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Lisa Fazio

@lkfazio.bsky.social

21K followers 2.8K following 1.8K posts

Associate prof of psychology Vanderbilt Univ, studies how adults and children learn true and false information, she/her, lkfazio.com

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Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social · Dec 19

Out now - National Academies consensus report on Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science 🧪

It was a privilege to serve as one of the 15 committee members from a wide range of scientific disciplines who put this report together. Quick 🧵1/

www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/und...

Cover of the report - it's in a blue/purple color scheme and shows an abstract illustration of a molecule and the title of the report "Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science Consensus Study Report"

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Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio

Claire Willett @clairewillett.bsky.social · 5h

I googled “patron saint of frogs” for a bit and then immediately abandoned the bit because I would so much rather actually talk about St. Ulphia the 8th century hermit who cursed her local frogs for keeping her up at night and making her sleep through church

Her hermitage was located in a marshy wetland, inhabited by frogs whose loud croaking kept her up all night. One day, she was so tired that she slept through when Domitius knocked at her door, and he, thinking she had already gone on ahead, left without her. Legend states that Ulphia placed the frogs in the area around her under interdict as a result of their loud croaking, which kept her awake at nights.
A 19th century hagiographer noted that the frogs in the area around the oratory of Saint Ulphia were, indeed, very quiet. However, if these frogs were taken elsewhere, they became boisterous once again.
At the end of her life, she formed and directed a community of religious women at Amiens.
In iconography, she is depicted as a young nun seated in prayer on a rock with a frog in the pool near her.

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 6h

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Richard S.J. Tol, Naomi Priest , and 8 more Lisa W. Fazio, Richard S.J. Tol, Naomi Priest, W. Andy Knight, Julia Lynch, Adrian Daub, Erin O’Donnell, Alfie Kohn, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Peter Bergman

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 9h

aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 12h

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

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Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Juan Cole

Jonathan Gilligan @jgilligan.org · 10h

Student governments of Vanderbilt, MIT, Brown, Dartmouth, Penn, UVA, and Arizona issued a joint statement condemning the Compact and stating that "Academic Freedom is not negotiable." www.instagram.com/p/DPm507ljBJ...

On October 1st, 2025, the White House sent the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education to our seven universities, outlining expectations universities must meet to continue receiving federal benefits.

Although the compact's full implications remain unclear, the document outlines
unprecedented expectations universities must meet to receive federal benefits. This could systemically alter the mission of higher education and erode the independence that has long defined our universities. We must not allow these attempts to control what can be taught, studied, or spoken on our campuses.

Our universities represent the full spectrum of American higher education, from liberal arts colleges to leading research institutions. As students, this directly impacts us, and thus, our voices must be heard. We know firsthand that institutional autonomy is instrumental to the perpetuation of innovation and progress. As the Compact itself acknowledges, “American higher education is the envy of the world and represents a key strategic benefit for our Nation," yet the document undermines the very principles that make this statement true. Our administrations have been presented with a false choice between their commitments to knowledge and education and our access to the resources that sustain them. To preserve our status as world leaders in education, we must remain true to the foundation of academic freedom that has propelled us forward.

As student representatives, we stand in united opposition to the outlined conditions. We call on our community of students, faculty, alumni, and leadership to reaffirm our commitment to reject political interference and federal overreach. Academic freedom is not negotiable.

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Reposted by Jonathan M. Gilligan

Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social · 11h

Proud of my Vanderbilt colleagues for making it clear that our university should reject the proposed "Compact". As I state below - this deal is a devil's bargain and should be rejected in all forms. (And yay to MIT for their clear rejection today!)

www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...

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Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele, Lisa W. Fazio, Joshua Goodman , and 3 more Kim L. Scheppele, Lisa W. Fazio, Joshua Goodman, Robert C. Richards, David R. Miller, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Brendan Nyhan @brendannyhan.bsky.social · 16h

Every targeted institution (my own very much included) should cut and paste this letter onto their letterhead.

Kathleen Clark @kathleenclark.bsky.social · 17h

A master class from MIT in responding to authoritarian overreach:

Your “premise … is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
… America’s leadership in science & innovation depends on independent thinking & open competition for excellence.

Dear Madam Secretary,
I write in response to your letter of October 1, inviting MIT to review a "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education." I acknowledge the vital importance of these matters.
I appreciated the chance to meet with you earlier this year to discuss the priorities we share for American higher education.
As we discussed, the Institute's mission of service to the nation directs us to advance knowledge, educate students and bring knowledge to bear on the world's great challenges.
We do that in line with a clear set of values, with excellence above all. Some practical examples:
• MIT prides itself on rewarding merit. Students, faculty and staff succeed here based on the strength of their talent, ideas and hard work. For instance, the Institute was the first to reinstate the SAT/ACT requirement after the pandemic. And MIT has never had legacy preferences in admissions.
• MIT opens its doors to the most talented students regardless of their family's finances. Admissions are need-blind. Incoming undergraduates whose families earn less than $200,000 a year pay no tuition. Nearly 88% of our last graduating class left MIT with no debt for their education. We make a wealth of free courses and low-cost certificates available to any American with an internet connection. Of the undergraduate degrees we award, 94% are in STEM fields. And in service to the nation, we cap enrollment of international undergraduates at roughly 10%.

source:
https://orgchart.mit.edu/letters/regarding-compact

• We value free expression, as clearly described in the MIT Statement on Freedom of Expression and Academic Freedom. We must hear facts and opinions we don't like - and engage respectfully with those with whom we disagree.
These values and other MIT practices meet or exceed many standards outlined in the document you sent. We freely choose these values because they're right, and we live by them because they support our mission - work of immense value to the prosperity, competitiveness, health and security of the United States. And of course, MIT abides by the law.
The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.
In our view, America's leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.
As you know, MIT's record of service to the nation is long and enduring. Eight decades ago, MIT leaders helped invent a scientific partnership between America's research universities and the U.S. government that has delivered extraordinary benefits for the American people. We continue to believe in the power of this partnership to serve the nation.
Sincerely,
Sally Kornbluth

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Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social · 18h

It's so good - well done MIT!!

Reposted by Jennifer A. Richeson, Sean P. Corcoran

Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social · 18h

Now this is a clear rejection! Thank you MIT

Josh Moody @byjoshmoody.bsky.social · 19h

MIT rejects "compact" proposed by the Trump administration.
MIT prez wrote: it "would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution" and "is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone."
orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

Regarding the Compact | MIT Organization Chart

orgchart.mit.edu

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Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Anna O. Law, Lisa W. Fazio , and 9 more Anne Applebaum, Anna O. Law, Lisa W. Fazio, John Horgan, Rosemary A. Joyce, Bonnie Honig, Rebecca Tushnet, Scott A. Imberman, Erol Akçay, Kate Starbird, Pablo Piccato, Southern Africa

Josh Moody @byjoshmoody.bsky.social · 19h

Regarding the Compact | MIT Organization Chart

orgchart.mit.edu

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Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Allison Eden, Southern Africa

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 22h

All I want in life is to persuade everyone, when encountering politics & culture, to ask, "why are we talking about this?" I mean that very literally: anything you encounter on your screens reflects a choice. Someone covered that, talked about that, rather than the many other things out there. Why?

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Reuters @reuters.com · 22h

'When authoritarians seize power, it is crucial to recognize courageous defenders of freedom who rise and resist,' the Norwegian Nobel Committee said as it announced Maria Corina Machado as the winner of the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize

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Reposted by Anna O. Law, Lisa W. Fazio, Tom Clark , and 7 more Anna O. Law, Lisa W. Fazio, Tom Clark, Juan Cole, Daniel W. Drezner, Michael H. Whitworth, David Rosnick, Henry Jones, Magda Teter, Dunlap

CollinCountyDems @collincountydems.bsky.social · 1d

This is terrifying!

ICE breaks into this woman’s car in the pick-up line at West Loop Elementary school in Chicago and detains her before she can pick her kids up from school. (They were eventually let go after showing their documents)

This is Trump’s America.

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Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social · 1d

Lol, I was cleaning out old boxes and found this box of thumb tacks that my parents gave me when I left for college. They're from the Princeton University store which means they were purchased sometime before my dad graduated in 1978.

Apparently I own antique thumb tacks 😂

Blue cardboard box reading 100 Noesting thumb tacks plated steel No. 4 1/2 in. There's a small white price sticker - Princeton University store A202 .70

Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Rebecca Tushnet

John Rogers @johnrogers.bsky.social · 1d

ME: Now Mom, just remember, there's a lot of disinformation and AI in your social feed and your friends' Facebook.
MOM: I know! My friend sent me this crazy post where someone used AI to make an image of a giant frog fighting Army troops!
ME: ... okay, no, that one's ... goddamit, Portland.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d

RFK Jr on Tylenol and autism: "It is not proof. We're doing the studies to make the proof."

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Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, John R. Hutchinson, Hugo Mercier , and 1 more Lisa W. Fazio, John R. Hutchinson, Hugo Mercier, David Leclère

c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social · 1d

The global whaling industry experienced a boom c. 1840-1950 as technology allowed whalers to hunt the Southern Ocean around Antarctica.

Under standard models, we would have expected krill populations to have *exploded*.

Instead, they DROPPED exponentially.

Let's talk about the KRILL PARADOX.

Change in distribution and abundance of southern right whales. (A) Shows historical and contemporary wintering distributions (Figure 1 from Carroll et al., 2018), and (B) shows decline in abundance and subsequent recovery (solid line is the mean, dashed line shows upper and lower 95% CI). Modified Figure 1 from Jackson et al. (2008). Contemporary sightings are divided into regions where large aggregations are seen during winter: Argentina (ARG), Brazil (BZL), South Africa (SAF), southwest Australia (SWA), south central Australia (SCA), and New Zealand sub-Antarctic (NZSA) and regions where sightings are typically of small numbers of individuals per year. The large aggregations are IWC management units and correspond to historical whaling grounds, although another 5 whaling grounds show little sign of recovery. Summer feeding areas are poorly described and so not shown.

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Reposted by James Q. Wilson, Brendan Nyhan, Nelson Flores , and 2 more James Q. Wilson, Brendan Nyhan, Nelson Flores, Andrew Rudalevige, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social · 1d

"American civil society has more than enough financial and organizational muscle to stop this authoritarian offensive. But it requires collective resolve. And it requires leadership, which has been in painfully short supply."

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Harvard Must Take a Stand Against Trump’s Compact | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson

Harvard, rather than quietly pursuing its own appeasement strategy, should lead the way to preserve academic freedom and democracy.

www.thecrimson.com

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Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Alan Richardson

Deborah McDowell @dem8z.bsky.social · 2d

www.nashvillescene.com/news/pithint...

Campus Crowd Demands Vanderbilt Reject Trump Deal

Students, faculty and professors marched on Wednesday as Chancellor Diermeier mulls funding deal with Trump administration

www.nashvillescene.com

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Reposted by Meredith Broussard, Lisa W. Fazio, James Q. Wilson , and 38 more Meredith Broussard, Lisa W. Fazio, James Q. Wilson, Suresh Venkatasubramanian, Dorothy Bishop, Anna Nagurney, Brigitte Nerlich, Ben Bond‐Lamberty, Gavin A. Schmidt, Jesse H. Kroll, Julie L. Lockwood, Patrick A. Jansen, Joshua S. Weitz, Nicole Dubilier, Jason Stajich, Simon J. Greenhill, Michael A. Clemens, Hugo Mercier, Megan L. Ranney, Rosemary A. Joyce, Philip N. Cohen, Michael J. Allen, Andrew Curry, Jacob Montgomery, Juan Cole, Kris Inwood, Smith, Robert C. Richards, Rebecca Tushnet, Alan Richardson, Lauren Hersch Nicholas, Victor Galaz, Scott A. Imberman, Sebastian Karcher, Brian Keegan, Ann Bartow, Jack Stilgoe, Ted Temzelides, Christina Pagel, Annalee Newitz, David Darmofal

Carl Zimmer @carlzimmer.com · 2d

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

nyti.ms

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Reposted by Brendan Nyhan, Scott L. Greer, Efrén O. Pérez , and 1 more Brendan Nyhan, Scott L. Greer, Efrén O. Pérez, David Darmofal

Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social · 2d

Strong argument against the Compact from former national security professionals who have served under both Democratic and Republican administrations.

'The Administration’s demand is thus not merely an attack on academic freedom but a direct assault on the rule of law"

substack.com/inbox/post/1...

An Open Letter to the Presidents of American Colleges and Universities from The Steady State

October 7, 2025

substack.com

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Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Will Jennings, Brendan Nyhan , and 9 more Lisa W. Fazio, Will Jennings, Brendan Nyhan, Steve Peers, David Rothschild, John L. Cotter, David R. Miller, Scott A. Imberman, Steffen Ganghof, Tom Louwerse, Gerry Hassan, David Darmofal

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Q: Have you given any more thought to possibly suspending habeas corpus?

TRUMP: Suspending who?

Q: Habeas corpus

TRUMP: I don't know. I'd rather leave that to Kristi.

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Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Seth Masket, Jeff Carter

Mirya R. Holman @mirya.bsky.social · 2d

Here are my published articles in each year and the number of times each was rejected before publication

A scatterplot of the number of rejections (y axis) by year (x axis)

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Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Brian M. Lucey

Constant Scream @ajaxsinger.bsky.social · 2d

It's interesting seeing the different ways resistance has formed in different cities. Los Angeles Organized, Chicago Radicalized, and Portland Got Weird as Fuck. All 3 have had success unifying their respective cities.

I guess my point is there are multiple paths to ungovernability.

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Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio

Marisa Kabas @marisakabas.bsky.social · 2d

no they're LITERALLY exaggerating this issue. there is absolutely no data backing up their claims. ffs just say that!!

NBC news: The discussions come as Trump has sought to deploy National Guard troops in several major cities — including Los Angeles, Chicago and Portland, Oregon — saying they’re needed to reduce crime and protect Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials from protesters. Critics have said that the Trump administration is exaggerating issues in those cities.

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Reposted by Dominique Brossard, Sean P. Corcoran

Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social · 2d

Open-rank faculty positions in Artificial Intelligence in Education and Organizations at Vanderbilt University. The faculty will work within our new college of connected computing and one of the five departments in Peabody College (including psychology!)

jobs.chronicle.com/job/37894746...

Open-Rank Tenure Line Position in Artificial Intelligence in Education and Organizations - Nashville, Tennessee job with Peabody College of Education and Human Development | 37894746

Vanderbilt University invites applications for two open rank tenure-track faculty positions in the area of AI and Education in Organizations.

jobs.chronicle.com

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Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio

APSA @apsa.bsky.social · 2d

Teaching American Politics in Times of Uncertainty: A Resource Collection

By Michelle D. Deardorff, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Allison Rank, University of Northern Iowa In late July, twelve political science educators gathered online to reflect on the challenge of teaching…

Teaching American Politics in Times of Uncertainty: A Resource Collection

By Michelle D. Deardorff, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Allison Rank, University of Northern Iowa In late July, twelve political science educators gathered online to reflect on the challenge of teaching introductory American government courses at a time when trust in institutions is eroding, students’ habits around reading and participation are shifting, and faculty face new state mandates on required texts and assessments.

politicalsciencenow.com

Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele, Lisa W. Fazio, Elizabeth Saunders , and 11 more Kim L. Scheppele, Lisa W. Fazio, Elizabeth Saunders, James Q. Wilson, Will Jennings, Gavin A. Schmidt, Simon Chapman, Juan Cole, Karen Benjamin Guzzo, David R. Miller, Scott A. Imberman, Brian Keegan, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Clark Gray

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 2d

The elimination of USAID is a moral atrocity and all involved made a choice to enable, and then lie about, ending the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) - Mohammed Taher clutched the lifeless body of his 2-year-old son and wept. Ever since his family's food rations stopped arriving at their internment camp in Myanmar in April, the father had watched helplessly as his once-vibrant baby boy weakened, suffering from diarrhea and begging for food.
On May 21, exactly two weeks after Taher's little boy died, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sat before Congress and declared: "No one has died" because of his government's decision to gut its foreign aid program. Rubio also insisted: "No children are dying on my watch."
That, Taher says, "is a lie."

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Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, David R. Miller, Colin Woodard

Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 2d

The Constitutional crisis you've been waiting for is here.

The right moment to speak up—that moment of clarity you've been waiting for—that's here too.

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 2d

I will not back down.

Trump is now calling for the arrest of elected representatives checking his power.

What else is left on the path to full-blown authoritarianism?

Donald Trump Truth Social Post: Chicago Mayor should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers! Governor Pritzker also.

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Lisa Fazio @lkfazio.bsky.social · 2d

"The best defense against this weapon is solidarity among groups who disagree ferociously on many questions, but who agree on the need to keep America democratic and rebuild institutions and social connections to make democracy more robust."

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/o...

Opinion | You Beat Trumpism by Banding Together. It’s as Hard and as Simple as That.

www.nytimes.com

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Reposted by Lisa W. Fazio, Kathleen Kennedy, Nancy M. Wingfield

David M. Perry @lollardfish.bsky.social · 2d

I really believe that huge majorities of Americans don’t want masked soldiers shooting priests in the street. They don’t want naked children ripped out out of their apartments in the middle of the night and handcuffed. We win by making sure these stories get told.

Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 2d

The same people who insisted devout Catholic Joe Biden was leading a “war on Christianity” are now cheering Trump on as his armed goons assault clergymen.

The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 2d

WATCH: Trump’s lawless Ice goons shoot an unarmed priest in the head with a pepper ball. Completely out of control.

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