Gregg Gonsalves
@gregggonsalves.bsky.social
Epidemiologist. AIDS Activist. Dog lover. New Haven.
The change between Salovey and McInnis at Yale is stark: Salovey publicly rejected the baseless charges hurled at the university's admissions procedures and headed to court; McInnis is eager to settle with Trump behind closed doors. yaledailynews.com/articles/fac...
Discomfiting detail: Yale is "represented" by McGuire Woods, the same firm that railroaded UVa into a terrible deal by playing both sides.
Jennie Coughlin@jenniecoughlin.bsky.social · 4w agoThe dean of Yale Law School and some members of its faculty are trying to stop a settlement between the university and the Trump administration, warning that an agreement could jeopardize Yale’s independence, according to two people familiar with the deliberations.
We were already worried because the NIH has not been following that process, opting not to include external scientists on the search committee. But sadly, even the watered down process was completely scrapped to install someone ideologically aligned with RFK. This weakens NIH substantially.
NIH historically followed a rigorous process to identify qualified candidates for institute directorships, . Involving a search committee with internal and external scientists who help interview and recommend candidates to the NIH Director. open.substack.com/pub/sciencea...
Demand that NIH Maintain the Scientific Credibility of its Institute Directors
The institute directors at NIH are top scientific leaders who in principle can redirect grant money as they please. The Trump NIH must not install new directors without a real hiring process.
open.substack.com
RFK jr overrode the NIH recommendation for NIAID Director to appoint his own preferred candidate (who applied, but NIH declined to interview), per @politico.com. Institute directors have final say on funding decisions and are critical to the integrity of NIH. 🧵 www.politico.com/news/2026/08...
A lab-leak proponent is in line for Fauci’s old job
Steven Quay is in final vetting to run the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
politico.com
Pro-wrestling executive Linda McMahon issued a letter today (in her role as US Secretary of Education) demanding that universities justify their existence and explain policies to the Trump administration by the end of 2026. Not sure what the endgame is, but it sure feels like a trap.
U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon Issues National Call to Action to University Presidents and Governing Boards
Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon issued a national call to action to university presidents and governing boards, urging them to reaffirm higher education’s foundational commitments to ...
ed.gov
While at least this letter doesn't get into definitions of biological sex, the overreach is extraordinary. Here's the last of seven demands, echoing Trump's absurdly narrow instrumentalist view of the world and the same inexplicably zero-sum logic that got into the tariff mess we're now suffering.
"Barbara Snyder, president of the Association of American Universities, said that the AAU had been promised that responses to the letter would be divorced from federal funding considerations." I have this bridge I am selling, in Brooklyn. Special rate. Just for you. www.chronicle.com/article/for-...
For Higher Ed, Trump’s Compact 2.0 Is Either an Olive Branch or a Gloved Fist
The White House has promised there will be no direct penalties — or rewards — for making the statements asked for, but some are skeptical.
chronicle.com
The newest missive from Linda McMahon is a dressed up, watered down version of the Compact that was roundly rejected by universities and colleges last year. The fact that @aau.edu collaborated with the Trump administration on this letter should fool no one. Just say no. www.aft.org/press-releas...
AFT, AAUP Respond to Trump Compact 2.0
WASHINGTON—AFT President Randi Weingarten and American Association of University Professors President Todd Wolfson issued the following response to the Trump administration’s new higher education comp...
aft.org
I often come back to the idea that this also stems from an inability or unwillingness to conceive that the counterfactual isn’t that there was no pandemic. It was unmitigated transmission and compounding illness and death. It’s like the gravity was never comprehended or the post-hoc denial too high.
Peter@notalawyer.bsky.social · 3d agoit’s pretty obvious that a lot of people remember that COVID lockdowns were unpleasant and from there just extrapolate that they were therefore bad policy
On the day that Barbara Synder, Douglas Girod and Ronald Daniels and the @aau.edu capitulated to the Trump administration, it's worth looking back at history. First. The Red Scare. @aau.edu was there to bend the knee to Senator Joe McCarthy and HUAC. 1/ www.insidehighered.com/opinion/colu...
How Elite Colleges Aided Censorship During the Red Scares
Powerful organizations during the Red Scares crafted a world where “academic freedom” was conditional on political allegiance.
insidehighered.com
“It is imperative that our academic institutions find a way to achieve bipartisan support…” [by compromising with Trumpism] 🤮In DC you hear this all the time—people like the AAU leaders actually believe that compromise can work. It is the reason univs are not fighting.
Luke Herrine@lookheron.bsky.social · 3d agoThis is the strategy: portray the increasingly brazen conservative attack on independent unis as a set of reasonable and majoritarian "concerns" & make it easier for uni execs to do their job if they agree to "reform" their schools
This is the strategy: portray the increasingly brazen conservative attack on independent unis as a set of reasonable and majoritarian "concerns" & make it easier for uni execs to do their job if they agree to "reform" their schools
Liam Knox@liamknox.bsky.social · 3d agoScoop: The Trump administration is sending a letter to college presidents asking them to pledge a series of policy changes by the end of the year. Unlike last year's Compact, this effort was devised with input from higher ed leaders. Free link to my exclusive: www.bloomberg.com/news/article...
On days like this as you watch your sector slide into compliance with authoritarianism, it’s easy to get depressed. But too much work to do. Let AAU.edu have it. They are Quislings, each and everyone of them.
Association of American Universities
AAU is composed of America’s leading research universities - 71 research universities transforming lives through education, research, and innovation.
aau.edu
Gregg Gonsalves@gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 2d agoSo Trump and McMahon now are trying the velvet glove approach to get universities to submit. It’s just a watered down version of the compact they tried to impose last year. No self-respecting university should comply. 1/ www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/u...
So Trump and McMahon now are trying the velvet glove approach to get universities to submit. It’s just a watered down version of the compact they tried to impose last year. No self-respecting university should comply. 1/ www.nytimes.com/2026/08/03/u...
After Colleges Reject ‘Compact,’ Trump Officials Try a Letter (Gift Article)
The open letter from Education Secretary Linda McMahon fell far short of the attempt at a compact last year that dangled research money in return for embracing the Trump administration’s agenda.
nytimes.com
Unfortunately a big part of American society is rooted in a sort of squirming glee at men yelling at women and part of it is just that simple
I dunno what the solution is, but I’m pointing this out because I think we all feel very smug about it, since to us it looks like he got owned. But that’s absolutely not how they see it. This has been the last ten years of American politics and no one has a solution, least of all me
Happy Monday, I’m going to say something that sucks: it’s worth understanding that the clips of RFK on CNN are circulating in MAHA / MAGA world as an absolute fucking victory lap. Looks bad to us, but to them, it’s aura farming content gold. We have no idea how to counter that so far tbh
He doesn’t want to do anything to prepare for the next pandemic Bhattacharya & RFK Jr shut down the most promising technology in a generation for rapid development of pandemic vaccines—mRNA Bhattacharya argued we should do NIL other than urge people to get healthy—so at least the healthy survive 👀
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 4d agoBASH: How do you prepare for next pandemic? RFK Jr: We did almost everything wrong B: But what about now? K: We need to protect our rights B: ? K: During covid we dismantled our rights B: But I'm asking what *to* do K: You were part of the problem B: You want to sit here and attack me?
This may dramatically slow down the attacks on science. It also provides a template for how to prevent the federal government from becoming a patronage state. It’s a big deal!
Politico@politico.com · 3d agoSenate finalizes funding patch that would block Trump’s grant overhaul
A thread on appeasement by academic institutions. Which reminds me of @unileiden.bsky.social in the Netherlands. In 1940, faculty & students protested the dismissal of Jewish colleagues by Nazi occupiers. The Nazis shut the university down. Reopened in 1945, it ranks in the top 100 globally today.
Gregg Gonsalves@gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 4d agoNeed to have some frank talk about #Yale President McInnis, General Counsel Alexander Dreier and the trustees. First, they keep saying that they are compelled to enter into a settlement with the #Trump administration. Untrue. 1/
May we celebrate the good — such as unprecedented international collaboration on common goals & physicians who came out of retirement to help support medical care & have grace that of course all was not perfect in a disaster & with many political constraints, & may we always learn & improve
Collaborating in the Time of COVID-19: The Scope and Scale of Innovative Responses to a Global Pandemic
The emergence of COVID-19 spurred the formation of myriad teams to tackle every conceivable aspect of the virus and thwart its spread. Enabled by glob…
sciencedirect.com
The health, social, & economic disruptions of the pandemic were challenging for each of us & our shared society Grateful to all who did their best to help us through this historic period May we one day have more constructive reflection on what we may learn to strengthen our collective way forward
'I still have nightmares every night' — health workers struggle with PTSD symptoms as coronavirus takes toll
Health care workers are fighting a new battle regarding their mental health and well-being due to Covid-19, as deaths have recently topped 120,000 people.
cnbc.com
This story is brutal. But it will be Yale’s story soon enough. It will all come out eventually: the sordid tale of how a once-great university was sacrificed for political expediency. There will be names named and it won’t be pretty. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/u...
How a Top Law Firm Went From Standing Up to Trump to Bending the Knee (Gift Article)
Paul Weiss was a progressive stalwart for decades and led the legal resistance against President Trump in his first term. Then it surrendered without a fight. This is the inside story of its transform...
nytimes.com
We need Yale and other big endowment schools to stand together. The small endowment schools simply don’t have the $ to fight the federal government. Our faculty, students, and alums can fight w/ votes and protests, but that’s a different battleground. We should all care abt what’s going on there.
Gregg Gonsalves@gregggonsalves.bsky.social · 4d agoNeed to have some frank talk about #Yale President McInnis, General Counsel Alexander Dreier and the trustees. First, they keep saying that they are compelled to enter into a settlement with the #Trump administration. Untrue. 1/
The Yale Daily News on alumni organizing against #Yale President McInnis and the trustees' rush to surrender to the Trump administration. yaledailynews.com/articles/in-...
