Laia Balcells

@laiabalcells.bsky.social

Catalan American; Yale educated political scientist; Georgetown professor. Mother of two. Views here are personal. Reskeets are not endorsements.

I would love to hear a FIFA official explain why Argentina got that VAR review on Egypt’s goal scoring play and not vice versa. Not even why they didn’t grant Salah the penalty; maybe they wouldn’t have. But why no review? Why yes for one team and not for another?

Faculty are forever making fun of students for asking questions that are answered on the syllabus but if you’ve ever been to a faculty meeting you know that faculty constantly ask questions that are answered by the program handbook or departmental bylaws. Constantly (me included).

Texas and Florida may have passed it by now, but Indiana was an early leader in dismantling academic freedom in its university system, and it certainly hasn't gotten any *better* just because other states have gotten worse.

Jen Mercieca@jenmercieca.bsky.social · last mo.

"An Indiana University instructor who showed a graphic in class that listed the “Make America Great Again” slogan as covert white supremacy has lost her job." www.nytimes.com/2026/06/17/u...

Not sure about GenAI but high schoolers getting RA with profs is the current frontier in high income household strategies for resume padding for college applications so AI piling on makes sense.

A new thing is that they are now talking about one of the papers I published or my book; some of them even include it in the email subject. In this way, the impression is that they are very interested in my work. I am pretty sure genAI is giving them tips along these lines.

Laia Balcells@laiabalcells.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Anyone else getting emails from undergraduates and high school students from around the world, reaching out for RAships, potential collaborations, etc.? I noticed a big increase in this kind of emails and I wonder if genAI has something to do with it.

Those are the worst - not responding. Declining to review - no problem, but please do it fast. Not responding - horrible for an editor and delays the process. But there is a special place in hell for people who accept a review request and then do not deliver or even ghost the journal.

Anyone else getting emails from undergraduates and high school students from around the world, reaching out for RAships, potential collaborations, etc.? I noticed a big increase in this kind of emails and I wonder if genAI has something to do with it.

Academic conferences should return to simple PDF and printed programs. The apps and conference management systems are very annoying and work very badly. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Our department has three calls for tenure track positions. IE is a fast growing group of scholars doing top-notch work, which offers very attractive conditions in a great European city. If you are looking for an academic job in Europe, definitely do consider applying.

IE Political Science Department@iepolisci.bsky.social · 2mo ago

We are hiring! We have 3 tenure track positions open: - Comparative Politics: apply.interfolio.com/188149 - International Relations: apply.interfolio.com/188150 - Political Economy: apply.interfolio.com/188151 All jobs have deadlines Oct 5th. Please help spread the word to potential candidates.