Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · 6h

USC's reaction is a good start
www.latimes.com/california/s...

USC faculty members denounce Trump compact that would shift university to the right

The USC Academic Senate held a special meeting to discuss the Trump administration's education compact, which was presented to the school last week.

www.latimes.com

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · 6h

Here's hoping @himself.bsky.social is right and universities hold the line.
open.substack.com/pub/programm...

Trump's University Compact demonstrates weakness, not strength

The administration would act differently if it were confident

open.substack.com

1

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · 12d

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

Lower Than Cowards

The surrender of America’s elites

www.theatlantic.com

1 2

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · 13d

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/25/o...

Opinion | A U.S. Sale Isn’t Enough. Here’s How to Make TikTok Safer.

www.nytimes.com

1

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · 15d

Yep... though I haven't read it yet.

Reposted by Deborah Avant

Governor JB Pritzker @govpritzker.illinois.gov · 20d

A free and democratic society cannot silence comedians because the President doesn’t like what they say.

This is an attack on free speech and cannot be allowed to stand.

All elected officials need to speak up and push back on this undemocratic act.

1.8K 18K 62K

Reposted by Deborah Avant

Blake Emerson @blakeprof.bsky.social · 22d

These are the Trump Administration’s demands on UCLA, in addition to a 1.2 billion dollar fine, as reported by the LA Times today. I must note again that the Trump Administration’s attempt to use title vi to enforce conservative agenda items is flagrantly illegal.

3:164
• Make five years of payments — $200
million annually - and set up a $172 million fund for people with claims of civil rights violations.
• Ensure foreign students who are "anti-Western" will not be admitted.
• Pay for all costs of the settlement, including the fee for an outside monitor.
• Annually release demographic data for hires as well as students who have applied or have been admitted, broken down by "race, color, grade point average, and performance on standardized tests."
• Make a public statement declaring that transgender people's identities are no longer recognized.
• End gender-affirming care for minors at medical facilities.
• Give the government access to "all
UCLA staff, employees, facilities, documents, and data related to the agreement" not protected by attorney-client privilege.

57 380 830

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · 25d

www.nytimes.com/2025/09/12/u...

From Scholarship Winner to Wanted Man: The Path of the Kirk Shooting Suspect

www.nytimes.com

1

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · Aug 27

The excerpts I heard from the Cabinet meeting yesterday made me nauseous. @himself.bsky.social made me even more so with this post...I would rather this concept be somewhat less useful.
www.programmablemutter.com/p/short-post...

Short posts on useful concepts I : Flattery Inflation

Grotesque self-abasement can be entirely rational.

www.programmablemutter.com

1 1 2

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · Aug 25

As we approach September, I thought I would repost our ad for an Assistant or Associate Professor in Technology and Global Affairs. Interested? Apply by September 15!

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · Jul 28

The @josefkorbelschool.bsky.social is searching for a tenure line position in Technology and Global Affairs at the Assistant or Associate level. I am chairing the committee and happy to talk with anyone who is interested. Please share!
jobs.du.edu/en-us/job/49...

Details - Assistant or Associate Professor, Global and Public Affairs - Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs | University of Denver

jobs.du.edu

2 2

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · Aug 23

Despite the subtitle @dandrezner.bsky.social gives a hopeful look at how Tufts (and I think many universities) are managing in the face of the Trump assault on higher education.
open.substack.com/pub/danieldr...

What It's Like To Be An International Affairs Graduate School Administrator in 2025

Not great, Bob.

open.substack.com

2 7 19

Reposted by Deborah Avant

Laurie Loves Data @laurelann.bsky.social · Aug 17

It is important that we don't become desensitized to the astonishing level of Trump's profiting from the presidency

It's illegal, of course, but who will stop him?

David D. Kirkpatrick, from the New Yorker, estimates $3.4 Billion in grift. The income sources are in the chart below.

3 21 37

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · Aug 14

Exactly. They should be speaking loudly and to their local and state lawmakers as well as to the country as a whole. Universities are important economic engines and screwing them up will affect local and state economies - in addition to national competitiveness.

Mark Copelovitch @mcopelov.bsky.social · Aug 14

Today in "You can't unplug 1/4 of the budget of research universities & do the same things, & there doesn't seem to be any backup plan other than to cancel things, & WHERE ARE THE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENTS SPEAKING OUT LOUDLY & COLLECTIVELY ABOUT THIS EXISTENTIAL CRISIS?"

bsky.app/profile/mcop...

Chicago Tribune @chicagotribune.com · Aug 14

The University of Chicago will pause admissions for “a small number” of Ph.D. and master’s programs across several schools amid mounting fiscal pressures.

1 5

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · Aug 12

Yup, this is the crime spree I wish everyone was paying attention to.

Benjamin Wittes @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org · Aug 12

The Situation

Lawfare @lawfaremedia.org · Aug 12

"There is a real out-of-control crime situation in Washington, but it is not the one referred to in the president’s executive order. It is the one he is leading," writes @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org in The Situation.

1

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · Aug 4

Check out my colleague and co-author, George DeMartino's interview on the Hale Report. He argues that economists need ethics (maybe so do political scientists). Don't give up when things go quiet a minute in, the sound comes back before long!
lnkd.in/gTZ-CzZs

1 1

Reposted by Deborah Avant

Jed Kolko @jedkolko.bsky.social · Aug 1

For six months, I've said that threats to economic data have been more collateral damage than intentional harm.

No longer.

Firing the head of the BLS is five-alarm intentional harm to the integrity of US economic data and the entire statistical system.

28 380 1.3K

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · Aug 1

I don't know. It seems pretty honest to me. Maybe that is what we need right now...

1 5

Reposted by Deborah Avant

Sherrilyn Ifill @sifill.bsky.social · Jul 31

Would love to see media attention to the fact that right of center groups like the Pacific Legal Foundation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have filed briefs in the case opposing Trump’s tariffs.

Counsel in the case @ilyasomin.bsky.social has provided a helpful summary. reason.com/volokh/2025/...

8 89 290

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · Jul 31

We are! And I am happy to answer questions from any who are interested.

Naazneen Barma @naazneenbarma.bsky.social · Jul 31

📣 The @josefkorbelschool.bsky.social is searching for a tenure-line assistant or associate professor with a focus on the intersection of technology and global and public affairs — please share widely!
jobs.du.edu/en-us/job/49...

Details - Assistant or Associate Professor, Global and Public Affairs - Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs | University of Denver

jobs.du.edu

4 6

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · Jul 31

Agreed. The whole post is also interesting but this*aside* is actually a key point.

Daniel Drezner @dandrezner.bsky.social · Jul 30

This is a *really* interesting aside and I would like to know more.

1

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · Jul 29

For sure!

Reposted by Deborah Avant

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · Jul 28

The @josefkorbelschool.bsky.social is searching for a tenure line position in Technology and Global Affairs at the Assistant or Associate level. I am chairing the committee and happy to talk with anyone who is interested. Please share!
jobs.du.edu/en-us/job/49...

Details - Assistant or Associate Professor, Global and Public Affairs - Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs | University of Denver

jobs.du.edu

1 20 16

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · Jul 28

The @josefkorbelschool.bsky.social is searching for a tenure line position in Technology and Global Affairs at the Assistant or Associate level. I am chairing the committee and happy to talk with anyone who is interested. Please share!
jobs.du.edu/en-us/job/49...

Details - Assistant or Associate Professor, Global and Public Affairs - Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs | University of Denver

jobs.du.edu

1 20 16

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · Jul 28

I don't think the rigidity of the postwar system was in its liberal DNA, but this is nonetheless a very smart article and I agree that the most optimistic future lies in an embrace of pragmatism and pluralism.
www.foreignaffairs.com/united-state...

Liberalism Doomed the Liberal International Order

A less legalistic system would help protect democracies.

www.foreignaffairs.com

1

Deborah Avant @deborahavant.bsky.social · Jul 24

Whoa.
www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Pentagon suspends participation in think tank events

The move comes a week after the Defense Department pulled out of the Aspen Security Forum due to “the evil of globalism.”

www.politico.com

3