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Reposted by Sophie Gonick

Steven L. Johnson @stevenljohnson.org · 14h

UVA says no to the compact

To the University of Virginia community:

On Monday of last week, Rector Rachel Sheridan and I shared a message with the community regarding the proposed Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. We were asked to provide comments on the proposal no later than October 20.

Today, I sent the letter below to the Secretary of Education and to White House officials. The letter confirms our core values and commitments while expressing our view that federal research funding should be based on merit.

I want to thank personally the Faculty Senate, Staff Senate, Student Council, and many other members of our community who expressed their opinions on the proposed Compact, through the online form we provided and other means. Your thoughtful feedback shows a profound care for the University and a strong commitment to its future.

We will continue to work to strengthen free expression and free inquiry, protect academic freedom, ensure affordability , promote intellectual pluralism, and maintain institutional neutrality in an increasingly polarized world. I am grateful for your continued dedication to the University and I look forward to working with you on these vital projects.

Paul Mahoney
Interim President
University of Virginia

October 17, 2025

The United States Department of Education
Washington, DC 20202

Dear Secretary McMahon, Ms. Mailman, and Mr. Haley,

Thank you for your letter inviting comment on the proposed Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education. We wholeheartedly agree that “American higher education is the envy of the world.” We also agree with many of the principles outlined in the Compact, including a fair and unbiased admissions process, an affordable and academically rigorous education, a thriving marketplace of ideas, institutional neutrality, and equal treatment of students, faculty, and staff in all aspects of university operations. Indeed, the University of Virginia leads in several of these areas and is committed to continuous improvement in all of them.

We seek no special treatment in exchange for our pursuit of those foundational goals. The integrity of science and other academic work requires merit-based assessment of research and scholarship. A contractual arrangement predicating assessment on anything other than merit will undermine the integrity of vital, sometimes lifesaving, research and further erode confidence in American higher education.

Higher education faces significant challenges and has not always lived up to its highest ideals. We believe that the best path toward real and durable progress lies in an open and collaborative conversation. We look forward to working together to develop alternative, lasting approaches to improving higher education.

Sincerely yours,

Paul Mahoney
Interim President
University of Virginia

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Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 1d

Just received from a colleague: looks like Penn is going to join the universities refusing the extortionary Trump "compact". I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win

screenshot of an email saying:

"To the Penn Community:

For 285 years, Penn has been anchored and guided by continuous self-improvement, using education as a ladder for opportunity, and advancing discoveries that serve our community, our nation, and the world.

Since receiving the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education on October 1, I have sought input from faculty, alumni, trustees, students, staff and others who care deeply about Penn. The goal was to ensure that our response reflected our values and the perspectives of our broad community.

Earlier today, I informed the U.S. Department of Education that Penn respectfully declines to sign the proposed Compact. As requested, we also provided focused feedback highlighting areas of existing alignment as well as substantive concerns.

At Penn, we are committed to merit-based achievement and accountability. The long-standing partnership between American higher education and the federal government has greatly benefited society and our nation. Shared goals and investment in talent and ideas will turn possibility into progress.

I am grateful to the Penn community for your thoughtful input and for what you bring to our University and our missions every day.

Sincerely,

J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD
President
University of Pennsylvania"

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Bryan Edward Stone (שָׁלוֹם) @bestonetx.bsky.social · 3d

How AI saves time and increases productivity.

Kate Clancy @kateclancy.bsky.social · 3d

I am being asked to tell my department which pieces of lab equipment should be supported with backup power because they expect rolling blackouts and brownouts in 2026 due to increased energy demands from AI. In case you're wondering how my day is going.

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Sophie Gonick @professorsophie.bsky.social · 2d

I will just leave this here: defector.com/free-press-r...

Free Press Reporter Discovers That Being An Amoral Dickhead Can Cost You Friends | Defector

It can be hard to maintain friendships as an adult. People move to new cities, start families, and experience all sorts of other life events that make it difficult to keep in touch. Sometimes, you end...

defector.com

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onion person @junlper.beer · 2d

we love edgy jokes about gas chambers and rape unless it’s jokes about charlie kirk dying, which if you do that, you’ll be punished and deported and free speech revoked

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Senator Bernie Sanders @sanders.senate.gov · 2d

Trump wants to DOUBLE Argentina's bailout to $40 billion to save his political ally.

Yet he is doing nothing to prevent 15 million Americans from losing their health care and 20 million from seeing a doubling in their premiums.

Is this what Trump means by America first?

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Elizabeth Warren @warren.senate.gov · 2d

Apparently $20B of our taxpayer money wasn't enough to bail out Argentina.

Now Trump wants U.S. banks to divert ANOTHER $20B away from lending to American businesses, farmers, and families to prop up Milei's corrupt presidency and failing economy.

So much for America First.

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Mike Masnick @mmasnick.bsky.social · 3d

Thinking of all the people who insisted that this admin was serious about "ending antisemitism on college campuses."

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 3d

I just checked and this is real. It's on Border Patrol's official Instagram (I don't see it on Facebook) and is being celebrated by Nazis on Twitter, as you can see in the screenshot.

The clip is just 13 seconds long too, so it's a very intentional thing. We've got a Nazi government.

Twitter account: Uncensored @HmanQuotes1945: Official border patrol Facebook page is posting with the banned lyrics of Michael Jackson's song.
"Jew me sue me... Kick me k*ke me."
Epic

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Santiago Mayer @santiagomayer.com · 3d

JD Vance can dismiss the Young Republicans as a college group chat.

But let's be clear: the group chat includes a State Senator, a Trump Admin official, and multiple Republican staffers — and some of the worst comments came from folks associated with Mike Johnson, Elise Stefanik, and Mike Lawler.

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Sophie Gonick @professorsophie.bsky.social · 3d

Gee, I wonder what Matt Taibbi will say

Renee DiResta @noupside.bsky.social · 3d

I'm sorry, is the Trump Administration talking to a tech platform?

Is it...requesting content moderation?

Today following outreach from @thejusticedept, Facebook removed a large group page that was being used to dox and target @ICEgov agents in Chicago.
The wave of violence against ICE has been driven by online apps and social media campaigns designed to put ICE officers at risk just for doing their jobs. The Department of Justice will continue engaging tech companies to eliminate platforms where radicals can incite imminent violence against federal law enforcement.

Reposted by Sophie Gonick

ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 3d

every young Republican staffer is a Nazi, it's that simple www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

‘I love Hitler’: Leaked messages expose Young Republicans’ racist chat

Thousands of private messages reveal young GOP leaders joking about gas chambers, slavery and rape.

www.politico.com

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Brandon Friedman @brandonfriedman.bsky.social · 4d

Promoting the editor-in-chief's personal side project. Zero named sources in a story that promotes the editor-in-chief's personal political position. Misspelling the subject's name. It took one day for CBS News to become a conservative blog.

www.cbsnews.com/video/some-n...

CBS News: Some NYPD officers worry about Mandani becoming NYC mayor the Free Press reports.

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talia jane ❤️‍🔥 @taliajane.bsky.social · 5d

This sentiment from current beat cops (not the shadowy talking heads from the PBA that Weiss is using as sourcing here) meshes with informal interviews over the years with cops who hate subway details (mandatory OT). It’s a big reason why cops are leaving NYPD: Not what they signed up to do.

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talia jane ❤️‍🔥 @taliajane.bsky.social · 5d

Nobody wants it as a story but I have multiple NYPD sources who voted for Mamdani, are eager for his win in November, and who say their colleagues quietly feel the same.

They like that he wants NYPD to focus on crime, not quality of life enforcement.

Mark Misoshnik 🏴 @misoshnik.bsky.social · 6d

Lmao is this supposed to be a bad thing?

A tweet from Bari Weiss that says “"It's shaken me to my core," a lieutenant said of Mamdani's unexpected victory in June. "The absolute dread I feel is palpable.
"
Today in @TheFP our @Olivia_Reingold talks to the cops who say they will walk if Zohran Mamdani is elected in November:”

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southpaw @nycsouthpaw.bsky.social · 7d

What an emblem of the billionaire class—descending on a peaceful city in a private jet on the horn to NYT asking for the place to be invaded by federal authorities because the rent-a-cops you employ for a week to harass a few junkies outside the convention center cost too much.

Mr. Benioff spoke as his annual Dreamforce conference is set to begin Tuesday in downtown San Francisco, bringing 50,000 visitors to the city. He is scheduled to deliver a keynote address about the benefits of "agentic enterprise," a business model in which humans and artificial intelligence bots work together.
Speaking by telephone from his private plane en route to San Francisco, he lamented that he has to pay for nundreds of off-duty law enforcement officers to help patrol the convention area and said that San Francisco needed to "re-fund" the police.
The city never actually "defunded" its police force, and San Francisco's violent crime rates are below those in many other U.S. cities.
But San Francisco has struggled to recruit and keep officers, and it still has problems with lower-level crimes and open-air drug use, especially in neighborhoods like the Tenderloin near City Hall. It has about 1,500 police officers, and Mr. Benioff says it ne → another thousand.

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Ed @notdred.bsky.social · 7d

He got the shots that his own HHS is telling you are not necessary

Meg Tirrell @megtirrell.bsky.social · 7d

President Trump got an updated Covid vaccine & flu shot at Walter Reed today www.cnn.com/2025/10/10/p...

Trump received Covid vaccine and flu shot during second physical of the year | CNN Politics

President Donald Trump received a Covid vaccine and flu shot during his visit to Walter Reed Medical Center on Friday, his physician said in a memo released by the White House.

www.cnn.com

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Institute for Public Knowledge @ipk.bsky.social · 7d

Join the IPK on October 22 for a book talk with @jonathantarleton.bsky.social. He will discuss his book Homes for Living: The Fight for Social Housing and a New American Commons, with @professorsophie.bsky.social and Joshua Jelly-Schapiro.

ipk.nyu.edu/events/book-...

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Mark Bray @mark-bray.bsky.social · 8d

Friends and comrades made a crowdfunding page for my family.

It’s really hard to post this. I know that there are a lot of other important issues asking for money but things have gotten to the point where we need to open ourselves up to your support.

Thank you for your consideration.

"Help us leave safely" on FreeFunder

Click here to support "Help us leave safely" by Dara on FreeFunder!

www.freefunder.com

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Sophie Gonick @professorsophie.bsky.social · 8d

It’s Pastor David Black

1

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Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 8d

“.. Foreclosure rates have surged across the country and are up almost 20% from this time last year.”

www.realtor.com/news/trends/...

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Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 10d

The guy we are saving with $20B bailout

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Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 10d

NEW: David Adler—a Jewish American on the Gaza aid Flotilla—details Israeli detention.

At one point, he says, he was forced to his knees for a photo op with the Israeli flag, as Ben Gvir yelled in his face, calling him a terrorist.

Says US "hung up" on families of Americans, veterans seeking help.

EXCLUSIVE: Freed Flotilla Activist David Adler Details His ‘Violent Abduction’ by Israel

The Jewish American writer says Israeli minister Itamar Ben-Gvir specifically targeted him, forcing a photo op with the Israeli flag and calling him a “terrorist.”

zeteo.com

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Acyn @acyn.bsky.social · 14d

Abughazaleh: I think Kristi Noem should be tried at The Hague. And if the response from ICE to people exercising their first amendment right is to drive vehicles through them, they should not be an agency in the US.

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The Washington Post @washingtonpost.com · 13d

Many American Jews sharply disapprove of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, with 61 percent saying Israel has committed war crimes and about 4 in 10 saying the country is guilty of genocide against the Palestinians, according to a Washington Post poll.

Many American Jews sharply critical of Israel on Gaza, Post poll finds

Most Jews say Israel is committing war crimes — and 39 percent say genocide — while often distinguishing between the country and its leadership.

wapo.st

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Eric Reinhart @eric-reinhart.com · 14d

ICE just blatantly violated the law and arrested sitting Chicago Alderperson Jessie Fuentes while seeking to illegally arrest a patient in a hospital. Fuck these fascists.

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