New, from @pamherd.bsky.social & I: An emerging conventional wisdom is that universities should abandon federal dollars since it gives Trump a means to strong-arm them. But breaking the federal-university research partnership would have high societal costs. 🧵 donmoynihan.substack.com/p/are-univer... - ThreadSky

donmoyn.bsky.social • 3 days ago

New, from @pamherd.bsky.social & I:
An emerging conventional wisdom is that universities should abandon federal dollars since it gives Trump a means to strong-arm them.
But breaking the federal-university research partnership would have high societal costs. 🧵
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/are-universities-too-dependent-on

Comments

reidac.bsky.social•3 days ago

Tangential, but this reminded me very strongly of Adam Mastroianni's article/podcast about science being a "strong link" problem.

The upshot is that good science has an impact, and non-impactful mediocre science is not harmful.

https://www.experimental-history.com/p/science-is-a-strong-link-problem

reidac.bsky.social•3 days ago

h/t @mastroianni.bsky.social who I just realized is on BlueSky, though apparently he hasn't posted.

chrismo165.bsky.social•3 days ago

YES.

zpleat.bsky.social•3 days ago

novel idea: sue Trump for breaking these grants for no legit reason, win, keep the money and keep doing research

bcwbcw.bsky.social•3 days ago

Many lawsuits are in progress. Lawsuit tracker:
https://www.justsecurity.org/107087/tracker-litigation-legal-challenges-trump-administration/

lngnstrt.bsky.social•3 days ago

I think that there are plenty of other ways that the federal government can pressure/harm these institutions.

davidnzuk.bsky.social•2 days ago

No doubt. Among the reasons these assholes need to be removed from public life.

davidnzuk.bsky.social•2 days ago

They should not abandon them. They should force this arsehole regime to deny them, with a view to recovering them when then clown show is removed.

standingup.bsky.social•3 days ago

Very good article in the FT on the cost of not funding scientific research. The public has no idea what we are losing. (Paywall free link) http://archive.today/E8Q2C

standingup.bsky.social•3 days ago

📌

antiquequaalude.bsky.social•3 days ago

I feel like universities could reject the funding for now and run a big PR campaign together saying that research is ending and scientists leaving because of Trump. They have to hit back somehow.

mikethemadbiol.bsky.social•3 days ago

📌

lucastosborne.bsky.social•23 hours ago

📌

jakwash.bsky.social•3 days ago

If we can pay Elon Musk to screw up the government we can pay universities more.

honeygirlgrows.bsky.social•3 days ago

The irony is always this @pamherd.bsky.social @rbreich.bsky.social …so many publish on the Nazi-supporting platform, if universities can abandon federal dollars surely we can also abandon substack?
https://theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2023/11/substack-extremism-nazi-white-supremacy-newsletters/676156/

jpin.bsky.social•3 days ago

The cost to science, the economy and society writ large is as great as any of the other incompetent acts.

geneseedreams.bsky.social•3 days ago

This.

satellitekisses.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yes, and there is a larger than we can imagine oligarchy class ready to invest.
Cuz their ownership shares, their money, gives them power in those hallowed halls that are otherwise too guarded to be looted by corporate pirates.

satellitekisses.bsky.social•3 days ago

They’ll play quid pro quo better and quieter than #DJT
Get the inaccessible art pieces owned by the Universities,
just have the research plans run through our office first, and in November it’d look great to host their charity fundraiser at the special hall, and then yes we’ll fund divestment!!!

donmoyn.bsky.social•3 days ago

I imagine there are relatively few topics where you could get agreement between the Project 2025, the President of Hillsdale and M. Gessen, plus plenty of academics on the left. But the idea that universities are too dependent on federal funding is one (albeit for different reasons).

donmoyn.bsky.social•3 days ago

So, lets unpack a bit. First, the conservative critique that research are subsidies is wrong. They are very competitive and based on merit-based peer review. The grants serve government goals, and have done so very well.
See this earlier post:
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/politicizing-science-the-national

e-five.bsky.social•3 days ago

Look at Germany. They had the best universities in the world in 1932-- without any question. The UK might have been in 2nd place. Then comes Jewish purges and fascist control of German higher ed. By 1937-38, US had the best universities in the world. It solidified our control of the 20th Century.

vanfirth.bsky.social•3 days ago

Actions have consequences. A Nature poll of more than 1,200 scientists found 75% are now considering leaving the US. Other countries have taken note and are actively recruiting.

https://futurism.com/neoscope/nobel-winning-scientist-researchers-fleeing-us-trump

donmoyn.bsky.social•3 days ago

A lot of the coverage of the cuts in research focus on Trump's beefs with specific universities. But it is important to understand that this is happening across universities. Year on year:
*NIH is down about 60% in funding
*NSF has funded half as many grants
https://donmoynihan.substack.com/p/are-universities-too-dependent-on

holly2101.bsky.social•3 days ago

And all this is on top of the earlier sequesters which began a gradual decrease in government funding for basic research well before Trump, right?

rappstar.bsky.social•3 days ago

@donmoyn.bsky.social - typo in your post on Schedule F comments. In the "here" link, you have a trailing comma, which breaks the link. https://federalregister.gov/d/2025-06904, should just be https://federalregister.gov/d/2025-06904.

donmoyn.bsky.social•3 days ago

thank you! corrected!

donmoyn.bsky.social•3 days ago

If the research funding goes away, so does a lot of knowledge creation. The private sector will not pick up the slack. They do not have an incentive to do basic science. They also won't invest in producing scientists. This training is the pipeline for scientific innovation.

geneseedreams.bsky.social•3 days ago

This will cripple or kill American innovation and advancement, which may be the point. Competitive research has been the bedrock of medical and scientific advancement and I have to think, a huge positive factor in a robust economy.

donmoyn.bsky.social•3 days ago

See also this thread from @epopppp.bsky.social. Overall federal spending on R&D as a precent of total spending has been in decline and is equivalent to what we spend on pet food and treats.
https://bsky.app/profile/epopppp.bsky.social/post/3ln6iiv6cnc2l

cur1ous.bsky.social•3 days ago

Can you point me to a source around this issue? Before DOGE what happened if a firm already received a contract, but there were doubts about how it was spent? What happened when the government told the company that they were being wasteful, but the company disputed this? https://www.wsj.com/business/this-company-gets-98-of-its-money-from-the-u-s-government-doge-is-coming-for-firms-like-it-79db9dc7

donmoyn.bsky.social•3 days ago

Ultimately, universities may not have a choice about where the decades-long partnership with the federal government is heading. And they cannot trade their independence for money. Even so, it would be a mistake to ignore that the end of that partnership will come with enormous collective costs.

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