This is really, really bad. Columbia made the mistake of thinking that placating the administration would spare them. Other universities made the mistake of thinking it would stop with Columbia. It won’t stop without disciplined pushback; it’s an existential question for American universities. - ThreadSky

mbkplus.bsky.social • 1 day ago

This is really, really bad. Columbia made the mistake of thinking that placating the administration would spare them. Other universities made the mistake of thinking it would stop with Columbia. It won’t stop without disciplined pushback; it’s an existential question for American universities.

Reposted from The Wall Street Journal

The Trump administration has terminated $800 million in grants to Johns Hopkins University, spurring the nation’s top spender on research and development to plan layoffs and cancel health projects

Comments

lucky7deb.bsky.social•1 day ago

OMG. What have be become?

bartbing.bsky.social•1 day ago

This is different, though. Hopkins isn’t being singled out like Columbia was. Here the story is that Hopkins had a huge portfolio of grants and contracts, especially USAID ones, that the government was canceling across the boards.

mbkplus.bsky.social•1 day ago

(Illegal) impoundment, changing overhead rates, retaliatory cancellation of grants under the guise of "fighting antisemitism" are just different tactics in the same ideological battle, to undermine a perceived base of liberal power (universities).

bartbing.bsky.social•1 day ago

Agree

martinnagle.bsky.social•14 hours ago

They all need to start resisting the administration together, and lawyering up when necessary. Kowtowing won't save you, you are not dealing with an administration that has even an once of integrity or reasonableness.

jackiechoix.bsky.social•1 day ago

The leopards will not discriminate. Can’t believe how stupid so many people and businesses are.

hikeandbikempls.bsky.social•1 day ago

They won’t cut funding from UT. I wouldn’t be surprised if they have a eugenics department by now. Or a goebbels scholarship for the college of communication.

rigor-motorist.bsky.social•1 day ago

This is the part of the movie where a plucky, eccentric research team is on the verge of discovering a novel way to defeat a relatively unknown virus - only to be shut down mere days before the outbreak begins.

Trump and his administration are criminally stupid. Hell is too good for all of them.

shawnjohn.bsky.social•1 day ago

This is hell

mi-forest.bsky.social•1 day ago

You'd think (or at least hope) that *universities* would have a smarter response to this administration's authoritarianism.

trublu923.bsky.social•1 day ago

They don’t. Their plan was/is to “lay low and hope it blows over.” Which won’t work. We keep pushing our department to stand up and keep being told “this can’t last, we just have to survive.” It really should stop surprising me watching them cower like this.

mi-forest.bsky.social•1 day ago

It's tragic! and it will take decades to recover from the damage they are doing (if not longer).

handle.invalid•1 day ago

It’s time for them to wake up.

liana51.bsky.social•19 hours ago

Trump is an ignorant revengeful lawless person .

riteofpassage.bsky.social•1 day ago

More and more like Mao's cultural revolution - schools and universities were closed and churches, shrines, libraries, shops and private homes of the bourgeoisi ransacked or destroyed.

dominarabner.bsky.social•1 day ago

Mao's revolution was in favor of the poor. This is nothing like that.

totruth.bsky.social•52 minutes ago

😡

jeffreypschultz.bsky.social•20 hours ago

One of the most obvious things about Trump is that he's a bully. Give in to a bully, you get more bullying.

bippity.bsky.social•1 day ago

Vanderbilt also completely caved and it isn’t helping them either. They have almost the entirety of Nashville’s economy riding on them.

sophialarkrose.bsky.social•1 day ago

I feel like there are enough mistakes to make the dodo look like a poser.

facedamuzk.bsky.social•1 day ago

As terrible as this, it should come as NO surprise. Dump, Musk, Thiel, Yarvin, and Project 2025 et al are out to slaughter any and all secular public education, through and through.

drmanhattan2025.bsky.social•1 day ago

Yes...but maybe these super wealthy unis spend some of the endowment passive income rather than cos playing their corporate donors and RIFing?

mindaftermathphd.bsky.social•19 hours ago

But he has no control over the budget

misstris.bsky.social•1 day ago

Everyone - you can download 5 calls app. Mahmoud Khalil is at the top of the list.

judie.bsky.social•1 day ago

Horrible!

goldibex.bsky.social•1 day ago

Wow we're really relearning every lesson about appeasement from scratch aren't we

misstwit.bsky.social•1 day ago

Unfuckingbelievable

a10020073.bsky.social•1 day ago

benstarr66.bsky.social•1 day ago

You are employing "American universities" when "elite American universities" is more apt.

libroloverjen.bsky.social•1 day ago

Their list of 60 targeted schools from the Dept of Ed includes a mix of public and private institutions of all sizes.

arlecchinoswart.bsky.social•1 day ago

They either fight back collectively or die individually.

analogretrovision.bsky.social•1 day ago

Isn’t that always the case.

tuomaspernu.bsky.social•1 day ago

This pushback needs to start with the Royal Society.

https://bsky.app/profile/tuomaspernu.bsky.social/post/3ljspclhrp22f

anthrodiva.bsky.social•1 day ago

It's ridiculous, he never should have been inducted.

tuomaspernu.bsky.social•1 day ago

I agree, granting him the fellowship was ill-adviced to begin with. However, the Royal Society grants "honorary fellowships", and I get how some may have thought granting such to him was a good idea. Anyway, we should focus on his behaviour since, his attacks on science/scientists in particular.

nisaccom.bsky.social•21 hours ago

It does elect honorary fellows. In the year of Musk's election, for example, David Willetts was elected an honorary fellow. Musk was not. He was elected a fellow.
https://royalsociety.org/news/2018/05/distinguished-scientists-elected-fellows-royal-society-2018/

tuomaspernu.bsky.social•21 hours ago

That's why I had the term in quotes: Musk was granted the full fellowship on a sort of honorary grounds (proper honorary fellows are a separate thing). I'm not familiar with all the details. But I suppose Maggie was a full fellow too?

nisaccom.bsky.social•20 hours ago

She was a statute-12 fellow. The RS describes the statute 12 arrangements as the precursor to honorary fellowship, which came in in 1996.
https://royalsociety.org/fellows-directory/election/

anthrodiva.bsky.social•1 day ago

I'm not a fan of the "look ahead and not behind" theory of action. It usually leaves messes that, if properly understood and cleaned up, will prevent a future recurrence.

The lauding of this grifter with NO training in science or engineering as a genius landed us in our current predicament.

tuomaspernu.bsky.social•1 day ago

I agree with the latter part (not sure I find the issue of whether we should evaluate actions on backwards/forwards-looking basis relevant): it's the silly genius narrative that has gotten us into this mess. But FRS is not a science fellowship: if Margaret Thatcher was one, Musk could have been too.

anthrodiva.bsky.social•1 day ago

That's a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Thatcher ALSO should not have been a fellow.

Turning a membership based on merit into one signaling prestige was the root of the problem.

Many such cases! Institutions are failing us, left and right...

janusroberts.bsky.social•19 hours ago

This will continue unless a group of major universities join forces and goes on a media blitz to blast these cuts. It’s like a bad horror movie where they all split up in the beginning. Stick together ASAP folks!

jdinjc.bsky.social•23 hours ago

this is absolutely deplorable! JH is one of the best research facilities in the world, and so many brilliant minds are trained there. Elmo complains that there are not enough qualified people in the United States to work for him, and yet he wants to block money for education.

fuzzymike.bsky.social•1 day ago

1vorytower.bsky.social•1 day ago

This is 100% true, but just so readers are clear, the cuts described here are related to NIH and Agriculture cuts from earlier in the administration. They aren’t part of the same purge related to campus protests. Hopkins just has a good PR person.

sutherla.bsky.social•1 day ago

Make America Stupid Again

in-the-bunker.bsky.social•1 day ago

Violence.

nufcnuf.bsky.social•1 day ago

Bad for America, not just universities.

oatsdad.bsky.social•1 day ago

Somewhere Neville Chamberlain’s ghost is screaming “learn from my mistake!”

tr0yster.bsky.social•1 day ago

They weren’t trying to placate anyone, Trump wasn’t even elected when they started cracking down. This is a false premise. They persecuted their own students because they’re racist and wanted to

mbkplus.bsky.social•1 day ago

If you really don't think that Columbia was trying to placate the administration in order to avoid losing hundreds of millions of dollars in grants, I don't know what to tell you. Two things can be true at the same time.

tr0yster.bsky.social•1 day ago

That was months before Trump came into office. You can think it was some kind of chess move they calculated in case Trump won if you want to but personally I think it’s simpler than that 🤷🏻

mbkplus.bsky.social•1 day ago

again, two things can be true at the same time. It's pretty clear their most recent actions — under a different administration — have been at least partially aimed at trying to avoid losing a huge amount of funding.

mbkplus.bsky.social•1 day ago

(here I meant university administration when I said "administration")

tr0yster.bsky.social•1 day ago

I’m well aware two things can be true at once, I just don’t agree with your original premise. When they were cracking down on Gaza protestors last year it was not some calculation just in case of Trump. Now if you’re including recent actions, of course those are a reaction to losing funding

mbkplus.bsky.social•1 day ago

My original premise was related to the Trump administration pulling funding

earther65.bsky.social•1 day ago

I didn't know Columbia and JH were public universities.

louderplease.bsky.social•1 day ago

It's like these people think one day the bully is gonna give your lunch money back.
I only take. That's it.

snowdaylearninglab.org•1 day ago

Hell it won’t even stop at Columbia. Past time that universities showed a united front.

bananarepublicans.bsky.social•1 day ago

I can't tell if it's more humorous or pathetic that educated men/women tasked with leading some of our most prestigious universities somehow failed to learn the time-tested lesson that capitulating to bullies is like kerosene to flame.

katiedavus.bsky.social•1 day ago

Maybe it's time for NYU to expel Baron.

jrosephoto.bsky.social•1 day ago

Columbia made the mistake of placating & empowering the Hamas-supporting encampment kids for too long, who were intimidating Jewish students (Israel supporters or not). I wish Democrats had applied appropriate pressure to draw a line for what is free speech & what is hate speech & intimidation.

mmorgan24.bsky.social•1 day ago

#RESIST #COUP #FIGHT #STAND Do not bow to the #fascist as they take this for weakness and dig in deeper.

realdrdana.bsky.social•1 day ago

All part of a larger attack on higher education.

jacktually.bsky.social•16 hours ago

May he suffer a painful death from a disease they were researching the cure for.

uwspete.bsky.social•1 day ago

Listen to Mike. Not because I know anything about his politics but because he’s probably risking his job.

j-waller55.bsky.social•1 day ago

Musk/DOGE/Trump are trying to find things in the Federal budget to cut so that Trump can push his tax cuts (primarily an extension of his 1st term's tax cuts). They don't care what they cut to do it.

sherman939.bsky.social•1 day ago

Many of the universities are freezing hiring or cutting back. This attack on universities is going to impact so many students. I worked in a physics PhD program and my heart hurts for those kids losing funding for the research they worked so hard on. Then there is getting a job, another nightmare.

christinevn-hfe.bsky.social•1 day ago

This is appalling John Hopkins is one of the key sources of data for world wide health research WHO will sorely miss their input.
The prep to deal with the next pandemic will be greatly impacted by the actions of this bigoted ignorant fascist administration!😡

lifelearn.bsky.social•4 hours ago

This is how much “ he” cares.
Money over life

ssvnsf.bsky.social•1 day ago

Every single thing felon trump does is to purposely cause harm.

untanglingchaos.substack.com•1 day ago

Appeasement doesn’t work with bullies. It makes you weak and rolls out the red carpet for the bully because they now know they can roll right over you. Looking at you, Columbia.

kencomplain.bsky.social•1 day ago

When will the institutions and businesses of the country understand that we need to stand up and start working together, or we’re going to die alone via death by a thousand cuts?

shawnjohn.bsky.social•1 day ago

They won't unfortunately until it's too late. Trump, Musk, Thiel and co want all the marbles.

libroloverjen.bsky.social•1 day ago

⬆️⬆️⬆️

coopgrl.bsky.social•1 day ago

Never thought I’d see the day when the US would bow to a dictator. The Republican traitors could stop it, but are kissing the dictator’s ass so hard their lips are getting chapped.

bergerbeebs.bsky.social•1 day ago

OMG.

savetheplanet65.bsky.social•1 day ago

Where is our DOJ? IS IT GONE?

drkarlauthor.bsky.social•1 day ago

climatto.bsky.social•1 day ago

First they came for the Palestinians, but I am not Palestinian...

Then, they came for me (said the University)

dominarabner.bsky.social•1 day ago

Political violence is the answer.

maryburns.bsky.social•1 day ago

This never ending administration nightmare is making America Gone again. When will all wake up?

desertlove.bsky.social•1 day ago

In the future Trump, Musk & the scores of Republicans in Washington will be written about in history books as the cause of a mass politicide that will include the deaths of political, economic, ethnic, and cultural groups. Curtis Tarvis is applauding all of this.

debkat.bsky.social•1 day ago

This is what bending the knee gets you. One would think an institution of higher learning would know this.

ulyankee.bsky.social•1 day ago

russellmark.bsky.social•1 day ago

Some of these institutions though, like Harvard have huge private donors, and has so much money that don't know what to do with it. Harvard decided to screw small farmers.

mbkplus.bsky.social•1 day ago

Endowments are not a solution, even for Harvard:

mcarvin.bsky.social•1 day ago

Again, I ask this question and it never seems to get an answer: How on earth does anyone think that, after seeing this guy in political power for 10 years, appeasement is effective? Who has he _not_ thrown under the bus after years of loyalty? Pence is toast. Rudy is ruined. Cohen went to jail.

chitownaquarius.bsky.social•1 day ago

I’m with you. It’s all just temporary protection 🤦🏼‍♀️

sacornus.bsky.social•22 hours ago

The money managers think appeasement is cheaper and less of a gamble than fighting.

Money will be the downfall of this country I swear.

We let him try to control all the money because we are too afraid of losing ours.

nearlytoolate.bsky.social•1 day ago

I think it’s precisely that which makes people afraid?

mcarvin.bsky.social•1 day ago

Or in other words, “Better to _probably_ get under the bus later than _definitely_ get thrown under it now?”

nearlytoolate.bsky.social•1 day ago

Idk. But fear is very paralysing.

mcarvin.bsky.social•1 day ago

Very true.

someguy4change.bsky.social•1 day ago

The same way people stay with an abuser for a decade or two and tell themselves they'll be ok if they just do what they want.

bluefishercat.bsky.social•1 day ago

Trump’s fighting with the rest of the world to be the largest third world country.
While China graduates almost as many engineers as the rest of the world, we’re destroying universities because they’re too “woke”.
The aftermath of this destruction of research capabilities will be apparent for years

bluefishercat.bsky.social•1 day ago

Not attracting the best and brightest from around the globe will show not only in Universities but throughout American industry and institutions.

lunarbike.bsky.social•1 day ago

They need to band together like yesterday.

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