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Timothy Vollmer

@tvol

Library worker: @ucbscholcomm.bsky.social Union member: @ucaftbayarea.bsky.social When lightning strikes I’ll be on my bike.

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09.09.2023
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Latest posts by Timothy Vollmer @tvol

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Grammarly’s New AI Tools Use Experts’ Identities Without Their Permission The SF-based writing app Grammarly, recently rebranded as Superhuman, launched a set of AI-enabled tools, including expert reviews run by bots that scrape the published works of academics and assume t...

C.E. Aubin, a historian and postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, told Wired that Grammarly’s practices reinforce the “profound mistrust so many scholars in the humanities have for AI and its seemingly constant use in fundamentally unethical ways.” sfist.com/2026/03/08/s...

09.03.2026 18:29 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
A poster for UC-AFT bargaining sessions with the following dates:

March 19 - UCLA
April 9 - Zoom
April 16 - UC Davis
April 30 - Zoom
The poster includes the slogan "We Won Open Bargaining. Now Let’s Pack The Room" and an RSVP link at linktr.ee/ucaft.

A poster for UC-AFT bargaining sessions with the following dates: March 19 - UCLA April 9 - Zoom April 16 - UC Davis April 30 - Zoom The poster includes the slogan "We Won Open Bargaining. Now Let’s Pack The Room" and an RSVP link at linktr.ee/ucaft.

UC-AFT lecturer contract negotiations have begun. We won open bargaining, so let’s pack the sessions in solidarity with Unit 18 teaching faculty! Here are upcoming bargaining dates in March and April. weteachuc.org #WeTeachUC

08.03.2026 19:29 👍 8 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0

They're going to poison a city with 17 million people

08.03.2026 16:33 👍 2508 🔁 999 💬 101 📌 27

Thing that really gets my goat is the way people are eager to fund this bullshit but you need eleven layers of analysis and a ton of collateral if you want to open a small grocery store in a food desert.

07.03.2026 15:55 👍 3950 🔁 918 💬 53 📌 12
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The Public Fires Kristi Noem That's not the story you'll hear from Washington

“Something tells me Americans were more incensed by the flagrant and needless killing of two American protesters than some sketchy contract award or incomprehensible Trumpworld beef that the media will point to.” www.kenklippenstein.com/p/the-public... by @kenklippenstein.bsky.social

05.03.2026 23:52 👍 210 🔁 22 💬 5 📌 4
Pause the Cuts, Restore Shared Governance: A Zoom Town Hall on the UC Irvine Budget (02/13/2026)
Pause the Cuts, Restore Shared Governance: A Zoom Town Hall on the UC Irvine Budget (02/13/2026) YouTube video by UCAFT

Modeling budget democracy for higher education: @cnewf.bsky.social critiques @ucirvine.bsky.social for cutting funds for instruction while accumulating hundreds of millions in reserves. Cosponsored by @ucaft.bsky.social and @uc-faculty.bsky.social .
youtu.be/T-8MA3VnWQA?...

05.03.2026 11:46 👍 9 🔁 5 💬 0 📌 0
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How Trump Keeps Withholding Money After Being Sued 198 Times (Gift Article) Immigration demands for highway dollars, D.E.I. rules for homeless grants: Trump has tried to wield spending to get his way.

“You had literally grants for millions of dollars being canceled in a single vague paragraph: ‘This no longer comports with administration priorities’…” www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

04.03.2026 18:06 👍 0 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0

I’m really sorry. My deepest condolences.

04.03.2026 15:00 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Exclusive: Half of front-line UCSF social workers say they’ve been sexually assaulted or harassed OPINION: A new survey from the labor union representing licensed health care workers found an astonishing 50% reported being sexually assaulted or harassed at work, Emily Hoeven writes.

Matias Campos, a UCSF clinical pharmacist and the UPTE executive vice president: “We have been screaming from the rooftops about this issue for years. No one took us seriously.” Join us at 12 pm on Thursday, March 5, at UCSF Mission Bay to tell UC: Safety can’t wait. RSVP here: upte.org/rsvp

#UCSF

04.03.2026 01:31 👍 2 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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Congress to America: What War? I’ll be covering the Iran war extensively, subscribe so you don’t miss any updates

Congress to America: "What War?"
www.kenklippenstein.com/p/congress-t...

04.03.2026 01:59 👍 460 🔁 68 💬 24 📌 8
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Why Can't Top Democrats Just Say "No War With Iran"? The response to what could be the biggest geopolitical disaster of the 21st century is foot-dragging, silence, and sleepy, feigned opposition long after the deed is done.

“Top leaders have a duty to loudly and clearly oppose the war in and of itself, not just appeal to the domestic legal particulars by which it is being waged … The only way to read this half-hearted response from the Democratic Party leadership is de facto support.” www.thenation.com/article/poli...

03.03.2026 22:54 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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UC Berkeley to terminate freshman enrollment program, threatening mass lecturer layoffs The Fall Program for First Semester, a program that has supported thousands of freshmen over its 43-year history at UC Berkeley, is set to shut down.

“Lecturers have been left in limbo as the termination threatens to be one of the largest lecturer layoffs in campus history.” 👎 www.dailycal.org/news/campus/... @ucaft.bsky.social

03.03.2026 17:18 👍 5 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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ALA Workers Initiate Union Drive On March 2, employees of the Chicago-based American Library Association announced plans to form ALA Workers United, joining AFSCME Council 31 in Illinois.

“Once eligible members sign union cards, the organizing committee can ask ALA leadership for voluntary recognition of the union, which the National Labor Relations Board would certify before a collective bargaining committee could form.” www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/...

03.03.2026 19:04 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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White House talking points for congressional Republicans say we're not at war, we're just in "major combat operations against Iran" lol

02.03.2026 23:57 👍 2555 🔁 582 💬 300 📌 369
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American Library Association employees forming union with AFSCME Joining the wave of union organizing among cultural workers, employees of the primarily Chicago-based American Library Association (ALA) announced they are forming their union with AFSCME Council 31.T...

As proud as I’ve ever been to be a member of the @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social!!

afscme31.org/news/america...

02.03.2026 18:07 👍 84 🔁 23 💬 1 📌 3

Translation: we let faculty step into the ring and fight on behalf of everyone, doing nothing to support them and in some cases actively hindering them because ours is a strategy of capitulation, which always works with playground bullies and fascists alike.

02.03.2026 22:01 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
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Celebrating 50+ Years of Fair Use: ARL and Re:Create Host Congressional Briefing on AI and Fair Use — Association of Research Libraries On the occasion of the 13th annual Fair Use Week, ARL and Re:Create teamed up to host a panel of legal and policy experts from libraries and civil society—moderated by...

“The flexibility of fair use accommodates uses like computational research, critique, and teaching and learning, all grounded in the same basic principle.” www.arl.org/blog/celebra... @arl.org

02.03.2026 21:53 👍 1 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
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Harvard is fighting Trump. UC president says he wants to try ‘a better course’ UC President James B. Milliken defended the university's decision to not sue the Trump administration over funding cuts and said it was the university's responsibility to engage.

Faculty + unionized workers are the real leaders of the University of California, repelling funding cuts and attacks on research and teaching. The UC President and highly-paid administrators sit on the sidelines with harebrained dreams they can negotiate with Trump. www.latimes.com/california/s...

02.03.2026 17:24 👍 18 🔁 12 💬 0 📌 2
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After a US-Israeli strike on a girls’ elementary school in Minab, Iran, rescuers dug through the rubble for survivors. The death toll is still rising, with more than 80 confirmed dead so far.

28.02.2026 16:24 👍 863 🔁 749 💬 73 📌 173

Biden executed a genocide
Obomba destroyed Libya

U.s. imperialism is bipartisan

28.02.2026 15:47 👍 4 🔁 2 💬 1 📌 0

It’s pretty horrifying how the US regime doesn’t even particularly care to manufacture consent for another illegal war.

28.02.2026 15:30 👍 372 🔁 63 💬 7 📌 4

No congress, no constitution, and a king.

What a way to celebrate 250 years.

28.02.2026 11:19 👍 1386 🔁 332 💬 14 📌 18
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What the CLEAR Act Gets Wrong — Association of Research Libraries The bipartisan Copyright Labeling and Ethical AI Reporting (CLEAR Act) would require anyone using a training dataset in connection with the training or release of a generative AI model to...

⚖️ What the CLEAR Act Gets Wrong

In this new ARL Views blog post, @katherinejk.bsky.social dives into the bipartisan Copyright Labeling and Ethical AI Reporting (CLEAR Act): www.arl.org/blog/what-th...

#AI #Copyright #CLEARAct @recreatecoalition.bsky.social

26.02.2026 18:32 👍 3 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
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Columbia Student Arrested by ICE in a University Building Is Released

It really shouldn’t become common practice that the mayor of one of the most powerful cities in the world has to tell Trump to stop his radically unconstitutional acts. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/n...

27.02.2026 00:54 👍 3 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Multicultural Community Center reopens following campus review, removal of all artwork After the Multicultural Community Center was shuttered by campus administration in fall 2025, the MCC reopened Feb. 13 following a review of its practices by campus officials.

“Taking out the artwork, taking out the statements, taking out the community work, specifically in the space, takes away from where the movement was born out of, and it’s a form of erasure that I think the MCC doesn’t want people to forget.” www.dailycal.org/news/campus/...

26.02.2026 18:47 👍 3 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 1
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UC and UC-AFT negotiations tentatively set to begin in March - Daily Bruin This post was updated Feb. 24 at 11:37 p.m. UC lecturers are tentatively set to begin negotiations with the University in March. The unit of the University Council-American Federation of Teachers repr...

“When we say, ‘we run UC’, it’s really the people that make this University possible,” Luce said in the interview. “As long as we stay resolute and stand together, we can protect this place and defend the value of public higher education.” dailybruin.com/2026/02/24/u...

26.02.2026 17:51 👍 9 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
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Cal’s sports spending soars to over $165 million in school’s first year in ACC A recent financial report offers a glimpse into the finances of Cal athletics at the dawn of a new era in college sports. Expenses have already climbed more than 30% over three years.

“Bottom line: The statement of revenues and expenses put the Cal athletic department’s deficit at more than $24 million for the most recent fiscal year.” www.sfchronicle.com/sports/colle...

26.02.2026 00:10 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
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Major Chinese funder to stop paying fees for 30 pricey open-access journals Move comes amid effort to grow the country’s own journals

"Since 2019, the government has been pursuing a plan to develop 400 world-class scientific journals as affordable alternatives to ones based in Western countries; by 2023 the country had about 178 English-language open-access journals, nearly half of which charged no APC..."

25.02.2026 11:38 👍 2 🔁 4 💬 0 📌 0
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Today's the day! Our Capitol Hill briefing for Fair Use Week is at 11:30am in the Russell Senate Office Building. So excited to bring this group of experts to DC to help share the good news about fair use and balanced copyright!*

25.02.2026 12:30 👍 4 🔁 3 💬 2 📌 0
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Justice Department Sues University of California Over Antisemitism

Well, the DOJ has done it: they have filed a lawsuit against the University of California over antisemitism.

The complaint contains some falsehoods. But as someone who teaches and writes about Title VII, I'm equally struck by what the complaint doesn't say.

A few thoughts— 🧵

24.02.2026 21:41 👍 476 🔁 221 💬 14 📌 23