Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Reposted by Alex Barnard

Thor Benson @thorbenson.bsky.social · Aug 21

Actually that's just JD Vance's life because people yell at him everywhere he goes

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Aug 21

JD Vance on homelessness: "I don't know why we accepted that it was reasonable to have crazy people yelling at our kids. You should not have to cross the street in downtown Atlanta to avoid a crazy person yelling at your family. Those are your streets."

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Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · Aug 21

The EO is also *wasteful*. It takes a subset of people who have needs that can't be met by independent supportive housing and uses them as justification for abandoning Housing First, which remains the most effective approach we have for most.

As a reminder, a psych hospitalization costs $1000/day+.

Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · Aug 21

The EO is *cruel*. It follows the recent Supreme Court decision in Grant's Pass to ramp up encampment sweeps, even though scholars like Chris Herring have shown how forcing people to move, throwing away all their stuff (like IDs!), and piling up fines makes it harder to get into housing.

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Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · Aug 21

The executive order is *incoherent*. It follows Trump's pet project of expanding involuntary ttt (which he evoked after the Parkland shooting), even though it is governed by state law and depends on infrastructure (like psych hospitals) that his Medicaid cuts are simultaneously going to gut.

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Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · Aug 21

Today I fulfilled my millennial dream and appeared on @vox's Today, Explained podcast, talking about Trump's executive order around homelessness and civil commitments. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Trump evicts homeless people

Podcast Episode · Today, Explained · 08/21/2025 · 27m

podcasts.apple.com

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Columbia University Press @columbiaup.bsky.social · Jul 8

We are pleased to announce that Alex Barnard's CONSERVATORSHIP was named Honorable Mention for the 2025 Best Book Award from the Sociology of Mental Health Section, American Sociological Association. buff.ly/LqsQROV @avbsoc.bsky.social @asasmh.bsky.social #MentalHealth #PublicPolicy

Honorable Mention, 2025 Best Book Award, Sociology of Mental Health Section, American Sociological Association. Includes the cover to Conservatorship:
Inside California’s System of Coercion and Care for Mental Illness, by Alex V. Barnard. Save 20% with code CUP20SM at cup.columbia.edu

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Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · Jun 25

Going to revisit my notes from reading "Citizen and Subject" from qualifying exams to try to make sense of NYC Mayoral Election.

Reposted by Alex Barnard

Ken Wissoker @kwissoker.bsky.social · Jun 2

the books – even for seminars in recent trends in the area, then the books aren’t selling. The Press might as well price them like Cambridge or Routledge, at a level that assumes no one will buy them. In my view, we need a Bandcamp moment – people realizing their friends won’t have bands ... 9/

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Ken Wissoker @kwissoker.bsky.social · Jun 2

Here's a long thread on an issue dear to my heart. This Tuesday evening I’m doing an Intellectual Publics with Macarena Gomez-Barris on publishing. Like last year’s conversation with Denise Cruz, or the prior year’s with Racquel Gates, we will talk about how to find a publisher, turn a thesis... 1/

Intellectual Publics @intellpublics.bsky.social · May 12

Remember to register!
Ken Wissoker in conversation with Macarena Gómez-Barris
Tues June 3rd at 6:30pm ET via Zoom
bit.ly/impossibleti...

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Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · May 21

Glad my alma mater is mobilizing alums for higher ed.

Admin should be doing the same with faculty: giving stipends to write op eds, go back to our hometowns to talk about the value of what we do, blasting us with e-mails to call Congress.

NYU admin, meanwhile, doing zilch.

standup.princeton.edu

Stand Up for Princeton and Higher Education.

Join a community of Princeton alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends who are committed  to making the case for America’s great colleges and universities.

standup.princeton.edu

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Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · May 13

The future well being of many people in America's largest state and the world's 4th largest economy hinges on finding someone who can really get through to Newsom to explain to him that he is never, never, never going to be President.

Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · May 13

Someone once said Gavin Newsom looks like the Marvel President announcing that all the mutants are going to be quarantined, and now he's ordering municipalities to expel one of society's most marginalized and stigmatized groups, so I guess that was spot on.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/12/u...

Newsom Asks Cities to Ban Homeless Encampments, Escalating Crackdown

www.nytimes.com

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Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · Apr 24

No signature from my employer. But no worries: as the univ attended by the President's son, in the top-10 targets of Trump's anti-semitism investigation, and extremely dependent on international students, NYU will certainly stay under the radar. Thus has no need to mobilize to defend higher ed.

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · Apr 23

Morning update:
@aacu.org letter from univ prez on "unprecedented gov overreach" now has 304 signers

Very wide range—comm colleges to Ivies, small lib-arts to huge state schools.

Interesting patterns (eg UCs Berkeley, Davis, Riverside, UCLA, etc but not UCSD, UCSB) www.aacu.org/newsroom/a-c...

A Call for Constructive Engagement | AAC&U

A Call for Constructive Engagement

www.aacu.org

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Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · Apr 14

Between this and Princeton Eisengruber's interview, NYU's president doesn't even have to come up with her own talking points to stand up the Trump administration. She just needs a spine.

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · Apr 14

"“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” said Alan Garber, Harvard’s president, in a statement to the university"

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/u...

Harvard Will Not Comply With a List of Trump Administration Demands

Federal officials said Harvard must enact “merit-based reform” in hiring and admissions, among other things. Harvard called the demands unlawful.

www.nytimes.com

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Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · Apr 10

Shit, I might actually have to give to Annual Giving this year.
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/09/p...

The University President Willing to Fight Trump

Christopher L. Eisgruber of Princeton University talks about the administration’s move to freeze billions of dollars in funding to higher education institutions.

www.nytimes.com

Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · Apr 3

Walking outside Père Lachaise cemetery where they list the names of the ~96,000 Parisians killed in WWI.

A sobering reminder that rekindling colonial ambitions, trashing multilateral institutions, and pushing European rearmament is playing with fire in a very scary way.

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Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · Apr 2

🎵 Here we go, Tigers, here we go * clap clap *

Wunpini F. Mohammed, PhD @wunpini.bsky.social · Apr 2

In Bloomberg interview, Eisgruber signals that Princeton will not make concessions
www.dailyprincetonian.com/article/2025...

In Bloomberg interview, Eisgruber signals that Princeton will not make concessions

University President Christopher Eisgruber ’83 signaled that Princeton would not make concessions to the federal government after news broke that the Trump administration had suspended dozens of the U...

www.dailyprincetonian.com

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Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · Apr 1

The plus side of Trump going after the country club of the Ivy League is we don't even have to pretend this is about anything other than destroying universities as such - regardless of their orientation towards DEI, student protest, antisemitism, etc.

Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · Apr 1

NYU, this is your chance to get out of the Ivy League's shadow.

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Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · Apr 1

Essential reading: rich universities with huge endowments should be acting as arsenals of academic freedom - financing the research the administration is cutting, funding the programs Trump is targeting, and going on the attack in the legal sphere. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/25/o...

Opinion | $15 Billion Is Enough to Fight a President (Gift Article)

Every university president will face a choice similar to Columbia University’s in the coming months.

www.nytimes.com

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Alex Barnard @avbsoc.bsky.social · Mar 20

Signed!

Daniel Laurison @daniellaurison.bsky.social · Mar 19

A key step in fighting the Trump admin's attacks on higher education specifically and democracy more broadly is to say as clearly as we can that we share values that are meaningful and that we will not stand by while our institutions are destroyed.

You can do that here:
bit.ly/DemocracyAndHigherEd

(Image of a google doc; first line is title & in larger font)

Speaking Out for Democracy and US Higher Education
To add your name to this statement, go to https://bit.ly/DemocracyAndHigherEdSign

We publicly affirm our commitment to the enterprise of higher education in a democratic and free society, and to the values and practices that facilitate the production, advancement, and sharing of knowledge. Given the continuous and escalating attacks on higher education along with many other pillars of American democracy by the Trump administration and its allies, we call on colleges and universities to protect these values.

We affirm that:

The democratic ideals of free thought, free speech, free association, freedom of assembly and the right to dissent are worth fighting for. Democracy both honors our dignity as individuals and enables collective action on behalf of the common good.

2. Education is a fundamental pillar of a democratic society. People come from all over the world to take part in the free exchange of ideas and the depth of knowledge and expertise found in US colleges and universities. The capacity and tools these institutions provide to think carefully and deeply about politics, society, and the built and natural worlds produce scholars and world citizens whose contributions benefit us all. The value of American education has long been a consensus position across parties and ideologies; both Democratic and Republican administrations have supported our system of higher education.

3. Diversity is essential. Democracy requires that we invest fully in the rich array of our differences. We affirm the fundamental dignity and value of each person of every race, ethnicity, national origin, class, gender, sexual orientation, disability status, legal status, religion, identity, ideology and viewpoint. Bringing together people with different experiences, talents, and perspectives is critical to a successful learning environment and ultimately benefits society as a whole.

4. Education, knowledge, and science are intrinsically worthwhile. They improve both individual lives and the collective well-being of a democratic society. Cutting funding risks inflicting lasting damage on scholarly inquiry, from work in the arts to social policy to life-saving medical research and care.

5. Academic freedom is necessary to the pursuit of knowledge. Research must be conducted free from political threat if it is to identify and develop ideas serving the human race. These ideas, turned into action, are critical elements of any functioning society, including the rule of law, medical care, and scientific advancement.

6. No amount of accommodation or compliance will protect us. The current attacks on higher education amount to an assault on the foundational principles of democracy. If we abandon our commitments to equality, pluralism, and free scholarly inquiry we turn our backs on the most essential ingredients to our democracy: reflecting on our past, pooling our present talents, and investing in our future.

As scholars, educators, and people who care about our students and our democracy, we believe it is our duty to speak out against the attacks on diversity and pluralism, on scholarship and learning, on academic freedom, and on democracy itself. We are doing so through this statement, and will continue to do so on our campuses and beyond.

We urge the leaders of America’s colleges and universities, and every American who believes in democracy and education, to stand up for the values we share.

We call on college and university leadership to refuse to comply with the unethical, irresponsible and frequently illegal demands of the Trump administration; to join together to speak out in defense of the values of academic freedom, scholarship and research; to protect their students and faculty from government reprisals; and to fight attacks on our institutions in the public sphere and the legal arena.

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Waldo Jaquith @waldo.net · Mar 19

And then Trump said “oh that’s great, now I am happy, and I will certainly not come back with further demands” and they all lived happily ever after. www.wsj.com/us-news/educ...

Exclusive | Columbia Is Nearing Agreement to Give Trump What He Wants

The school faces a deadline to yield to administration demands, with $400 million in federal funding at stake.

www.wsj.com

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This skeet will self destruct @pardoguerra.bsky.social · Mar 18

I sincerely think that universities should suspend their productivity standards for scientists and ask them instead to hold town halls in schools, public libraries, museums, shopping malls, and anywhere else and communicate what is being lost with the collapse of the research ecosystem.

James Sims @simsjames.bsky.social · Mar 16

“The ecosystem of research and the creation of new knowledge in universities has been so powerful for American prosperity, American freedom, American ingenuity. To have that disrupted by government overreach is a disaster for this country.” —Wesleyan University President Michael Roth on
@msnbc.com

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Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · Mar 12

We really don't spend enough time just stating that Trump hates good things.

Green infrastructure and biking are among the best things in cities and only retrograde losers think otherwise.

Streetsblog USA @usa.streetsblog.org · Mar 12

NEW: U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has ordered officials to stop action on all Biden-era discretionary grants to build bike lanes and other "green infrastructure" so the agency can review the project for possible removal.

BREAKING: U.S. DOT Orders Review of All Grants Related to Green Infrastructure, Bikes — Streetsblog USA

Now U.S. Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is coming for our bike lanes!

usa.streetsblog.org

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · Mar 1

Again, Jews were less than 1% of the German population in 1933.

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