Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 4h

MIT is a global community whose international engagement bestows benefits well beyond the Cambridge campus.

news.mit.edu/2025/attract...

By attracting the world’s sharpest talent, MIT helps keep the US a step ahead

Just as the US has prospered through its ability to draw talent from every corner of the globe, so too has MIT thrived as a magnet for the world’s most keen and curious minds, contributing to America’...

news.mit.edu

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Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 4h

The number of international students arriving in the U.S. in August fell by 19% this year compared with last year — the largest decline on record outside of the pandemic.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Nearly 20 Percent Fewer International Students Traveled to the U.S. in August (Gift Article)

The data shows the steepest decline in August international student arrivals since the pandemic.

www.nytimes.com

Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 4h

Georgia Planning Association fall conference is beginning in Athens.

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Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 1d

"Any university leader who signs on to this compact would betray everything good and solid about the university and would do deep and permanent harm to the United States and the world."
newrepublic.com/article/2013...

Why This Essay Could Cause the University of Virginia to Shut Down

How Linda McMahon’s latest “compact” would do deep and permanent harm to American higher education

newrepublic.com

Reposted by Bruce Stiftel

Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 3d

The Journal of the American Planning Association is now included in American Planning Association membership.
#japaplanning planning.org/japa/

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Reposted by Bruce Stiftel

AAUP @aaup.org · 5d

AAUP President Todd Wolfson unpacks the dangerous consequences of the Trump administration’s compact, which aims to exert ideological control over universities and colleges. As Wolfson makes clear, this partisan incursion into higher education affects ALL sectors.

@proftwolf.bsky.social

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Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 2d

"[I]n the end, he wasn’t really about parking. Don was an economist, and his mission was to help people understand the underlying economics of public goods and services. Parking was simply the vehicle, one might say, that he chose to do so."

open.substack.com/pub/futureof...

How Don Shoup Changed The World

Nobody thought much about parking until this UCLA economist wrote about it. Now, nobody thinks about parking the same way.

open.substack.com

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Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 3d

The Journal of the American Planning Association is now included in American Planning Association membership.
#japaplanning planning.org/japa/

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Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 3d

DePaul University has told faculty it will immediately reduce spending following a 30% decline in international enrollment this fall. The move is the latest by U.S. colleges to cope with the disruptive education and immigration policies of President Donald Trump.
www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2025/10...

Fewer foreign students and fewer dollars make U.S. colleges feel the pinch

Dozens of schools in the U.S. have announced budget cuts in response to Trump administration policies that are upending higher education.

www.japantimes.co.jp

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Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 3d

"[I]nternational students are thought to have contributed around $50bn to the US economy in 2023 in tuition, rent, food, taxes and a host of other ways."

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Small US college towns reel amid Trump immigration crackdown: ‘They need international students’

From Ohio to Florida, the US government’s clampdown on students from abroad threatens rural universities and local businesses

www.theguardian.com

Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 4d

Trump’s ‘Compact’ With Universities Is Just Extortion www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...

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

www.nytimes.com

Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 6d

"Police responded to reports of a car driving at members of the public at 09:31 on Thursday morning, after which officers quickly declared a major incident...

"Eyewitnesses describe how security staff prevented the attacker from getting into the synagogue."

www.bbc.com/news/article...

Manchester synagogue attacker named as Jihad Al-Shamie

Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old British man of Syrian descent, is named as the synagogue attacker.

www.bbc.com

Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 6d

"A big part of the craziness is that some of the people going to war over words are casting themselves as champions of free speech. It’s the people they are trying to silence, they claim, who are the enemies."
www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Where the Battle Over Free Speech Is Leading Us

Doxing, deplatforming, defunding, persecuting, firing, and sometimes killing—all are part of an escalating war over words. What happens next?

www.newyorker.com

Reposted by Bruce Stiftel

Reuters @reuters.com · 7d

Trump administration scraps $8 billion for climate-related projects reut.rs/48PqnCG

Trump administration scraps $8 billion for climate-related projects

President Donald Trump's administration is cancelling nearly $8 billion in climate-related funding targeting 16 U.S. states, including California and New York, White House budget director Russ Vought said on Wednesday.

reut.rs

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Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 7d

"[S]tudent outcomes are trending downward across the board: Both graduation and retention rates have fallen since the takeover in 2023.
...even as New College spends more than 10 times per student what the other 11 members of the...System spend, on average."

www.insidehighered.com/news/governa...

Spending Soars, Rankings Fall at New College of Florida

Student outcomes and rankings are slipping at the liberal arts college while spending is up. Critics believe the college is at risk of implosion, and some are calling for privatization.

www.insidehighered.com

Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 8d

American Planning Association has released results of its 2025 Planner Salary Survey. Lots of useful data, including median AICP salary of $110,000.

planning.org/salary/2025/...

2025 Planners' Salary and Benefits Survey

APA’s 2025 Planners’ Salary and Benefits Survey presents an up-to-date, multidimensional snapshot of the state of the planning profession. This page presents a high-level summary of the survey and its...

planning.org

Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 9d

Once all votes had been counted, it became clear that PAS had not only received a significant majority of the votes cast by the Moldovan diaspora in western Europe (about 80,000 people), but also the majority of votes cast in three-quarters of all constituencies at home.
www.dw.com/en/moldovas-...

Moldova's resounding 'yes' to Europe — and 'no' to Russia – DW – 09/29/2025

The fear of Russia's influence was apparently considerable: In a surprise outcome, Moldova's ruling pro-European PAS retained its absolute majority in Sunday's parliamentary election.

www.dw.com

Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 9d

"The alarm bells should prompt us to reflect on how our city has grown for a half-century, and to ask whether this model can be sustained going forward. As a professor of urban planning, I see a city not fully grappling with its need for reinvention."
saportareport.com/the-end-of-t...

The end of the old Atlanta growth model - SaportaReport

Read The end of the old Atlanta growth model by Gregory Randolph for SaportaReport here.

saportareport.com

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Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 9d

“There’s nothing about our immigration system that works. It doesn’t work for deporting the right people, and it doesn’t work for getting the right people here. But this is all fixable. Congress can fix all of it tomorrow.”

www.atlantamagazine.com/news-culture...

We spent an emotional day with one of Atlanta's top immigration attorneys. Here's why he says the system doesn't work.

When I arrived at Atlanta-based immigration lawyer Charles H. Kuck's office early on a Monday morning, he opened a spreadsheet on his computer to show me his schedule for the day. His workday started ...

www.atlantamagazine.com

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Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 10d

"With 98% of ballots counted, the pro-EU Party of Action and Solidarity has won around half of the vote, while the pro-Russia Patriotic Bloc came in second with around 25%."

www.dw.com/en/moldova-e...

Moldova election: Pro-EU party takes decisive lead – DW – 09/29/2025

Moldovans voted in a high-stakes election to decide whether the country moves closer to the European Union or Russia. Follow DW for more.

www.dw.com

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Reposted by Bruce Stiftel

Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 10d

NEW STARTER PACK! This time I’m hoping to encourage and support global urbanists from OUTSIDE North America here on Bluesky, so hopefully this will help! Who’ve I missed? Just joined? Let me know! I’ll keep updating, so please keep checking & sharing this pack! And let’s try using #GlobalUrbanists.

Urbanists OUTSIDE North America Worth Following!

Join the conversation

go.bsky.app

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Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 10d

The U.S. is seeing 150,000 fewer international students this fall – a 30%-40% drop linked to new visa restrictions.

Experts warn it could cost $7B and strain universities and communities that rely on these students.

tcnv.link/8p9R83S

Fewer international students are coming to the US, costing universities and communities that benefit from these visitors

An estimated 150,000 fewer international students are expected to be attending American universities and colleges this fall because of visa restrictions and other Trump administration policies.

tcnv.link

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Bruce Stiftel @brucestiftel.bsky.social · 13d

"Americans imagine that huge sums of money go to this work.. In fact, on a budget for our global health work that is less than half the budget of the hospital where I did surgery here in Boston, we reached... programs that saved lives by the millions."

www.newyorker.com/podcast/the-...

Hundreds of Thousands Will Die

The writer, surgeon, and former U.S.A.I.D. senior official Atul Gawande on the Trump Administration’s decimation of foreign aid and the consequences around the world.

www.newyorker.com

Reposted by Bruce Stiftel

Bloomberg Opinion @opinion.bloomberg.com · 16d

Trump’s new $100,000 H-1B visa restrictions will hit India hard.

@andymukherjee70.bsky.social explains what’s at stake 🎥

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Reposted by Bruce Stiftel

Times Higher Education (THE) @timeshighered.bsky.social · 16d

Twelve examples of how any university in the UK and beyond can promote free speech: www.timeshighereducation.com/campus/free-... #HigherEd #FreeSpeech

A free speech checklist for universities

Practical examples of how universities can promote free speech on campus from Dennis Hayes, the director of Academics for Academic Freedom

www.timeshighereducation.com

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