Sam Vortherms
@svortherms.bsky.social
920 followers 180 following 14 posts
Poli Sci Asst. Prof UCI | Comparative Politics | China | Migration | Development
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Reposted by Sam Vortherms
mclem.org
The White House has ordered the US Dept. of Justice to prioritize denaturalization: voiding the citizenship of US citizens.

Who will it denaturalize? "Any" case that it "determines to be sufficiently important".

Point 10 leaves the criteria opaque and arbitrary.

substack.com/redirect/169...
svortherms.bsky.social
I received a promotion to Associate Professor with tenure at UCI. And we welcomed our second child this month. It'll be hard to top this year, but I look forward to the next chapter, in all respects
svortherms.bsky.social
As the academic year comes to a close, I am delighted to reflect on all that happened this year, even in these stressful times. My book came out in October, completing a decade long research and writing process.
Reposted by Sam Vortherms
svortherms.bsky.social
*is likely experiencing a rapid acceleration in...
codendahl.bsky.social
America is in danger of experiencing an academic brain drain 
economist.com/science-and-...
website views of PhD programmes up in Netherlands. canada, sweden etc website views from outside the US down massively in the US, up elsewhere
Reposted by Sam Vortherms
mclem.org
This is a sickening and illegal perversion of power.

The damage being done right now is incomprehensibly large and permanent.

Carving out the heart of Americans’ future.
surtlab.bsky.social
All NSF GRFPs to students choosing to attend Harvard in the Fall were just terminated
Reposted by Sam Vortherms
carlbergstrom.com
5. This is of course directly in line with the Project 2025 vision of destroying expertise, institutional knowledge, and independent thought within the federal agencies so as turn the entire federal government into an extension of the President's agenda.
svortherms.bsky.social
One of the small ways you can have an impact: comment opposing the politicization of career civil servants. This proposal would dramatically accelerate the politicization of a huge range of federal offices, including the politicization of scientific research.
donmoyn.bsky.social
New from me: Everything feels overwhelming. But here is a tangible thing you can do: write a comment to oppose Trump's plan to convert 50,000 career civil servants into political appointees. Deadline is May 23. Please share!
donmoynihan.substack.com/p/here-is-a-...
Here is a specific thing you can do to fight Trump's politicization of public services
Plus: what I wrote in Science about the revised Schedule F
donmoynihan.substack.com
Reposted by Sam Vortherms
vicshih.bsky.social
By the way, we are searching for a postdoc for China-focused data analysis at our China Data Lab, would love to have you join us! higheredjobs.com/region/details…
https://higheredjobs.com/region/details…
Reposted by Sam Vortherms
donmoyn.bsky.social
A 50% cut to science funding (which is close to what Trump is proposing for NIH) would result in huge negative long-term economic outcomes:
*7.6% cut in GDP
*8.6% cut in federal revenues
*equivalents of making the average American $10,000 poorer
alondra.bsky.social
"If you look at a long period of time, a lot of our increase in living standards seems to be coming from public investment in scientific research."

The devastating cuts to science funding aren't just academic, they threaten our livelihoods and wellbeing. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/30/b...
Trump’s Cuts to Science Funding Could Hurt U.S. Economy, Study Shows (Gift Article)
Reducing federal support for research and development could cause long-run economic damage and reduce government revenue.
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Sam Vortherms
xiaobolu.bsky.social
We invite you to submit presentations for Fall 2025. We welcome working papers by scholars at various career stages, using any method, in the fields of comparative politics and international relations. Please fill out the form below by May 15:
Chinese Politics Research in Progress Call for Paper (Fall 2025)
Timing: Fridays on 1-2PM (EST) / 12-1 PM (CST) / 10-11AM (PST) in Fall, 2025 Venue: Zoom Contact us at [email protected]
docs.google.com
Reposted by Sam Vortherms
aparc.stanford.edu
🤝 Come work with us!

APARC is #hiring:
🔸 A full-time China Program Coordinator
🔸 A full-time Center Administrative Associate
🔸 A research assistant for a project on the economics of robotics in nursing homes in Japan (for Stanford students only)

Learn more ⬇️
APARC Jobs
Stanford University
stanford.io
Reposted by Sam Vortherms
hakeemjefferson.bsky.social
A colleague at Stanford’s business school used The Stanford Daily to argue—poorly—against DEI. The piece was riddled with historical errors and left one searching for fact, so I broke my public writing hiatus to respond.

I hope you’ll read and share the piece.

stanforddaily.com/2025/04/22/w...
What DEI threatens isn’t merit. It’s monopoly.
Political science professor Hakeem Jefferson argues for DEI's importance to de-monopolizing universities.
stanforddaily.com
svortherms.bsky.social
So research on, say, women's health, our ridiculously high maternal mortality rate, or any such research, not to mention any other group who has been excluded by the research industry for decades is out.
svortherms.bsky.social
NSF's new research "priorities" seems absurd:
research should not "directly/indirectly exclude individuals or groups. Research projects with more narrow impact limited to subgroups of people based on protected class or characteristics do not effectuate NSF priorities."
www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...
Updates on NSF Priorities
www.nsf.gov
Reposted by Sam Vortherms
jamellebouie.net
jesus christ they want her dead
chadbourn.bsky.social
Kseniia Petrova, a Russian scientist at Harvard Medical School, was detained at Logan Airport after returning from France and sent to an ICE detention in Louisiana, The Insider reports.

A big critic of Putin and the war in Ukraine, she may now be deported to Russia.
svortherms.bsky.social
Sometimes I feel like I've woken up in another authoritatian country I know well...
washingtonpost.com
Rumeysa Ozturk, a PhD student at Tufts University, was detained March 25 by Department of Homeland Security agents in masks and plainclothes.

“We should all be horrified at the way DHS spirited away Rumeysa in broad daylight,” Mahsa Khanbabai, Ozturk’s lawyer, said. wapo.st/3QPfoiA
Reposted by Sam Vortherms
carlbergstrom.com
1. For the past thirty years I've had the best job in the world.


I've had the opportunity to follow my curiosity; explore the workings of nature and society; mentor students and junior colleagues in the same process; and teach generations of students about it all.
Reposted by Sam Vortherms
annagbusse.bsky.social
I wish university leaders would a) read this, and b) reconsider their silence.

This administration is coming for higher education. Failing to point out the illegality, the violation of basic legal rights, and attacks on research and what they mean isn't going to save us.
walterolson.bsky.social
New from me at Cato: in its demands that Columbia surrender its academic and administrative independence to federal overseers, the Trump administration has violated one law after another. And there's every reason to think it's planning to roll out the same game plan to other universities. /1
What Can the Feds Legally Demand of Columbia University?
The Trump administration is using the threat of a funding cutoff to demand sweeping changes at Columbia University, including a drastic overhaul of its system of student discipline, and the putting of...
www.cato.org
Reposted by Sam Vortherms
theonion.com
Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage
Chuck Schumer Helps Pull Democrats Back From Brink Of Courage
Reposted by Sam Vortherms
jamessmurphy.bsky.social
This is who was fired from the union workforce at the Department of Education yesterday. Every single number is a person who served the nation and whose life was wrongly disrupted. That's the first tragedy, but it's clearly not the only one.
Reposted by Sam Vortherms
aaup.org
AAUP @aaup.org · Mar 14
We condemn in the strongest possible terms any university that would sacrifice its own students to the demands of an authoritarian government.

This is absolute cowardice & capitulation to an administration hellbent on the destruction of American higher education.

www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/n...
Columbia Disciplines Students Who Occupied Campus Building Last Year
Sanctions for the Hamilton Hall occupation include expulsions and suspensions.
www.nytimes.com