I knew people crippled by polio. My parents, my aunts and uncles grew up in fear. Making polio vaccines optional risks returning us to a time when children were scared to go to a public swimming pool. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/23/h...

🚨 New from me: Grant review at more than half of NIH's institutes could be frozen by the end of the year. That's because crucial NIH grant-review panels are slated to be empty at those institutes by Jan 2027. A wonky bureaucratic problem with big implications. A short 🧵

This paper…has been cited more than 6,000 times. Wall Street executives, top government officials, and even a former U.S. Vice President have all referenced it. It’s fatally flawed, and the scholarly community refuses to do anything about it. statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2026/01/22/a...

If you want to damage unversities, this is a good way to do it. - Florida Proposes H-1B Hiring Ban at All Public Universities www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...

Ruminations, by Esther Phillips

Trump administration concedes loss in anti-DEI crusade against nation’s schools, colleges - oregonlive.com www.oregonlive.com/politics/202...

I try to avoid hyperbole when it comes to Trump policies, but this is absolutely frickin’ insane—on about eleventy different levels. Massive, systemic Fourth Amendment violations because … reasons.

Lawyers are ‘endangered’ in Donald Trump’s America, international group warns www.ft.com/content/cf5d...

After a year of Trump, fear is the dominant emotion on US campuses www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/afte...

Congress Proposes Increasing NIH Budget, Maintaining ED www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...

The Dangers of Pathologizing Administration - Keep in mind that a former administrator is posting this link www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...

Andrew Gelman on current events: “I have the impression that arresting, assaulting, and even shooting people…is what they want to be doing.” - Noem’s Razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which is adequately explained by malice.

“[C]hatbots produce text that reads like well-read humans writing on autopilot.” - Retroactively Validated Hype statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2026/01/18/r...

This was written by a data-driven social scientist who plays things straight. - “Republican political elites accept or even defend things that were once considered off-limits….”

“The past offers grounds neither for despair nor complacency. Recovery has never been automatic. It has required citizens to confront failure, resist abuses of power and repeatedly renew the country’s founding ideals.”

This should concentrate some minds. Will it?

The National Science Foundation sign on our Eisenhower Av building is now gone. The NSF mural in the foyer is removed and torn off in sheets. We were supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the agency in May 2025. That never happened.

How about a little good news for a change? - Analysis: Coal power drops in China and India for first time in 52 years after clean-energy records - Carbon Brief

The second coming, by William Butler Yeats I've only posted this two or three times in the past year, but the opening lines come to me almost every day.

A dark-eyed junco at our feeder this morning.

This photo was taken in 1911 using glass plate technology by Herbert Ponting who was part of Scott's Antarctic expedition, The composition and detail are exquisite with the band of white snow/ice creating a perfect frame around the two people and the ship in the distance Iconic imo

Tylenol during pregnancy is safe without increased risk of autism, ADHD, or intellectual disability of offspring A new review of the evidence just out www.thelancet.com/journals/lan...

Two days ago it was Elissa Slotkin. Last week it was Jerome Powell. Before that, Mark Kelly. Weaponizing the justice system against your opponents is an authoritarian tactic. The only person not being investigated for the shooting of Renee Good is the federal agent who shot her.

I’m seeing posts from people (outside of MN) about how US citizens should carry their passports. And let me say that *inside* MN, we are calmly responding to requests with: “No, I don’t have to show you any documentation.” Because that’s how you protect everyone, regardless of immigration status.

Texas A&M Cancels Graduate Ethics Class in Course Review www.insidehighered.com/news/faculty...

Hospitals and doctors are ignoring RFK Jr.’s new vaccine schedule and relying on pediatricians’ guidance instead. Story by @danielpayne.bsky.social www.statnews.com/2026/01/15/n...

wikipedia turns 25 today! the last unenshittified major website! backbone of online info! triumph of humanity! powered by urge of unpaid randos to correct each other! somehow mostly reliable! "good thing wikipedia works in practice, because it sure doesn't work in theory" - old wiki adage

Guess what happens when one country stops investing in universities (at federal and state levels) and another country turns up the investment dial?

New U. of Michigan President’s Pay May Set a Record - $2M base salary plus 30 percent performance compensation and another $360K contributed to retirement www.chronicle.com/article/new-...

I’m not in the classroom any more, so I can’t try this myself, but here’s a useful tip to encourage student participation in your class. - 1 quick tip to improving student participation in your class (motivated by a principle in poker) statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2026/01/14/1...

🙏We need your help!🙏 Mass grant terminations are back, this time at SAMHSA. We're tracking terminations to support advocacy and possible litigation. Please report info on specific SAMHSA grant terminations here: grant-witness.us/submit-samhs... We'll have a tracker online ASAP. Spread the word!

We are collecting information on terminated SAMHSA grants at Grant Witness: grant-witness.us/submit-samhs... If you worked on one of these programs, please let us know at the link! And please share with your colleagues. We need a comprehensive record of these terminations to fight back!

The Trump administration sent hundreds of letters Tuesday terminating federal grants supporting mental health and drug addiction services. n.pr/4qn9Iwz

Officials in Connecticut Propose New Graduate Student Loan - If adopted, it could alleviate the impact of eliminating GradPLUS www.insidehighered.com/news/student...

Why would you want to know how people's health might be affected when deciding air pollution standards?

Amanda Gorman, “For Renee Nicole Good”

Potentially good kākāpō news

Same.

The White House says the Smithsonian Institution must submit materials about current and upcoming exhibitions and events for a review that will determine whether they express "improper ideology." n.pr/4583d8f

I don’t agree with everything in this opinion, but there is a lot in here worth thinking about carefully. Compromise is always dangerous, but may sometimes be necessary. - The Case for Compromising With Trump

When you read this, remember that David French is a staunch (old-school, Reagan-style) conservative. - “President Trump is putting on a clinic about how to break the United States.”

An ecologist “lives alone in a world of wounds…. [He] must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.” 🌱🐋🌎🧪

I’m afraid we need this advice more than ever, and not only to deal with campus violence. - Connection Matters in Coping With Campus Violence

"In every society fallen to authoritarianism, the state goes after the press first+ closes in on universities next. All of us who live, work,+learn within the university should think of our institution as part of the larger constitutional structure of the nation." www.chronicle.com/article/univ...

Lee Bollinger: “At some point, sanity will return. If you’ve given up your principles and values when under pressure, you will likely never get them back.” www.chronicle.com/article/univ...

Oil executives don't seem very interested in investing in Venezuela. I don't blame them.

I replaced my final assignment this semester at the last second because I felt like I couldn't LLM-proof it, and told my students as much. I got this back on my course evals. The kids are alright