Tuesday, April 22, 2025

Some college presidents express an opinion.

Our colleges and universities share a commitment to serve as centers of open inquiry where, in their pursuit of truth, faculty, students, and staff are free to exchange ideas and opinions across a full range of viewpoints without fear of retribution, censorship, or deportation. . . . 

Signed,

Jonathan Alger, President, American University
Suzanne Ames, President, Peninsula College
Carmen Twillie Ambar, President, Oberlin College
Denise A. Battles, President, SUNY Geneseo
Ian Baucom, Incoming President, Middlebury College
Allan Belton, President, Pacific Lutheran University
Hubert Benitez, President, Saint Peter's University 
Joanne Berger-Sweeney, President, Trinity College (CT)
Michael A. Bernstein, President, The College of New Jersey
Audrey Bilger, President, Reed College 
Erik J. Bitterbaum, President, SUNY Cortland
Sarah Bolton, President, Whitman College
Mary H. Bonderoff, President, SUNY Delhi
Eric Boynton, President, Beloit College
Elizabeth H. Bradley, President, Vassar College
Brian Bruess, President, College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University
Adam Bush, President, College Unbound
Alison Byerly, President, Carleton College
Wendy Cadge, President and Professor of Sociology, Bryn Mawr College
Nancy Cantor, President, Hunter College CUNY
Alberto Jose Cardelle, President, SUNY Oneonta
Brian W. Casey, President, Colgate University
Ana Mari Cauce, Professor and President, University of Washington
Andrea Chapdelaine, President, Connecticut College
Thom D. Chesney, President, Southwestern College (NM)
Bryan F. Coker, President, Maryville College 
Ronald B. Cole, President, Allegheny College
Jennifer Collins, President, Rhodes College
John Comerford, President, Otterbein University
Marc C. Conner, President, Skidmore College
La Jerne Terry Cornish, President, Ithaca College
Grant Cornwell, President, Rollins College
Isiaah Crawford, President, University of Puget Sound
Gregory G. Dell'Omo, President, Rider University
Kent Devereaux, President, Goucher College
Jim Dlugos, Interim President, Landmark College
Bethami Dobkin, President, Westminster University
Harry Dumay, President, Elms College
Christopher L. Eisgruber, President, Princeton University
Michael A. Elliott, President, Amherst College
Jane Fernandes, President, Antioch College
Damian J. Fernandez, President, Warren Wilson College
David Fithian, President, Clark University
Lisa C. Freeman, President, Northern Illinois University
Robert Gaines, Acting President, Pomona College
Alan M. Garber, President, Harvard University
Michael H. Gavin, President, Delta College
Mark D. Gearan, President, Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Melissa Gilliam, President, Boston University
Jorge G. Gonzalez, President, Kalamazoo College
Jonathan D. Green, President, Susquehanna University
David A. Greene, President, Colby College
William R. Groves, Chancellor, Antioch University
Jeremy Haefner, Chancellor, University of Denver
Yoshiko Harden, President, Renton Technical College
Anne F. Harris, President, Grinnell College
James T. Harris, President, University of San Diego
Marjorie Hass, President, Council of Independent Colleges 
Richard J. Helldobler, President, William Paterson University
Wendy Hensel, President, University of Hawaii
James Herbert, President, University of New England
Doug Hicks, President, Davidson College
Mary Dana Hinton, President, Hollins University 
Jonathan Holloway, President, Rutgers University
Robin Holmes-Sullivan, President, Lewis & Clark College
Robert H. Huntington, President, Heidelberg University 
Nicole Hurd, President, Lafayette College
Wolde-Ab Isaac, Chancellor, Riverside Community College District
Karim Ismaili, President, Eastern Connecticut State University
J. Larry Jameson, President, University of Pennsylvania
Garry W. Jenkins, President, Bates College
Paula A. Johnson, President, Wellesley College
John E. Jones III, President, Dickinson College
Cristle Collins Judd, President, Sarah Lawrence College
David L. Kaufman, President, Capital University
Colleen Perry Keith, President, Goldey-Beacom College
Julie Johnson Kidd, President, Endeavor Foundation
Jonathan Koppell, President, Montclair State University
Sally Kornbluth, President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Julie Kornfeld, President, Kenyon College
Michael I. Kotlikoff, President, Cornell University
Paula Krebs, Executive Director, Modern Language Association
Sunil Kumar, President, Tufts University
Bobbie Laur, President, Campus Compact
Frederick M. Lawrence, Secretary and CEO, Phi Beta Kappa Society
Hilary L. Link, President, Drew University
Patricia A. Lynott, President, Rockford University
Heidi Macpherson, President, SUNY Brockport
John Maduko, President, Connecticut State Community College
Lynn Mahoney, President, San Francisco State University
Daniel Mahony, President, Southern Illinois University 
Maud S. Mandel, President, Williams College
Christine Mangino, President, Queensborough Community College
Amy Marcus-Newhall, President, Scripps College
Felix V. Matos-Rodriguez, Chancellor, City University of New York (CUNYAnne E. McCall, President, The College of Wooster
Richard L. McCormick, Interim President, Stony Brook University
Michael McDonald, President, Great Lakes Colleges Association
James McGrath, President and Dean, Cooley Law School
Patricia McGuire, President, Trinity Washington University
Maurie McInnis, President, Yale University
Elizabeth M. Meade, President, Cedar Crest College
Scott D. Miller, President, Virginia Wesleyan University
Jennifer Mnookin, Chancellor, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Robert Mohrbacher, President, Centralia College
Chris Moody, Executive Director, ACPA-College Student Educators International
Tomas Morales, President, California State University San Bernardino
Milton Moreland, President, Centre College
Kathryn Morris, President, St. Lawrence University
Ross Mugler, Board Chair and Acting President and CEO, Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges
Krista L. Newkirk, President, University of Redlands
Stefanie D. Niles, President, Cottey College
Claire Oliveros, President, Riverside City College
Robyn Parker, Interim President, Saybrook University
Lynn Pasquerella, President, American Association of Colleges and Universities
Laurie L. Patton, President, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Beth Paul, President, Nazareth University
Christina Paxson, President, Brown University
Rob Pearigen, Vice-Chancellor and President, University of the South
Deidra Peaslee, President, Saint Paul College
Eduardo M. Peñalver, President, Seattle University
Ora Pescovitz, President, Oakland University
Darryll J. Pines, President, University of Maryland
Nicola Pitchford, President, Dominican University of California
Kevin Pollock, President, Central Carolina Technical College 
Susan Poser, President, Hofstra University
Paul C. Pribbenow, President, Augsburg University
Vincent Price, President, Duke University
Robert Quinn, Executive Director, Scholars at Risk Network
Wendy E. Raymond, President, Haverford College
Christopher M. Reber, President, Hudson County Community College 
Suzanne M. Rivera, President, Macalester College - Saint Paul, MN ( MBR )
Michael S. Roth, President, Wesleyan University
James Ryan, President, University of Virginia
Vincent Rougeau, President, College of the Holy Cross
Kurt L. Schmoke, President, University of Baltimore
Carol Geary Schneider, Acting Executive Director, Civic Learning and Democracy Engagement Coalition
Sean M. Scott, President and Dean, California Western School of Law
Zaldwaynaka Scott, President, Chicago State University
Philip J. Sisson, President, Middlesex Community College (MA)
Suzanne Smith, President, SUNY Potsdam
Valerie Smith, President, Swarthmore College
Paul Sniegowski, President, Earlham College
Barbara R. Snyder, President, Association of American Universities
Stephen Snyder, Interim President, Middlebury College
Weymouth Spence, President, Washington Adventist University
Terri Standish-Kuon, President and CEO, Independent Colleges of Washington
G. Gabrielle Starr, President, Pomona College 
Karen A. Stout, President, Achieving the Dream
Tom Stritikus, President, Occidental College
Julie Sullivan, President, Santa Clara University 
Aondover Tarhule, President, Illinois State University
Glena Temple, President, Dominican University
Steven J. Tepper. President, Hamilton College
Kellye Y. Testy, CEO, Association of American Law Schools
Tania Tetlow, President, Fordham University
Strom C. Thacker, President, Pitzer College
Scott L. Thomas, President, Sterling College 
Deborah Trautman, President and CEO, American Association of Colleges of Nursing
Satish K. Tripathi, President, University at Buffalo, SUNY
Kyaw Moe Tun, President, Parami University
Brad Tyndall, President, Central Wyoming College
LaTanya Tyson, President, Carolina Christian College
Matthew P. vandenBerg, President, Ohio Wesleyan University
James Vander Hooven, President, Mount Wachusett Community College
Laura R. Walker, President, Bennington College
Yolanda Watson Spiva, President, Complete College America 
Michaele Whelan, President, Wheaton College
Manya C. Whitaker, Interim President, Colorado College
Julie A. Manley White, Chancellor and CEO, Pierce College
Kim A. Wilcox, Chancellor, University of California, Riverside
Sarah Willie-LeBreton, President, Smith College
Safa R. Zaki, President, Bowdoin College

Source:

Friday, April 11, 2025

She Worked in a Harvard Lab to Reverse Aging, Until ICE Jailed Her [ NYTimes ]

The flava:
Dr. Peshkin’s team is interested in sperm and egg cells, and how they repair damage as an embryo develops. They needed someone equally fluent in machine learning and cell biology, Dr. Peshkin explained in a post on Kaggle, an online community for data scientists. Ms. Petrova reached out.

When she arrived in Boston in May 2023, Dr. Peshkin was shocked to discover that she had not brought a suitcase; she carried a backpack. It became clear, he said, that she was “extremely ascetic,” entirely wrapped up in her research.

“I thought the Russia of my childhood was gone, the Russia of this crazy, dedicated, ascetic scientist is gone,” he said. Over the months that followed, Dr. Peshkin watched her focus intensely for many hours; he saw what she could pull off in a few days of coding. “She is probably strongest I’ve seen,” he said. “I am at Harvard for 20 years.”

Ms. Petrova found ways to speed up everyone’s work. . . . 

The article:

Thursday, April 10, 2025

Wiley journal retracts over 200 more papers [ Retraction Watch ]

The flava:
The International Wound Journal has retracted 242 papers so far this year as part of an ongoing investigation into manipulated peer review. . . .  


The article:

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

They came to the US for degrees. They fear being deported without them. [ csmonitor.com ]

The flava:
“If the United States government has national security concerns regarding a student and they feel that their visa should be revoked, they are within their rights to do that. But we are really trying to understand, in this new environment, what does that mean? What are these students doing that is triggering a national security concern?” says Sarah Spreitzer, assistant vice president at the American Council on Education, which advocates for 1,600 colleges and universities.

Most international college students hold F-1 visas and are allowed to enroll as full-time students. They are allowed to travel in and out of the country, and enjoy most constitutional rights. They cannot vote or receive federal financial aid or other government benefits.

International students have brought a financial boon to both universities and the overall U.S. economy. In a 2023-2024 school year analysis, 1.1 million international students added $43.8 billion to the economy and supported 378,175 jobs, the NAFSA Association of International Educators found. That was up from $26 billion a decade ago. Ms. Spreitzer is concerned that current policies could send students and researchers looking for berths in Canada or Europe instead. . . . 

The article:

Thursday, April 3, 2025

Postdoc Named Helen Hay Whitney Fellow [ Stowers Institute for Medical Research ]

College student reflects on impact of viral online rumor that 'ruined' her life [ NBC News ]

Ten weeks that shook the world [ Financial Times ]

The flava:
On many fronts, and with deliberate haste, America is vaporising its soft power. It takes less than a quarter to besmirch a brand that took a quarter of a millennium to build. How long would it take to repair? Last week, Myanmar was hit by its worst earthquake in decades. Chinese and even Russian aid teams were on the ground within days. Having dismantled USAID, American assistance has yet to arrive. At home, Trump plans to deport more than 300,000 Venezuelan refugees into the maw of the brutal regime they fled. 

None of the world’s huddled masses are welcome in America with one exception — white South Africans. As Trump shuts down agencies and consulates around the world, his administration is establishing processing centres for white Afrikaner “refugees” in Pretoria, who he claims are victims of racial discrimination by South Africa’s Black majority government. In case anyone misses the point, his administration is erasing the contributions of non-white Americans from Pentagon websites, the Arlington cemetery and the Smithsonian museum. Martin Luther King Jr is out. The names of defeated confederate generals are back. Science research projects are being scoured for banned words, such as “equity” and even “women”. 

All of this is being done in the name of meritocracy. America’s new guard are almost all white, all male, and mostly unqualified to lead the great departments they are vandalising. It is not just foreigners who are remaking their plans. American scientists are looking for jobs abroad. Trump has presented the rest of the world with a giant poaching opportunity. . . .   

The article: