I don't think it's really trickling out just how disruptive this already is to the entire university system. Even aside from the obvious "this bit of science that could lead to an ALS therapy got cut" or whatever...
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... just for example, they are forced to cut grad student spots, which ruins which classes can be taught, and basically changes entire departments and their function overnight. People halfway through a PhD might have to abandon it. It's just such a massive dismantling of higher ed and research.
Theres also the indirect effect of folks realizing higher Ed just isnt safe or stable anymore. I really wanted to go academia after my PhD but I was finishing my coursework when the pandemic started and seeing how rabidly Republicans started hating & villifying science steered me to industry instead
You’re lucky you went that way. Really, really lucky!
We have meetings every time some new thing hits. Our impression is that it is just a matter of time. We’ll all be out of work. With the thousands of layoffs there is virtually no chance that anyone is going to find a job for a long time.
I am so very depressed to have been right that the anti-intellectualism movement was as big a threat as it seemed it would be but I am grateful that planning for the worst has put my wife and I in a spot to survive. I hope that everyone is doing what they can to make a plan to
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exit the USA even if its nothing more than keeping your passport current and as much cash as you can spare on hand somewhere because the baseless persecutions won't stop at vulnerable populations and purveyors of facts. They'll come for every last person who doesnt empty their wallet for them
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I’ve been doing that too. 2 problems. 1. Where to go? Reality is that much that is happening here is also happening in other countries. 2. I’m just an American at heart. I’ve cried and bleed over this country. I’m not sure I wouldn’t just take 1 for the team if it would make a real difference!
People are also sleepwalking through how much damage this will do to the hundreds (thousands?) of towns, cities, and even counties where a research university or hospital is the #1 or 2 employer.
Entire economic engines relying on high velocity money coming into the institutions.
My best friend died of ALS last April, eight months after his diagnosis at the age of 53. They told him there was a medication that cost $100k that gave him a fifty fifty chance of recovery. Insurance didn't cover it. This is unacceptable. He was one of the best of us. 😞 They need more research.
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We have meetings every time some new thing hits. Our impression is that it is just a matter of time. We’ll all be out of work. With the thousands of layoffs there is virtually no chance that anyone is going to find a job for a long time.
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Entire economic engines relying on high velocity money coming into the institutions.