Change Happens

Just got word from our fearless leaders, our outgoing president and less-than-a-year-here provost, that the Kansas legislature’s ban on DEI initiatives, mandates, training, and “gender identifying pronouns or gender ideology…on state employee’s email accounts and any other form of communication” probably includes our LMS (Canvas). Which means that my student information form is probably also illegal.

This is as good a time as any to say that this will be my last semester at Pitt State, our last spring in Kansas. As I said to my union, ‘retirement’ may be too strong a word; we are relocating and I can’t do my job remotely (they tell me), so I’m done here: https://dresnerworld.edublogs.org/2025/05/14/change-happens/

Just in time, I guess. Kansas already banned gender-affirming care for minors, banned trans folk from public restrooms that match their gender identity (though no enforcement mechanism); things can only get worse. The legislature has already mandated the form, and some of the courses, of the general education standard at all public universities; the legislature considered eliminating tenure protections this session; I can only imagine that it’s a matter of time before other content-based restrictions and mandates are imposed.

I don’t know what that means in terms of me as a blogger, especially here. I haven’t had much to say here, specifically, and most of my pedagogical innovation has been in the area of historiography rather than Asian history. I will make up my mind, perhaps, soon.