals responsible for group actions, violating its own rules.

iapps.courts.state.ny.us/fbem/Documen...

It's great to see so much discussion of values-led decision making in HE libraries and how this leads to supporting open infrastructure initiatives at #CopimConference but I'd love to see these same values directed towards core library systems which remain predominantly commercial and proprietary.

It me

College for All Jubilee School Signup Register for all upcoming College for All Jubilee School sessions below! All sessions are 5-6:30pm ET unless otherwise noted. We encourage you to register even if you aren’t sure you can make it to…

College for All Jubilee School

starting March 5

Debt Collective, Higher Ed Labor United, and more partners in making education for everybody

debtcollective.org/forms/colleg...

TFW moms have a perfect vision for academic work.

Moms on the phone: how was work today?

Me: I had a meeting with a student, and then a departmental meeting, and then one other committee meeting.

Moms: why so many meetings?! they should pay you extra for all those meetings!!

👑👑

I love it. Taking it to the bargaining table ✊

In honor of Twin Peaks day, give yourself a present.

Rather than feed a megalomaniac with your attention, try:

•Dancing slowly with your arms out
•Stacking donuts
•Eating pie
•Befriending a tree, or part thereof

So weird how you guys didn't get around to mentioning that he's also the author of the Torture Memos!

A snowman with leaves for hair with a black scarf

Two giant snowmen outside the museum with a teen standing between them for scale. They appear to be almost 7 feet tall

A snowman in front of a black iron gate wearing a light green scarf with buttons down their bodice

A plain snowman with a kind of goofy smile in front of a brick wall

Saw quite a few snowpeople around the neighborhood today