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Moumita (Mo) Das @physbee.bsky.social · 1d

Excited to be hosting the BPPB seminar tomorrow after a while (last semester I was teaching during seminar hour).
Looking forward to a stimulating talk by Gautam Reddy (Princeton University) on the physics of learning.
Hope to see some of you there

BPPB Seminar Series @bppbseminar.bsky.social · 1d

Please join BPPB Seminars on Friday October 10 at 11 US Eastern time for an exciting talk by Gautam Reddy @gautamreddy.bsky.social  on "Mechanisms for learning to learn in small transformer models". For more details, please visit sites.google.com/view/bppb-se...

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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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Joey Fishkin @fishkin.bsky.social · 6d

I thought I'd put the administration's proposed "compact" with universities in context, so I wrote the blog post below.

It's especially for journalists covering this story!

Many details about how the compact itself works and why the administration has retreated to this strategy.

Balkinization: The Art of Replacing the Law with the Deal

A group blog on constitutional law, theory, and politics

balkin.blogspot.com

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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 8d

"This is extortion, plain and simple.... The only solution is solidarity and collective action against this effort at federal control over higher education."

A sobering analysis of the illegality of the administration's "compact" and its stakes for higher ed. 🎁🔗

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

Opinion | Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion

www.nytimes.com

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 8d

Some problems have simple solutions. This new “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” is one. The answer is simply saying no.

Simple does not mean easy. But Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Vanderbilt, Univ of AZ, UPenn, USC, UT Austin & UVA must understand what they’ll lose if they sign on.

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Zahra Fakhraai @zahrafakhraai.bsky.social · 9d

As always, @edyong209.bsky.social is on point!! I wish the University admin understood this point better.

PS. If you don't know Ed, he is currently my most favorite author. Highly recommend his books and articles. His COVID coverage was impeccable.

Science Vs @sciencevs.bsky.social · 9d

This moment from our latest episode with science writer @edyong209.bsky.social is 🔥

We asked Ed — how do we talk up the benefits of science in the face of government cuts? He told us that's the wrong approach. 🧪

Listen wherever, or watch on Spotify 👇

open.spotify.com/episode/7Evh...

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Ruha Benjamin @ruha9.bsky.social · 11d

So, at the very least, we all need to be joining or starting an AAUP chapter:

www.aaup.org/chapters/fin...

Find a Chapter

A list of AAUP chapters, both unionized and nonunionized. (You can also see a list of just union chapters.)

www.aaup.org

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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 11d

YES! THIS on GenAI!

Please read this absolutely splendid piece of writing that had me cheering, a little bit weepy, and writing in the margins:

"An extraordinary amount of money is spent by the AI industry to ensure that acquiescence is the only plausible response. But marketing is not destiny."

Large Language Muddle | The Editors

The AI upheaval is unique in its ability to metabolize any number of dread-inducing transformations. The university is becoming more corporate, more politically oppressive, and all but hostile to the ...

www.nplusonemag.com

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Harmit Singh Malik @harmitmalik.bsky.social · 21d

Any academic folks on H1B visas (even with stamps in passports) please get legal advice from your University attorneys before leaving the US.

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Texas Observer @texasobserver.org · 13d

From @benjaminhjohns1.bsky.social: If you want to understand the increasingly authoritarian grip that the Republican establishment has on this state, and the increasingly destructive ends to which it is using its power, no figure from our past is better suited than Homer Price Rainey.

Texas History Offers Warnings amid Rash of Faculty Firings

Lessons to learn from the politically motivated firing of a UT president in the 1940s

www.texasobserver.org

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Baltimore Banner @thebaltimorebanner.com · 13d

Johns Hopkins, University of Maryland to feel brunt of Trump’s new $100K visa fee

Hopkins, University of Maryland to feel brunt of Trump’s new $100K visa fee

Looking at Donald Trump’s new changes to H-1B visas, which now include a hefty $100,000 fee. Will Maryland colleges start hiring less foreign born faculty because of it?

buff.ly

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Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · 13d

Comment period ends on Monday for a proposed rule change that would terminate student visas after 4 years. It also puts limits on exchange visitors and reps of foreign media, and shortens the length of time at the end of the visa from 60 days to 30 days.

www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

Establishing a Fixed Time Period of Admission and an Extension of Stay Procedure for Nonimmigrant Academic Students, Exchange Visitors, and Representatives of Foreign Information Media

Unlike most nonimmigrant classifications, which are admitted for a fixed time period, aliens in the F (academic student), J (exchange visitor), and most I (representatives of foreign information media...

www.federalregister.gov

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Texas Conference of the AAUP @texasaaup.bsky.social · 13d

🗣️🗣️What is happening at Texas Tech is part of a national campaign to erase the existence of trans people. Faculty and academic leaders across the country must stand up now: this suppression of #FreeSpeech and #AcademicFreedom will not be confined to Texas!

www.texastribune.org/2025/09/26/t...

Texas Tech’s limits on gender identity discussion deepen fears of politics breaching academic freedom

Professors are afraid to publicly speak out, system leaders left key questions unanswered and advocates worry for LGBTQ+ students’ mental health.

www.texastribune.org

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Texas AFT @texasaft.org · 14d

Good news to your end your week ✊ Dr. Thomas Alter is set to be reinstated at Texas State University after an initial court victory.

Statement from @texasaaup.bsky.social President Dr. Brian Evans and Texas AFT President @zephcapo.bsky.social 👇

www.texasaft.org/membership/h...

Judge’s Order Clears Way for Fired Texas State University Professor’s Reinstatement

A Union of Professionals

www.texasaft.org

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Laura Williams @laurawilliams.bsky.social · 14d

NSF GRFP solicitation out.
App deadlines now in November.
As others noted, eligibility rules for current graduate students now exclude 2nd year grad students. See the solicitation - they’ve emphasized “first year” and “less than one academic year” in grad program.

www.nsf.gov/funding/oppo...

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP)

www.nsf.gov

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Zahra Fakhraai @zahrafakhraai.bsky.social · 15d

On top of this, no hiring of PhDs with H1B visas means a huge shortage of qualified instructors and researchers, and all the revenue from international students will all but disappear. Universities are not taking any of this seriously enough. We are conducting business like perfect boiling frogs.

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · 15d

I'm sorry, I've lost any & all patience for this level of fundamental unseriousness. Vast swathes of our universities are going to be dismantled. Real people are going to lose their jobs. Students won't have the same opportunities anymore. And these people are writing drivel like this. It's gross.

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · Aug 9

It’s not just FLAS. It’s all the Title VI area studies centers. And dozens of labs & postdocs & research opportunities for undergrads funded by NSF and NIH grants. All gone. But the public won’t be aware of the actual consequences unless our leaders loudly & collectively explain to them the crisis.

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Texas Conference of the AAUP @texasaaup.bsky.social · 15d

📢📢Rally for Dr. Tom Alter and #FreeSpeech TODAY 11am! Details below! 👇

Texas Conference of the AAUP @texasaaup.bsky.social · 18d

⭐️Rally for fired Texas State history professor Dr. Tom Alter and for #FreeSpeech this Thursday, September 25th, 11am at the Hays County Courthouse, San Marcos. ✊

Yellow poster with three images of protests for free speech and labor unions. Featured speakers from TSEU, AAUP, Texas AFL-CIO, elected officials and more.

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Jen Mercieca @jenmercieca.bsky.social · 17d

"you are the ones with the most to lose. My colleagues & I may have to leave this cherished institution & that would be a great loss for us. But we have already lived lives of consequence and can find other pursuits. You, however, would lose the education you deserve." 🔥
thebatt.com/news/anonymo...

Anonymous Texas A&M professor calls on students to be ‘agent of change’

Editor's note: The following is an open letter to the Texas A&M student body written by a tenured professor at A&M and provided to The Battalion. The pr

thebatt.com

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Soft Matter @softmatter.rsc.org · 17d

We're delighted to announce that Ankur Gupta has been selected as the recipient of the 2025 Soft Matter Lectureship!

This award honours an early-career researcher for their contributions to the soft matter field.

Learn more about Ankur and his research on our blog 👉 blogs.rsc.org/sm/2025/09/1...

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Texas Conference of the AAUP @texasaaup.bsky.social · 19d

Student-led demonstration for #academicfreedom TOMORROW at Texas A&M 6pm! 👏✊👇

Poster on brown background featuring circular, colorful emblems representing various student orgs at A&M: MOVE Texas A&M, Texas A&M Rising, Secular Student Alliance, TAMU QEC, Pols Aggies and Texas Aggie Democrats.

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Carl T. Bergstrom @carlbergstrom.com · 20d

I have to keep this deliberately vague, but this is a total disaster for academic research.

And imposing it so suddenly is just cruel. I’ve got friends scrambling to get back to the US before midnight tonight. Do you know how hard that is to do on 36 hours of notice?