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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 16h

It's hard to (quickly) find solid stats on the in-person enrollment, but it looks like in person is still <20K. Maybe you found better data?

Per LU web page, total enrollment is 140K.

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Reposted by Kim Weeden

Helen Kennedy @helenkennedy.bsky.social · 17h

This seems like a good time to remind everyone that Donald Trump’s first appearance in the New York Times was when the Nixon Justice Dept. sued him and his father for refusing to rent apartments to black people.

◥◤Kriston Capps @kristoncapps.bsky.social · 17h

HUD laid off so many fair housing investigators on Friday that it shuttered the regional offices that oversee discrimination cases in 9 states: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

HUD Issues Layoff Notices, Targeting Fair Housing Staff With Deep Cuts

Fair housing staffers who investigate claims of housing discrimination at field offices nationwide were among the hundreds of HUD staffers who received layoff notices.

www.bloomberg.com

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 17h

I riffed on a similar set of ideas here. Tl;dr: the university sector is one of the most competitive, decentralized, and high-choice sectors for "consumers" in the US economy.

Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 2d

An irony of GOP/MAGA's attacks on university sector is that, structurally, it's as close to a "free market" as you'll find in US.

There are 1000s of universities, mostly operating independently.

Unlike tech sector (or coal, oil/gas, eyeglasses, etc), market concentration is incredibly low.

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 17h

In 2016, were your odd numbered lectures at 4 pm on Fridays? 9 am on Mondays?

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Reposted by Kim Weeden

Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 19h

NEW: @CDCgov hit hard by massive firings that several staff describe to me as a “bloodbath.”
Among those RIFd:
—leadership of the center for immunization and respiratory diseases;
—leadership of global health center
—leadership of the measles outbreak response; 1/4

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 18h

A friend taught me a similar trick to increase response rates on student evaluations: if the response rate meets my bar (e.g., 75%), everyone gets an extra point or two.

Worked like a charm and students don't complain b/c they know I can't track or reward individual students for returning evals.

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 21h

As is often the case with RFK Jr, he is making a claim based on a paper in the medical literature. However, he's either not smart enough or not honest enough (or both) to acknowledge that the paper has a weak research design and/or has been debunked.

Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 2d

This claim is based on associational study in Denmark. It found slightly higher rate of ASD diagnosis among circ'd 0-4 yr olds but didn't test pain/Tylenol mechanism or rule out alternatives, such as that early ASD testing & early circumcision by a doctor have a common cause (e.g., parenting style).

Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 1d

"It should be an easy decision for college presidents not to stick their institution’s neck into this retroactive push-button guillotine."

And yet, somehow, for 8 of them it isn't.

Informative essay, well worth reading.

Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · 1d

New from me at Cato: I go through the numerous and massive First Amendment and academic-freedom violations of Trump's proffered "compact" with universities and then talk about the mechanism by which it would be enforced, by way of what I describe as a "retroactive push-button guillotine."

Universities Must Defend Their Independence by Rejecting Trump's "Compact"

The Trump administration has proffered a “compact” to universities that would require them to surrender their independence and academic freedom. How many First Amendment violations can we identify in ...

www.cato.org

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 1d

In Lower 48, "climate change" conjures images of hot summers, fires, storms, & flooding

In interior & northern AK, another effect is clear: permafrost melt. It destroys roads & structures, releases CO2 & methane, & awakens 40,000 year old microbes.

What could go wrong?

HT @shanahstone.bsky.social

Ancient Alaska microbes' thaw helps understanding of climate change feedback loop

Using samples gathered from a permafrost tunnel north of Fairbanks, researchers have awakened microbes that were last active as far back as 40,000 years ago.

alaskapublic.org

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Reposted by Kim Weeden

Sarah Taber @sarahtaber.bsky.social · 1d

Farm bankruptcies are back in the news, so it's time to pull this chart out again.

Hey look they kept rising during Trump's first term. Then they went way down under Biden.

Now they're up again? So weird. Thanks Farm Bureau for the graphic

Screenshot from Farm Bureau article on farm bankruptcies. It shows farm bankruptcies climbing steadily 2014-2020, falling by half in 2021, & continuing to fall through 2023.

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 1d

Data source: HSLS 2009, a longitudinal data set of a sample of 9th graders in a sample of schools. Students followed from 2009, when HS 9th graders, to 2021. Analysis restricted to (a) students who completed HS and for whom transcript was available, and (b) students who attended any college by 2016.

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 1d

If highly selective universities, meaning those that admit <=10% of applicants, selected only on HS GPA, 63% of incoming students would be women. Wouldn't change much if considered test scores.

Trump's "compact" would hurt young men, and esp. young white men.

I doubt Linda "A1" McMahon knows this.

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 1d

Expect massive new tariffs on IKEA's core products today. Also renewed chatter about invading Greenland.

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 1d

A classic, but still relevant:

youtu.be/mt2qCjL6-n4?...

Lord of the Rings Trilogy but it's EVERY scene where two female characters interact

YouTube video by eightfootmanchild2

youtu.be

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Reposted by Kim Weeden

Per Engzell @pengzell.bsky.social · 1d

This important paper shows a precipitous drop in girls' achievement in recent years, closing a third of the gap with boys.

Covid doesn't seem to be the smoking gun, but tiktok may be

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 2d

This claim is based on associational study in Denmark. It found slightly higher rate of ASD diagnosis among circ'd 0-4 yr olds but didn't test pain/Tylenol mechanism or rule out alternatives, such as that early ASD testing & early circumcision by a doctor have a common cause (e.g., parenting style).

Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 2d

This claim is based on associational study in Denmark. It found a small boost in risk of ASD diagnosis among cut 0-4 yr olds but didn't test pain/Tylenol mechanism or rule out alternatives, such as that early ASD diagnosis & early circumcision by a doctor have common cause (e.g., parenting style).

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 2d

Possible corollary, at institution level: If there was huge student demand for conservative Christian universities where at least 50% of professors identify as GOP/MAGA, Liberty and Oral Roberts would be among the largest unis in the US and their acceptance rates would be far lower than current 99%.

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 2d

I was going to include something about invading Greenland in retribution, but ran out of characters.

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 2d

In addition to the $100M in grants that government has halted, OMB is simply not reimbursing the uni for work that researchers have already done on active grants. Feds owe $80M and rising.

Cornell is backstopping this w/ uni funds, but it's unsustainable.

(Also, endowments aren't bank accounts.)

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 2d

47's attacks on higher education are antithesis of "conservative," in sense of preference for minimal government regulation and maximal competition.

I'm not 1st to point this out. Bears repeating, though, esp. given media's obsession with a few elite institutions at expense of bigger picture.

/fin

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 2d

US higher ed also rife with competition, not always fair:

Universities compete for students, faculty, donors, grants and contracts, prestige, state funding, etc.

Depts compete for resources, some for prestige

Faculty compete for jobs, grants, awards, slots in "best" journals.

Ideas compete.

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 2d

In American higher ed, students can choose from a dizzying array of institutions that differ in size, majors and courses, religious/secular orientation, culture ("party" vs. geek), demographic composition, selectivity, geography/lifestyle, etc.

Once in, students choose from 1000s of courses.

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 2d

An irony of GOP/MAGA's attacks on university sector is that, structurally, it's as close to a "free market" as you'll find in US.

There are 1000s of universities, mostly operating independently.

Unlike tech sector (or coal, oil/gas, eyeglasses, etc), market concentration is incredibly low.

1/4

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Kim Weeden @weedenkim.bsky.social · 2d

Antifa isn't an organized entity, but even if it was, it wouldn't have the power to get an airline to cancel tickets.

It could be an airline glitch. But, given last week's ramp-up in the admin's fascist rhetoric about "destroying liberals", it could also be Miller/Rubio using Bray as test case.

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