Erin J. Wamsley 🧠📈😴
@wamsleylab.bsky.social
2.9K followers 1.1K following 880 posts
Cognitive neuroscientist, runs a sleep lab. Studying sleep, dreaming, memory and rest. Uses EEG, interested in open science, women in STEM. 🧠📈😴 Frustrated with the higher-education industrial complex. Luddite-adjacent. #AAUP. Views are my own.
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wamsleylab.bsky.social
I'm going to start a new university, and it's going to be just some faculty and some students meeting in the forest.

No buildings, administrators, landscaping, trustees, development, general counsel, registrar, climbing walls...

Everyone gets a computer and books, that's it.

1/x

#Academicsky
Reposted by Erin J. Wamsley 🧠📈😴
jamessmurphy.bsky.social
I looked at changes in enrollment shares for first-year classes in 2022 & 2023 vs. 2024 & 2023 (aka pre- and post-SFFA decision).
wamsleylab.bsky.social
Nice. But to really take this to the next level of #highered bullshit, you should be sure to exclusively refer to this slogan by it's acronym, "NeFOF" (pronounced: "knee-foff").
wamsleylab.bsky.social
P.S. - Please STOP calling this "SPECIAL FUNDING TREATMENT".

The "compact" promises to remove all research funding, all federal financial aid, all visa approvals, and tax exempt status from any school that won't comply. Thats a threat to crush universities, not a promise to give special treatment.
wamsleylab.bsky.social
🚨MIT says "NO"!!🚨

They are the first to respond to the "compact" sent to 9 universities last week -- crucially, this sets the tone.

“Fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone”

#academicsky
M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment
www.nytimes.com
wamsleylab.bsky.social
🚨MIT says "NO"!!🚨

They are the first to respond to the "compact" sent to 9 universities last week -- crucially, this sets the tone.

“Fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone”

#academicsky
M.I.T. Rejects a White House Offer for Special Funding Treatment
www.nytimes.com
wamsleylab.bsky.social
Students and faculty at Brown know the right answer to Trump's "compact".

But 9 days since the letter went out and no response from their board and administration.

Does deciding whether you want to abandon #academicfreedom and integrity really take this much time?

#academicsky
aaup.org
AAUP @aaup.org · 1d
Over 100 Brown U students & 20 faculty members gathered outside
the campus today to demand that the university reject Trump’s loyalty oath compact. Professors & students taped their mouths shut to symbolize the compact’s threat to free speech, #academicfreedom & diversity of thought.
#DefendHigherEd
wamsleylab.bsky.social
Vanderbilt students and faculty know the right answer to Trump's "compact" for #highered.

Why doesn't their Chancellor?

#academicsky #edusky
wamsleylab.bsky.social
That's the faculty's position, but sadly, faculty have very little if any control over big-picture strategic decisions at a university. Administrators (presidents, provosts, VPs) and Boards are the deciders. Alumni and donor voices can be much more powerful.
wamsleylab.bsky.social
While the faculty senate at U of Arizona opposes it (as several other faculty bodies at these schools have), unfortunately faculty have very little if any control over the big-picture strategic decisions of a university. The administrators and boards of these schools are the deciders.
Reposted by Erin J. Wamsley 🧠📈😴
chadstanton.blacksky.app
Longhorns have an open letter they can sign here

bit.ly/nodealtexas
A flyer reading “Keep Texas Free” with a picture of a state of Bevo on the strip
wamsleylab.bsky.social
Exactly. If it takes you a week to think about how to respond to this, something is wrong. Their lawyers' legal reply might take time -- but to publicly say "We won't sign and we won't negotiate" should come faster than this.
wamsleylab.bsky.social
Its been a week since nine schools received Trump's "Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Ed..."

The compact plainly demands ideological control of university operations by the federal government.

GUESS HOW MANY UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS HAVE SAID THEY WON'T SIGN?
🦗🦗🦗

#edusky #academicsky
1/2
STAND WITH YOUR SCHOOL: Trump attacks 9 universities. Sign the alumni petition now.
Are you an alum from one of the 9 schools the federal government just attacked? Sign this alumni petition now to support your school, defend democracy, and build a grassroots movement for campus freed...
alumni.controlshift.app
wamsleylab.bsky.social
State government doing the right thing.
Faculty senates passing resolutions.
Students and alumni saying "nope".

So why have ZERO of these nine college administrations stated they won't sign the "compact" yet?

#academicsky #edusky
mkirschenbaum.bsky.social
Virginia State Senate Dems just brought down fire and fury regarding the “Compact,” notifying the President and Rector that UVA would lose ALL STATE APPROPRIATIONS if it signs and cedes the University to “federal political control.” Notably, their letter directly restates points made here by @siva.
sivav.bsky.social
The “compact” for higher ed is an unserious document written by unserious people from a position of spectacular ignorance. No one should take it seriously. Sadly, my bosses are taking it seriously.

newrepublic.com/article/2013...
wamsleylab.bsky.social
Dear Journalists,

PLEASE stop saying that Trump's #highered "Compact for Academic Excellence..." offers "preferred treatment" to signatories. That is false. Instead, it promises to revoke all funding, visa approvals, and tax-exemptions from any who don't agree to its outrageous fascist demands.
Reposted by Erin J. Wamsley 🧠📈😴
rosalafersousa.bsky.social
🚨 Are you an alum from one of the 9 universities Trump is attempting to extort right now?

✍️ Sign this petition to defend your university, free speech, and democracy. I signed.

This is a time for courage, not capitulation.
#JustSayNo #Compact 🧪🧠🧬

(context in thread)
Trump attacks 9 universities: Sign the alumni petition to defend your school now
Are you an alum outraged by Trump's attacks on universities? Defend your school now by signing this alumni petition in support of these 9 universities as well as campus communities across America.
alumni.controlshift.app
wamsleylab.bsky.social
I'm concerned this statement doesn't actually state that Dartmouth won't sign...
wamsleylab.bsky.social
How it's going:

Last week, 9 colleges received gov't demands to abolish departments that "belittle" conservative ideas, survey and report on faculty ideologies, enforce belief in only 2 genders, and report on int'l students.

So far ZERO have stated outright refusal to sign.

#edusky #academicsky
wamsleylab.bsky.social
It's getting harder for all of us to see through the fog now.
Remember what is real.
wamsleylab.bsky.social
He might believe some of it, but I think he mainly doesn't care whether what he says is true.

This is a feature of authoritarian regimes -- the leader dictates reality. Trump is happy to play that role, creating uncertainty and fear, undermining the press, and making truth itself bend to his will.
wamsleylab.bsky.social
So agree with you -- the media coverage on this has been SO wrong it makes me worry that many journalists have not even read the document, even though it's only a few pages long and is very easy to understand!
Reposted by Erin J. Wamsley 🧠📈😴
fishkin.bsky.social
News coverage of the Trump administration's proposed "compact" with universities has been, so far, shockingly bad.

I hate to pick on NPR reporter Elissa Nadworny, who's usually a solid reporter, but almost every important thing I heard her say this morning about the proposed "compact" was false.
wamsleylab.bsky.social
This is so true. Media coverage is describing this as a voluntary agreement to receive "preferential access" to federal "benefits".

All FALSE!

The document is only a few pages long, READ IT. It is an existential threat to revoke all funding, financial aid, tax benefits, and even visas.
fishkin.bsky.social
News coverage of the Trump administration's proposed "compact" with universities has been, so far, shockingly bad.

I hate to pick on NPR reporter Elissa Nadworny, who's usually a solid reporter, but almost every important thing I heard her say this morning about the proposed "compact" was false.