Trump tries bribery.

"Trump Administration Asks Colleges to Sign ‘Compact’ to Get Funding Preference."
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/us/politics/trump-college-funding.html

"The White House on Wednesday sent letters to nine of the nation’s top public and private universities, urging campus leaders to pledge support for President Trump’s political agenda to help ensure access to federal research funds."

#Arizona, #Brown, #Dartmouth, #MIT, #Penn, #USC, #Texas, #Vanderbilt, #Virginia

#Academia #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Takedowns #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. The American Association of Colleges & Universities (#AACU, @aacu) just issued a statement on #Trump's “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”.
https://www.aacu.org/newsroom/aac-u-statement-on-the-trump-administrations-compact-for-academic-excellence-in-higher-education

"College and university presidents cannot bargain with the essential freedom of colleges and universities to determine, on academic grounds, whom to admit and what is taught, how, and by whom. They cannot trade academic freedom for federal funding—and should not be asked to do so."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. The #UCalifornia Academic Council unanimously called on the UC President and Regents "to unequivocally reject governmental demands that compromise institutional autonomy and academic freedom."
https://senate.universityofcalifornia.edu/_files/reports/council-chair-to-president-council-statement-ucla-demand-letter.pdf

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics #Universities

Update. The NYTimes has a good collection of institutional responses as of Oct 2, the day after Trump sent his letter to nine colleges and universities.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/us/trump-universities-compact-funding.html

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. Also see the American Council of Learned Societies (#ACLS) statement on the Trump compact.
https://www.acls.org/news/acls-statement-regarding-white-house-compact-for-academic-excellence-in-higher-education/

"Universities and colleges have one mission: to advance knowledge…Interfering with that process by forcing knowledge to pass through a political filter is a tactic adopted by the Soviet Union and other authoritarian states. The White House is dressing up its compact as a reasonable corrective to what it views as problems in campus culture. Let no one be deceived. This proposal imposes government censorship on academia. It is anti-American, and it weakens our democracy by devaluing academic expertise."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. Forgot to add this important response last week:
https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/10/02/governor-newsom-no-state-funding-for-sell-out-universities/

"Governor #GavinNewsom today [Oct 2] issued the following statement in response to the White House’s proposed “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education,” which ties access to federal funding to radical conservative ideological restrictions on colleges and universities: IF ANY CALIFORNIA UNIVERSITY SIGNS THIS RADICAL AGREEMENT, THEY’LL LOSE BILLIONS IN STATE FUNDING — INCLUDING CAL GRANTS — INSTANTLY. CALIFORNIA WILL NOT BANKROLL SCHOOLS THAT SELL OUT THEIR STUDENTS, PROFESSORS, RESEARCHERS, AND SURRENDER ACADEMIC FREEDOM."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #California #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. The Chronicle of Higher Education is tracking comments from the nine universities that received the Trump threat-bribe.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/the-white-house-sent-its-compact-to-9-universities-heres-what-their-administrators-and-faculty-are-saying
(#paywalled)

Summary: Large faculty groups at each institution urge administrators to reject the deal.

Administrators are saying little beyond the fact that they received the letter and are discussing what to do about it -- with one exception.

The exception is UTexas, where the chair of the Board of Regents, Kevin Eltife (a retired Republican State Senator), said Texas is "honored [to be] named as one of only nine institutions in the US selected by the Trump administration for potential funding advantages under its new 'Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education'. We enthusiastically look forward to engaging with university officials and reviewing the compact immediately."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. #MIT just became the first university to reject Trump's compact. Here's the letter from MIT President #SallyKornbluth to faculty, dated today.
https://orgchart.mit.edu/letters/regarding-compact

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. After #MIT said 𝗻𝗼 to the Trump compact (yesterday), the Chronicle of Higher Education asked the other eight targeted universities for their reactions.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/what-could-mits-rejection-of-trumps-proposed-compact-mean-for-the-rest-of-higher-ed
(#paywalled)

"Asked for reactions to MIT’s announcement, spokespeople for Brown University, Dartmouth College, the University of Southern California, the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Virginia, and Vanderbilt University had no new information to share. The other recipients — the Universities of Arizona and Pennsylvania — didn’t respond."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "Trump Offers All Colleges Preferential Funding Plan Rejected by MIT."
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-10-13/trump-invites-all-colleges-to-join-compact-after-mit-s-rejection
(#paywalled)

"The Trump administration is inviting all US colleges to participate in a compact — initially rejected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — that would grant preferential federal funding in return for commitments to specific policy changes like DEI bans, according to a person familiar with the matter…Trump has said that colleges who reject the deal will face investigations into compliance with federal laws, but the extent to which federal research grants or student aid eligibility will be predicated on acceptance of the accord remains murky."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. If you've heard that Trump "offered" his compact to all US colleges and universities, and your institution didn't receive the Trump letter, here's why. Trump didn't use letters. He used this Truth Social post:
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115362973187528235

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that, "A source at the Department of Education confirmed Tuesday that a Truth Social post from President Trump was intended to be an invitation to higher ed. 'We welcome any institution that wants to adopt these principles to sign the compact,' wrote the source, who declined to go on the record."
https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/the-trump-agenda/trump-welcomes-any-institution-to-sign-onto-compact-outlining-his-priorities
(#paywalled)

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. #Dartmouth has not yet made a public statement rejecting the Trump compact. But two Dartmouth sources "who asked to speak anonymously…said they participated in a meeting with President Sian Leah Beilock in which…she said 'she would not sign the compact as written.'"
https://www.chronicle.com/article/dartmouths-president-balks-at-trump-compact-sources-say-as-feds-expand-offer-to-any-institution
(#paywalled)

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. #Brown just rejected the Trump compact. Here's the public letter from Brown President Christina Paxson.
https://www.brown.edu/sites/default/files/brown-response-federal-compact-10-15-2025.pdf

"Brown’s existing agreement with the federal government expressly affirms the government’s lack of authority to dictate our curriculum or the content of academic speech -- a principle that is not reflected in the Compact."

h/t #WilliamCross

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. #Penn just rejected the Trump pact (Oct 16). Here's the public letter from UPenn President J. Larry Jameson.
https://penntoday.upenn.edu/announcements/update-penns-response-compact-academic-excellence

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. The U of Southern California just rejected the Trump compact (Oct 16). Here's the public letter from #USC interim president Beong-Soo Kim.
https://we-are.usc.edu/2025/10/16/update-from-interim-president-kim/

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. The U of Virginia just rejected the Trump compact (Oct 17). Here's the public letter from #UVa interim President Paul Mahoney.
https://news.virginia.edu/content/community-message-interim-president-paul-mahoney

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. #Dartmouth just rejected the Trump compact (Oct 18). Here's the public letter from Dartmouth President Sian Leah Beilock.
https://president.dartmouth.edu/news/2025/10/dartmouths-feedback-compact

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. The U of Arizona just rejected the Trump compact (Oct 20). Here's the public letter from #UArizona President Suresh Garimella.
https://president.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2025-10/Suresh-Garimella-to-Sec-Linda-McMahon.pdf

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. From Barbara Snyder, President of the Association of American Universities (#AAU), on the Trump compact:
https://www.aau.edu/newsroom/press-releases/statement-aau-president-administrations-higher-education-compact

"Federal support for higher education must never be tied to ideological alignment with any administration."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. #Vanderbilt has not yet accepted or rejected the Trump compact. But Chancellor Daniel Diermeier just released a vague and inconclusive open letter on where it stands.
https://t.e2ma.net/message/tu4xiq/5vxmu1ke

"Last Friday, Vanderbilt participated in a discussion with members of the administration and other university leaders about shaping a productive process for providing such comments. We expect to share our input with the administration through that process. Our response will be grounded in our long-held principles and values…Vanderbilt believes deeply in the power of constructive dialogue."

The letter is undated (why?) but the Chronicle reports that it was made public on Oct 20.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/compact-live-updates-more-colleges-weigh-responses-as-deadline-for-feedback-looms

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. Like Vanderbilt (above), #WashingtonU has not not accepted or rejected the Trump compact. But also like Vanderbilt, its Chancellor, Andrew Martin, just released a vague and inconclusive statement on where it stands (Oct 20).
https://andrewdmartin.washu.edu/washu-to-join-conversation-about-the-future-of-higher-education/

"We believe it is in the best interest of our university, and higher education more broadly, for us to participate constructively, share our experience and expertise, and help inform policies that strengthen the nation’s research and education ecosystem…We firmly believe meaningful progress will best be achieved through open, ongoing dialogue."

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. #WashingtonU has now rejected the Trump compact. Here's the public letter from Chancellor Andrew Martin (Oct 22).
https://wustl.app.box.com/s/f3wwjqkrq9x1ovyz28d3r3cxmo8kwlk9

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. #SyracuseU will also reject the Trump compact, according to an Oct 22 statement by Chancellor Kent Syverud to the University Senate. Apparently there is not a public letter announcing the decision.
https://dailyorange.com/2025/10/syverud-declines-trump-compact-senators-pass-portfolio-review-resolution/

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. "#NewCollege of #Florida Is Ready To Be The First To Sign President Trump’s Higher Education Compact."
https://www.einpresswire.com/article/861953402/new-college-of-florida-is-ready-to-be-the-first-to-sign-president-trump-s-higher-education-compact

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. The University of Kansas provost says that #UKansas will not sign the Trump compact.
https://www.kansan.com/news/ku-won-t-sign-trump-s-higher-education-compact-was-never-invited-to-provost-says/article_aaea8512-a72a-4c9f-b45e-44f38dd835d4.html

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. #ValleyForgeMilitaryCollege just offered (Oct 28) to sign the Trump compact. Here's the open letter from its President and Chairman of the Board to the Trump Dept of Education.
https://static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2025/10/vfmc-letter-trump-admin.pdf

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. Five faculty from five institutions argue that "Colleges Must Reject Trump’s ‘Compact’ To Protect Our Democracy."
https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2025-11-20/college-university-trump-law-professors-compact-opinion

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #USPol #USPolitics #Universities

Update. The U of Virginia surveyed its community in October on how it should respond to the #Trump compact. The Chronicle of Higher Education got the results through a public-records request.
https://www.chronicle.com/article/uva-asked-its-community-to-weigh-in-on-trumps-compact-heres-what-they-said
(#paywalled)

" 'Nope. Nothing. Nada.' 'Not at all.' 'No'. 'NO.' 'NO!'… Those curt replies were broadly representative of the responses as a whole…The F-word is used nine times…There were nearly 200 references to #UVa’s founder, #ThomasJefferson, almost all of which were in service of the argument that the compact went against his vision of the university. 'Stand your ground,' one wrote. 'You know it’s what Thomas Jefferson would have wanted.' "

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon
#Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #TrumpVResearch #Universities #UVa #USPol #USPolitics

Update. The American Enterprise Institute (#AEI) defends the #Trump compact and offers some improvements.
https://www.aei.org/research-products/report/the-trump-administrations-higher-education-compact-eight-proposals-for-delivering-on-its-vision/

After the compact was introduced (Oct 2025), "a rough consensus emerged that the Trump administration had identified crucial problems but that its solution needed work. This project is an attempt to do some of that work."

By "rough consensus" I suppose AEI means "rough consensus of the people and orgs we read." If so, take that as a sign of how it reads.

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Takedowns #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. Billionaire #MarcRowan was the driving force behind the #Trump compact with universities.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/us/billionaire-marc-rowan-trump-deal-universities.html

It helps to know that Rowan is the owner of the for-profit University of Phoenix...
https://www.republicreport.org/2025/billionaire-behind-trump-pressure-campaign-on-colleges-owns-predatory-university-of-phoenix/

...which has paid hundreds of millions to settle more than a dozen claims of fraud.
https://vetsedsuccess.org/university-of-phoenix-recent-actions-and-concerns/

Now we learn that Rowan has a history of talking business with #JeffreyEpstein.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/business/dealbook/epstein-files-business.html

#Academia #AcademicMastodon #DefendResearch #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. And now the Trump admin is lifting regulations on for-profit universities. The article doesn't mention Marc Rowan, but "the University of Phoenix is rising from the ashes [and] staging a comeback, partly with help from Washington."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2026/03/10/trump-for-profit-colleges-university-of-phoenix/

"Some Democrats and education advocates argue for-profit schools have historically accounted for a disproportionate number of complaints and need more scrutiny. They also worry the Trump administration’s pledge to eliminate the Education Department could make it harder to investigate complaints. 'The Trump administration is making it easier for for-profit colleges to scam students,' Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) said in a statement to The Washington Post."

#Academia #AcademicMastodon #Trump #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

AI in the humanities basically shows, that people don't understand what the idea behind the humanities is.
#AI #universities
https://www.dukechronicle.com/article/no-actually-ai-in-the-humanities-is-not-our-advantage-20260304

Wow. "Virginia State terminates six professors without due process.
Campus security escorted the professors —five tenured and one tenure-track— to their cars and issued no-trespass warnings. They have received no written explanation for their dismissals."
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty-issues/tenure/2026/02/25/vsu-terminates-6-professors-without-due-process

#Academia #Universities

it's delightful, honestly, how bad my uni is at IT.

1. they don't know that their certificate is expired I guess.

#IT #universities #technology #infosec

1/2

Alt...

'verify certificate' warning suggesting that I actually manually review the security certificate on uawifi because there's something fishy about it.

As the crisis engulfing universities continues to grow, the shift most politicians think will resolve budgeting shortfalls, is a major reformation of student finance.

Nearly all reforms involve the introduction of a (new) graduate tax (GT) to replace what has become a GT masquerading as loan repayment.

The problem to surmount is the Treasury mindset, that does not accept hypothecated taxes; there's no guarantee the funds raised by a GT would reach the universities!

#politics #universities

How do we know the financing of universities is dysfunctional?

Universities are suffering a financial/budgetary crisis... and;

students now graduate with average debts above all other developed countries.... and;

despite it being a loan system, around half of all student debt is currently written off, indicating a shadow subsidy few acknowledge... and;

So, we can safely say the current system of financing universities & their students is not really working!

#universities #politics

If Rachel Reeves cannot see that university student loans are becoming a totemic issue among graduates, then she may be heading for her own Nick-Clegg-moment when one decision prompts a haemorrhaging of the graduate vote (from Labour).

The problem is that Labour still thinks they can bank on there being no vialable alternative on their left flank; which with Zack Polanski leading the GPEW, is no longer true; another Labour miscalculation?

#politics #universities #Greens
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ce3k4xdqyp1o

Here's an interesting Q.:

When university students sign up to the student loan process are they really properly informed consumers? indeed could they be, as the terms of the ongoing debt are changing (again) by fiat of Govt?

Might the student loan system actually be a case of mass miss-selling by the Govt., but if so, what could be done?

A growing campaign - Rethink Repayment - argues the rate of repayment should be reduced (at the very least).

#universities #students
h/t Clear Barrett/FT

New survey from the American Council of Education (#ACE): "Seven in 10 senior higher education leaders [in the US] say they are concerned about government interference in academic freedom and institutional autonomy."
https://www.acenet.edu/News-Room/Pages/Pulse-Point-Survey-Higher-Education-Federal-Policy.aspx

Serious question: Who are the 30% who are not concerned?

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

“for every dollar the Government of Saskatchewan invests in the university, USask generates $3.64 in GDP and $2.00 in labour income. USask’s per capita GDP impact is one of the highest in the country amongst benchmark universities”

Just imagine how much more impact with better provincial funding!
#Saskatchewan #Canada #Universities #skpoli #Saskatoon
https://news.usask.ca/articles/general/2025/usasks-economic-impact-measured-in-billions-new-study.php

"Until recently, Harvard was the most productive research university in the world, according to a global ranking that looks at academic publication.

That position may be teetering, the most recent evidence of a troubling trend for American academia.

Harvard recently dropped to No. 3 on the ranking. The schools racing up the list are not Harvard’s American peers, but Chinese universities that have been steadily climbing in rankings that emphasize the volume and quality of research they produce.
(...)
Look back to the early 2000s, and a global university ranking based on scientific output, such as published journal articles, would be very different. Seven American schools would be among the top 10, led by Harvard University at No. 1.

Only one Chinese school, Zhejiang University, would even make the top 25.

Today, Zhejiang is ranked first on that list, the Leiden Rankings, from the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University in the Netherlands. Seven other Chinese schools are in the top 10.

Harvard produces significantly more research now than it did two decades ago, but it has nonetheless fallen to third. And it is the only American university still near the top of the list. Harvard is still first in the Leiden rankings for highly-cited scientific publications.

The issue at top American universities is not falling production.
Six prominent American schools that would have been in the top 10 in the first decade of the 2000s — the University of Michigan, the University of California, Los Angeles, Johns Hopkins, the University of Washington-Seattle, the University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford University — are producing more research than they did two decades ago, according to the Leiden tallies.

But production by the Chinese schools has risen far more."

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/us/harvard-global-ranking-chinese-universities-trump-cuts.html

#USA #China #Universities #HigherEd

I see the Office for Students is vexed about 'unexplained' levels of first class degrees being awarded, claiming only a small proportion of the rise can be accounted for by improved teaching.

I mean universities cannot win can they grades go up, its grade inflation... grades go down, their teaching is failing... grades remain stable, there's no dynamic of improvement.

Why doesn't the OfS admit it: they don't like or trust academics....

#universities

h/t FT

Well done #Trump 🤦🏼‍♀️

#Universities in #China Surge in Global Rankings as #US #Schools Slip

#Harvard still dominates, though it fell to No. 3 on a list measuring #academic output. Other American universities are falling farther behind their global peers.

#education #law #immigration #StudentVisas #WorkVisas #GovernmentInterference #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #censorship #BrainDrain
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/15/us/harvard-global-ranking-chinese-universities-trump-cuts.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share

@baldur In #science and at #universities , #AI stands for ‘#ArtificialIdiots.’

#Clankers also works for the #slop machines.

Even on school playgrounds, “That’s AI!” means “That’s fake!”

The kids are alright.

The exploitative character of academic publishing in a single cartoon.

#publishing #universities #research #academics

h/t Alexandra Kupferberg/LinkedIn

original illustration: Thailand by Tawan Chuntra.

https://www.irancartoon.com/site/artists/tawan-chuntra#&gid=1&pid=30 #TawanChuntra #Thailand

Alt...

Cartoon (meme - retitled) showing academic publishers at the ned of a plank over the void, supported by the weight of academics on the land-end, while one turns away (saying 'fuck this'), the publisher says: 'You will write papers for us & pay us to publish them. You will review those papers fo free. You will also pay us to read those papers'.

So, the cost of rejoining the Erasmus scheme is £570m for 2027; almost double the scheme contribution when we were members of the EU.

While its good to see the scheme back for university students, its difficult to see how this can be anything other than (another) aspect of the costs of Brexit.

What we once had is now nearly twice as expensive after five years. Keir Starmer may say its a win for the 'reset', but once again we're worse of than we were!

#Brexit #Erasmus #universities
h/t FT

The managerial class in universities is seldom really interested in the long term health of universities & more in burnishing their CVs for the next jump.

For example: Mark E Smith (a past VC of Lancaster) is taking a ProVC role at Oxford, having in the last fifteen years been ProVC at Warwick, VC at Lancaster & most recently VC at Southampton.

This peripatetic group have no real loyalty to particular institutions & bring generic managerial 'solutions' wherever they go.

#universities

It also requires #hospitals, #daycare facilities & public #universities to institute plans to prepare for #immigration enforcement actions, & bars them from sharing most residents’ info w/ federal agents.

“#Illinois, in the face of cruelty & intimidation, has chosen solidarity & support,” #JBPritzker said before signing the bill…. “Donald #Trump, #KristiNoem, & Gregory #Bovino have tried to appeal to our lesser instincts, but the best of us are standing up to the worst of them.”

#law

Over the last week, the Trump administration has cancelled $400 million in grants and contracts to Columbia University and $800 million in grants to Johns Hopkins University.

So far, America’s leading universities have remained virtually silent in the face of this authoritarian assault on institutions of higher education. That must change. Harvard must stand up, speak out, and lead a public defense of our freedom to speak and study freely.

Not only is silence in the face of mounting authoritarianism morally objectionable, but, as the Columbia case suggests, it’s not working. Columbia’s leadership made repeated concessions to right-wing critics, only to be the first to come under attack.

#USPol #Universities #Columbia #authoritarianism #HigherEducation #education #maine

The university has an obligation to interrogate the proposition that a world in which AI is widely used is desirable or inevitable. We don’t need to cheer for a vision of tomorrow in which scientists feel comfortable with not personally reading the articles their peers have written and students are not expected to gain insight through wrestling with complex concepts: a world in which creative and knowledge work is delegated to a mindless algorithm.

#LLM #AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #ChatGPT #GPT #Gemini #Claude #academics #universities #education

What, exactly, are universities like Columbia actually for in the US in 2024? They are making it very difficult to believe that they are for students. If not the students, who and what are they for, then?

#Columbia #US #Universities #HigherEd #FreeSpeech #FreeAssembly