October 13th, 2026
‘A new political party, The Haredi Public, is advocating for secular studies, greater workforce participation and military service for Haredim who are not studying full-time in yeshiva.’

And that ain’t all. ‘15.3% of ultra-Orthodox men and 11.9% of women secularize by age 30.’ With that many getting the hell out, there may be hope for Israeli society.

October 4th, 2026
When you score 148th out of 148 countries on a list ranking global treatment of women…

… you must be Pakistan. And while it’s all well and good to treat us like shit in Taxila, Texas is going to be a little trickier.

A Pakistani rich guy resident in Texas decided to dump his arranged wife. He did the Sharia three-step, figuring that’d work fine ‘round those parts, but the Texas Supreme Court ruled hey women in the United States have rights. You can’t just declare she’s over and take $100 million in community assets for yourself. If you want to do that, you’ll have to move back to Pakistan, where you can be a perfectly legal asshole.

The fight against woman-loathing Sharia law has to happen here. Good on you, Texas.

September 29th, 2026
There’s no “I” in “URINATE.”

“Unfortunately in our society right now, we live in the ‘look at me’ society… It’s about the team and focus on the team, and not so much ‘look at me.’”

Coach blames society for player simulating pulling out his cock and pissing.

https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/steve-sarkisian-blames-society-for-colin-simmonss-bizarre-unsportsmanlike-conduct-foul

https://www.foxnews.com/outkick-sports/texas-longhorns-colin-simmons-vulgar-sack-celebration-inexcusable-christian-athlete

September 26th, 2026
Sexual Perversity in Madison

‘Wisconsin Frat Members Arrested After Injured Pledges Found Half-Naked In Hot Basement’


‘“Inside the basement of the residence, officers found around 30 … partially clothed males covered in food, condiments and other liquids,” police said.’

********************

UD’s been following American frat life for ages, and much of it is The Story of O, written by guys for guys. Very edgy, very S and M, very … hot.

September 17th, 2026
“[W]hile [Bo] French might say some things that others in his party won’t, or use language and imagery that many of them might avoid, the forces that increasingly power their movement are ones he embodies—Christian nationalism, internet-addled white supremacy, and a slow-building and then frighteningly sudden frenzy of state-sponsored Islamophobia.”

The writer forgets raging misogyny.

One of the billionaires whose support put Bo French over the top in his primary runs a church where women may not speak and certainly may not have anything to do with the church beyond silently appearing at Yahweh’s homestead.

They must cover their sinful flesh, with special attention to cleavage.

UD can’t detect much difference, culturally, between this and Wahhabism, which Big Daddy hates with as murderous a passion as his boy Bo does. Yet he shares misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, etc., with reactionary Islam…

September 15th, 2026
“Actually, no one is neutral. Every teacher stands in front of a class with his or her own convictions.”

Mama, you are so wrong. In free societies, teachers strive to keep their convictions away from the front of the class, so that liberal, exploratory discourse can prevail.

This woman – who has lost her teaching job because she refuses to take off her hijab while in front of a room of students in Belgium – thinks God commands her to express her religious convictions, and model female modesty, at all times. Her conviction of this is so intense that she – unlike many Muslim women – would never think of removing her scarf for the duration of her classes. She would rather ruin her life than follow the law on this. The law is secular, and in this instance that doesn’t count.

Recall Boucar Diouf:

“How would an immigrant of Palestinian origin, contesting a conviction, feel in front of a judge wearing a kippah? Inversely, how would a young driver wearing a kippah feel faced with a policewoman wearing a hijab who just gave him a ticket?”

Recall also a recent German case.

The same anxiety pertains in the free classroom (not of course in the parochial classroom, which is set up to proselytize). How free would a budding feminist in a middle school feel to talk about cultures that hide women under hijabs and heavy robes, and call for sex-restricted swimming and other forms of gender separation?

The hijab/thick body robe is a powerful symbol of submission. Impressionable young women shouldn’t be subjected to that symbolic power from a person of authority in the formal setting of the classroom.

September 12th, 2026
Ah, fuck it.

An Afghan woman living here legally was accused of being a terrorist by a secretive federal court. Rather than make a fuss about it, she decided to concede her ISIS membership and leave.

September 11th, 2026
Like the poor, religious fanatics we will always have with us.

The federal appeals court in Nawlins boasts a lot of holy rollers, and they’re not about to let the odd Supreme Court precedent get in the way of forcing the Ten Commandments into every public classroom in their state.

Looziana “has assumed the authority to determine and declare religious truth in violation of the Establishment Clause.” Says here.

September 4th, 2026
Know Hope: When America’s Most Cretinous Cults are Crushed by the Courts…

… the church/state separation remains intact.

So much depends (to quote WC Williams) on swinish theocrats being hogtied by judges, and the way Maine recently affirmed that truth was inspirational.

A divorced mother took her 11 year old daughter to a church where the pastor told the child her father would rot in hell for eternity, which – astonishingly – severely distressed her. Ol’ Mom of course never informed her ex that she was dragging the increasingly anxious and depressed kid to these vicious precincts, though apparently the woman did tell her ex that under the guidance of this cult she would never give vaccines or antibiotics to their daughter.

The Maine courts have granted the sole parent with any mentation – any morality – sole control over religious and medical decisions.

August 27th, 2026
‘Mr. Koch had not sought approval from voters before commissioning the art pieces, which had been stored in a warehouse while the Supreme Judicial Court was hearing the case.’

Whooooops.

Separation of church and state, doncha know. Apparently Americans feel strongly about it.

August 6th, 2026
‘Why are so many young women leaving the LDS Church?’

Babe, do you really have to ask?

July 23rd, 2026
The super busy Freedom From Religion Foundation can currently be found in the Baby Food Capital of the World, Fremont MI.

Nowheresville Fremont has been smuggling proselytizers into its public schools, and someone there seems to have complained to the FFRF.

One of the Christian groups is the famed Gideons, whose bibles burst out of your hotel drawer. The Gids were doing what they do, unloading masses of Big Books onto their captive student audience.

The other group pilgrimmed around the school, itinerant preachers looking for 15 year old souls to save. Muslim souls? Atheist souls? Fuck! That’s the reason we’re preaching, dummy! It bugs us that they’re all going to hell.

Another save, back in 2022.

July 18th, 2026
Whether they’re speaking Ultraorthodox or Ultramuslim, we all recognize the international language of Asshole.

They refuse to sit next to women on planes, and I guess sometimes airlines accommodate their assholery; but when they don’t, things can get very bad very quickly. The latest incident featured a Sharia maniac slapping a female crew member who attempted to reason with him when he did his no-women-next-to-me thing. He was arrested.

July 3rd, 2026
‘Judge slams Malaysia’s mandatory female circumcision edict as “primitive patriarchal practice”’

All praise to Melbourne judge Jonathan Beach, who is not only willing to notice that ALL Muslim girls (babies. toddlers.) in that benighted country MUST get slashed and desexed, but who is even willing to condemn it publicly.

It’s the whole fucking country, folks, and you didn’t even know about it. Islam is the official state religion. 65% of the place practices the religion. Virtually everyone practices FGM.

July 2nd, 2026
‘I sat in an Amish church once where whooping cough was making rounds; the group preferred this over the unknowns of vaccination.’

The Amish and the Jewish ultraorthodox – when serious disease runs rampant in the larger population, it will probably be these baleful sects we have to thank.

Even as yet another court – this one in New York State – says you can’t kill our kids, even if you’re willing to kill your own, these ignorant people continue to fight for their right to be exempt from human decency.

Next Page »

UD REVIEWED

Dr. Bernard Carroll, known as the "conscience of psychiatry," contributed to various blogs, including Margaret Soltan's University Diaries, for which he sometimes wrote limericks under the name Adam.
New York Times

George Washington University English professor Margaret Soltan writes a blog called University Diaries, in which she decries the Twilight Zone-ish state our holy land’s institutes of higher ed find themselves in these days.
The Electron Pencil

It’s [UD's] intellectual honesty that makes her blog required reading.
Professor Mondo

There's always something delightful and thought intriguing to be found at Margaret Soltan's no-holds-barred, firebrand tinged blog about university life.
AcademicPub

You can get your RDA of academic liars, cheats, and greedy frauds at University Diaries. All disciplines, plus athletics.
truffula, commenting at Historiann

Margaret Soltan at University Diaries blogs superbly and tirelessly about [university sports] corruption.
Dagblog

University Diaries. Hosted by Margaret Soltan, professor of English at George Washington University. Boy is she pissed — mostly about athletics and funding, the usual scandals — but also about distance learning and diploma mills. She likes poems too. And she sings.
Dissent: The Blog

[UD belittles] Mrs. Palin's degree in communications from the University of Idaho...
The Wall Street Journal

Professor Margaret Soltan, blogging at University Diaries... provide[s] an important voice that challenges the status quo.
Lee Skallerup Bessette, Inside Higher Education

[University Diaries offers] the kind of attention to detail in the use of language that makes reading worthwhile.
Sean Dorrance Kelly, Harvard University

Margaret Soltan's ire is a national treasure.
Roland Greene, Stanford University

The irrepressibly to-the-point Margaret Soltan...
Carlat Psychiatry Blog

Margaret Soltan, whose blog lords it over the rest of ours like a benevolent tyrant...
Perplexed with Narrow Passages

Margaret Soltan is no fan of college sports and her diatribes on the subject can be condescending and annoying. But she makes a good point here...
Outside the Beltway

From Margaret Soltan's excellent coverage of the Bernard Madoff scandal comes this tip...
Money Law

University Diaries offers a long-running, focused, and extremely effective critique of the university as we know it.
Anthony Grafton, American Historical Association

The inimitable Margaret Soltan is, as usual, worth reading. ...
Medical Humanities Blog

I awake this morning to find that the excellent Margaret Soltan has linked here and thereby singlehandedly given [this blog] its heaviest traffic...
Ducks and Drakes

As Margaret Soltan, one of the best academic bloggers, points out, pressure is mounting ...
The Bitch Girls

Many of us bloggers worry that we don’t post enough to keep people’s interest: Margaret Soltan posts every day, and I more or less thought she was the gold standard.
Tenured Radical

University Diaries by Margaret Soltan is one of the best windows onto US university life that I know.
Mary Beard, A Don's Life

[University Diaries offers] a broad sense of what's going on in education today, framed by a passionate and knowledgeable reporter.
More magazine, Canada

If deity were an elected office, I would quit my job to get her on the ballot.
Notes of a Neophyte

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