Ian Bogost
The Atlantic
Excerpt: The Department of Health and Human Services has told employees of several health agencies, including the NIH, to stop communicating with the public. Even more disruptive for universities, the committee meetings for reviewing NIH grant proposals have also been abruptly put on hold until at least February 1.
“This will halt science and devastate research budgets in universities,” Jane Liebschutz, a medical doctor and professor at the University of Pittsburgh, posted on Bluesky, in reference to the grant-review shutdown. The UCLA professor Lindsay Wiley echoed the sentiment, adding on Bluesky that the pause, which affects the distribution of a multibillion-dollar pool of public-research money, “will have long-term effects on medicine & short-term effects on state, higher education & hospital budgets. This affects all of us, not just researchers.”
AEI Event
Excerpt: On January 27, author Ilya Shapiro joined AEI’s Jeffrey A. Rosen to discuss Mr. Shapiro’s new book, Lawless: The Miseducation of America’s Elites. In his opening remarks, Mr. Shapiro reflected on the “four years of hell” and “purgatory” he experienced as Georgetown Law investigated whether his tweet about President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court pick violated the university’s anti-harassment and anti-discrimination policies.
During the event’s discussion portion, Mr. Shapiro defined the key terms “lawless” and “miseducation” in his book’s title, noting that “lawless” refers to law schools’ departure from teaching the law and respecting its legitimacy, and that “miseducation” refers to how the bureaucratic culture in law schools influences students.
American Association of University Professors Statement
Excerpt: As Donald Trump assumes the presidency for a second time, the outlook for higher education is dire. The new administration's agenda for higher education has been thoroughly prepared by a series of statewide legal assaults on public colleges and universities in North Carolina, Florida, Texas and elsewhere, as well as by the high-profile congressional witch hunt that within the past year brought down the presidents of three Ivy League institutions.
In such a crisis, it becomes the obligation of the university as an institution to oppose such measures and actively to defend its interests and its values.” This is undoubtedly such a time.