Alex Usher
@alexusherhesa.bsky.social
5.1K followers 630 following 2.7K posts
Higher Education. All of it. All around the world. Also: snark, sumo, Winnipeg Jets triumphalism and bitching about Toronto FC. I blog here: https://higheredstrategy.com/blog/ I podcast here: https://worlded.transistor.fm/
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Reposted by Alex Usher
jenlucpiquant.bsky.social
“They may try to take away our 501(c)(3) tax status, which would be devastating. But I would rather be a truth-teller and taxed, than to be silent and untaxed.... To bend would also dishonor the legacy of those who did not bend. You got to stand, even when people say sit down."
adamlaats.bsky.social
Here is is, from Bryan Stevenson @eji.org.
What's wrong with "heroic history?"
"It’s like saying, 'I’m going to the doctor, but I’ve already instructed my doctor, Don’t give me any bad news' ... if you don’t want to be sick... you have to be willing to hear the truth of your condition."
[gift link]:
Civil Rights Lawyer Bryan Stevenson on How America’s Story Should Be Told
www.nytimes.com
Reposted by Alex Usher
jamellebouie.net
i’d day this nails the South as well
williamhazen.bsky.social
This is the most accurate depiction of the Midwest to date. Wichita has always felt like the last Midwest city while also being the first plains city.
Cultural Regions of the US
Reposted by Alex Usher
alexusherhesa.bsky.social
Protest movements in various countries (e.g. Nepal, Morocco, Philippines, Madagascar) are currently being called "Gen-Z" protests. Formerly they would have been called student protests. Why the change? Are student orgs just passé as organizing vehicles (but then what about Serbia & Bangladesh?)
alexusherhesa.bsky.social
I recognize the basic coalitions - it's the renamings that drive me spare.
alexusherhesa.bsky.social
On that note I have been looking at global patterns of enrolment data. If you Turkiye out of the equation there has basically been zero increase in enrolments inside the OECD for about a decade now (and Turkiye is now in reverse as well). Outside OECD still seeing around 4%/year growth.
alexusherhesa.bsky.social
Is there an efficient way of keeping track of Who TF all these Montreal parties are and what they stand for? I like municipal party systems, but the fact that they change every election cycle seems...unhelpful (to voters at least)
alexusherhesa.bsky.social
Excellent Quiet Batpeople moment

(IYKYK)
denisedwheeler.bsky.social
Reuters photographer Jonathan Ernst noticed that Bondi flipped open a file during the Senate hearing and he zoomed in.

Inside were her crib notes for attacking the senators.

The GOP now practicing Cliff's Notes Fascism

In other words, under oath Bondi was purely a performance.
Bondi senate hearing had a folder full of notes for attacking the senators Bondi senate hearing had a folder full of notes for attacking the senators Bondi senate hearing had a folder full of notes for attacking the senators Bondi senate hearing had a folder full of notes for attacking the senators
alexusherhesa.bsky.social
1) Classic Canadian fallacy that the answer to a labour shortage is that we need more bodies, not more efficiency/better training etc

2) Everyone knows that we admit about 100,000 new people into skilled trades apprenticeships every year, right? Right?
Reposted by Alex Usher
timeshighered.bsky.social
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is expected to announce plans to cut the number of UK university places by about 100,000 annually by reintroducing student number controls, reports Patrick Jack #edusky
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/badenochs-number-caps-plan-would-cut-100000-university-places
Reposted by Alex Usher
shermandorn.com
U Ariz faculty senate approves resolution asking university NOT to sign compact. Paywalled,...

www.azcentral.com/story/news/l...
UA Faculty Senate votes against proposed compact

In its Oct. 6 faculty senate meeting, faculty voted in favor of a resolution calling upon UA President Suresh Garimella and the Arizona Board of Regents to reject the proposed contract and any similar proposals "compromising the mission, values and independence of the University."

The vote passed 40-8, with one abstention. Faculty members raised several questions about how the university can find a path forward, whether leaders choose to sign the compact or not.
alexusherhesa.bsky.social
Maybe the conclusion is that they are not serious?
alexusherhesa.bsky.social
Thanks. Argentina's not in there - they were suspended from the IMF statistics because of data manipulation when Fernandez Kirchner was president. So there are series that go 1960-2014 and 2016-present but nothing that crosses.
alexusherhesa.bsky.social
If I had to bet, it would be for 2026-27.
alexusherhesa.bsky.social
The thing to remember about what's going on in Argentinian higher education is that the erosion of public transfers to universities via inflation is something that long predates Milei.

(budgeted public transfer to universities in billions of 2024 pesos)
alexusherhesa.bsky.social
Dying for anyone to find me a price index time series from Argentina that goes back further than 2016.
alexusherhesa.bsky.social
Final point here: the point of separating out capital is to make you believe that the first $50B in deficit spending doesn't count. That might work politically, for a while at least. But don't think bond markets are suddenly going to change *their* definition of a deficit.
Liberal government to deliver all future budgets in the fall as part of new framework | CBC News
The Liberal government is ending a long-held tradition of presenting a spring budget and will instead adopt a relatively new tradition borrowed from the U.K. that will see all future budgets delivered...
www.cbc.ca
alexusherhesa.bsky.social
Another interesting political management question: how do you manage the budget cycle if your caucus and cabinet retreats are only two months out from the budget instead of six? Do we get a new schedule of retreats or does PMO just get to exercize even more influence over the budget process?
Liberal government to deliver all future budgets in the fall as part of new framework | CBC News
The Liberal government is ending a long-held tradition of presenting a spring budget and will instead adopt a relatively new tradition borrowed from the U.K. that will see all future budgets delivered...
www.cbc.ca
alexusherhesa.bsky.social
It's an interesting question: do the feds realize that they are adopting a definition that will permit them to fund capital projects at community colleges in all 10 provinces but only at universities in 3 (BC, AB, NL)? Or is this all just "make it up on the back of a napkin and figure it out later"?