Kris Olds
@oldskris.bsky.social
I'm a geographer/planner w interests in (de)globalization of services (incl #highered & #research) <> #cities, governance of HE, high impact teaching, ice hockey, jazz, photography. #Firstgen grad.
Never boring in Wisconsin #highered: www.wpr.org/news/uw-univ...
UW Board of Regents to consider firing President Jay Rothman at Tuesday meeting
The Universities of Wisconsin Board of Regents will meet Tuesday to discuss whether to fire Jay Rothman from his job as president of the the university system.
wpr.org
France has sold off the last of its gold held in the US Federal Reserve and now holds all its gold in Paris. German groups are now pressuring the government to repatriate its own gold.
French central bank nets €13bn by pulling gold out of US reserves
France’s central bank has sold off the last of the gold it held in the United States Federal Reserve and replaced it with higher quality bars in Paris, taking advantage of rising prices to make nearly...
rfi.fr
Okay, NSF is for some reason under an appendix, but they do have directorate-level numbers. Cuts pretty much across the board, including zeroing out SBE? which I suppose is what would happen with a 54% cut. Also worth looking at those FY26 estimates... www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u...
Dan Garisto@dangaristo.bsky.social · 4mo agoStrangely, there is no section for NSF, though they do have a topline number...
Universities of Wisconsin leaders looking to oust system president who refuses to quit apnews.com/article/univ...
Exclusive: Universities of Wisconsin leaders looking to oust system president who refuses to quit
The president of the 25-campus Universities of Wisconsin has said in letters obtained by The Associated Press that he’s been told to resign or he will be fired.
apnews.com
“Faculty at Texas A&M Univ were told..that roughly 200 courses…could be affected by a new system policy restricting classroom discussions of race & gender, the implementation of which has.. led administrators to direct a philosophy prof to remove Plato readings” www.texastribune.org/2026/01/07/t...
Texas A&M restrictions on race, gender could affect 200 courses
With the semester set to begin next week, professors have been directed to alter courses, and some classes have been removed or reassigned from the core curriculum at the College Station campus.
texastribune.org
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill [foolishly] cuts all six area studies research centers, effective 2026 dailytarheel.com/article/univ...
UNC cuts all six area studies research centers, effective 2026
As part of the University's plan to make $70 million in budget cuts across the institution, Vice Chancellor for Finance and Operations Nate Knuffman projected that cutting 14 centers and institutes in...
dailytarheel.com
Striking Economist chart in the latest Tooze newsletter. Presumably NY's vertiginous rents would make NY's _real_ real wages (i.e. real wages post housing costs) look even worse by comparison. New mayor really has got a challenge on his hands
At USC, more than 900 employees laid off since July amid 'difficult' fiscal crisis www.latimes.com/california/s...
At USC, more than 900 employees laid off since July amid 'difficult' fiscal crisis
The private university, long known for its wealth, has eliminated more than 900 positions and introduced other cuts in an effort to close a deficit of $200 million-plus.
latimes.com
“Applications to the European Research Council (ERC), the EU’s funding organisation for basic research, and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), the EU’s initiative for doctoral and postdoctoral research, hit all-time highs in 2025.”
Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 10mo agoTrump’s university backlash drives US researchers towards Europe on.ft.com/4qKngmk
“It’s the combination of great [universities] in the UK and Europe, a good regulatory framework, and tradition,” Raffaele Savi, global head of BlackRock’s quantitative investing teams
Financial Times@financialtimes.com · 10mo agoLondon becomes ‘quant’ powerhouse as traders rake in revenues on.ft.com/4okApRe
This could go sideways...The US Commerce Department Moves to Take Cut of Research Patents www.aip.org/fyi/commerce...
Commerce Moves to Take Cut of Research Patents
The agency has opened the possibility in a recent funding announcement and threatened to take control of Harvard’s patents.
aip.org
CDC IRB. Gone. "Staff with the CDC’s institutional review board, which reviews the design of studies, and the ethics office, which oversees all conflicts and interests for CDC leaders and advisory committee members, were also let go."
Melody Schreiber@melodyschreiber.com · 10mo agoThe entire HR department at the CDC is gone. Everyone at the IRB, which makes sure studies are conducted ethically and rigorously, and the ethics office, which oversee conflicts of interest for CDC leaders and advisory committee members, were also let go. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Harvard suffers $113mn loss after Trump’s cuts to research funding www.ft.com/content/1b3c... via @financialtimes.com
Harvard suffers $113mn loss after Trump’s cuts to research funding
University’s losses are the largest since 2011 and have forced lay-offs and freezes on hiring and salary increases
ft.com
After getting zero firm commitments to this point from the first nine invitees, the Trump administration is extending its proposed compact to all colleges. Expect some red-state publics to say yes.
Trump Offers All Colleges Preferential Funding Plan Rejected by MIT
The Trump administration is inviting all US colleges to participate in a compact — initially rejected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — that would grant preferential federal funding in re...
bloomberg.com
ACLS has released a statement regarding the White House “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”: bit.ly/3IviMig
"The University of Chicago, renowned for producing world-leading research in economics and finance, is selling a prized research centre as it struggles with heavy debt and lacklustre endowment returns" www.ft.com/content/4501... via @financialtimes.com
UChicago sells prized institute amid high debt and low returns
Endowment of famed finance school posted weak investment gains as it borrowed heavily to invest in research capacity
ft.com
As Trump Tries to Limit Foreign Workers, China Woos Them. A new visa for science and engineering graduates is part of China’s effort to establish itself as the world leader in science and technology. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/w...
As Trump Tightens Visas, China Woos World’s Science Graduates
nytimes.com
Austria hails 'brain gain' in luring 25 academics away from US after cuts www.reuters.com/world/austri...
Austria hails 'brain gain' in luring 25 academics away from US after cuts
Austria has lured what it calls 25 "top researchers" away from U.S. institutions including Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton with grants set up in response to the Trump administration's funding cuts targeting universities.
reuters.com
Vanderbilt Eyes National Expansion The university plans to build a campus in Florida, has leased a site in New York City and aims to establish a foothold in California in its quest to grow beyond Nashville. www.insidehighered.com/news/busines...
Vanderbilt Eyes National Expansion
The university plans to build a campus in Florida, has leased a site in New York City and aims to establish a foothold in California in its quest to grow beyond Nashville.
insidehighered.com
UChicago Reducing, Freezing Ph.D. Admissions for Multiple Humanities [& Public Policy] Programs www.insidehighered.com/news/busines...
UChicago Freezing Ph.D. Admissions for Multiple Programs
The indebted institution tasked committees of faculty and staff with planning for changes. But this week, a dean forged ahead and announced broad cuts. Two other units are also pausing admissions.
insidehighered.com
National self-harm viewed via one prominent US university: www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
ASU Projects 18% Drop in International Student Enrollment
Arizona State University typically welcomes over 17,900 international students to its four campuses each year, but this fall, due to a variety of complications, the university expects only 14,600 inte...
insidehighered.com
The Harvard-Trained Lawyer Behind Trump’s Fight Against Top Universities www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/u...
The Harvard-Trained Lawyer Behind Trump’s Fight Against Top Universities
nytimes.com
The Commerce Department threatening to take over Harvard's patents shows the extent to which the federal government is trying to pressure the university into a settlement. They are trying everything possible. (gift link)
Trump Administration Threatens to Take Over Harvard’s Patents
The move is the latest escalation in the White House’s battle with the Ivy League school.
wsj.com
New executive order puts all grants under political control arstechnica.com/science/2025...
New executive order puts all grants under political control
All new funding on hold until Trump administration can cancel any previously funded grants.
arstechnica.com
A fun reminder that a loss of 60,000 jobs in and around academia is ~50% more than all coal mining jobs in the entire country.
Steve Herman@w7voa.journa.host.ap.brid.gy · last yr.The US could see a 30-40% decline in new international student enrollment, resulting in nearly $7 billion in lost revenue and more than 60,000 fewer American jobs. https://www.nafsa.org/fall-2025-international-student-enrollment-outlook-and-economic-impact
Go, a college student, has a dependent visa (her mother, an Episcopal minister, is here on a religious worker visa), which doesn't expire until Dec. But when she tried to renew it early, ICE nabbed her and sent her halfway across the US to a detention center. www.wthr.com/article/news...
Purdue student detained by ICE and taken to troubled Louisiana holding facility
Yeonsoo Go, 20, was detained after her immigration hearing in Manhattan and taken away by ICE agents.
wthr.com
Wisconsin GOP Congressman Tom Tiffany introduced a bill that would eliminate the exception that allows colleges and universities to hire an unlimited number of specialized international workers as part of the H-1B visa program. Tiffany said the practice "hands good-paying jobs to foreign workers..."
Rep. Tom Tiffany targets visa program exception that UW uses to hire for hard-to-fill jobs
U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany seeks to end an exception in the H-1B visa program that allows universities to hire an unlimited number of specialized workers from overseas.
jsonline.com
Nashville-based Vanderbilt University considering establishing a campus in San Francisco: www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...
Vanderbilt Reportedly Considering a San Francisco Campus
Vanderbilt University is in talks with the city of San Francisco to establish a campus there, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. A Vanderbilt spokesperson confirmed to the Chronicle that the univer...
insidehighered.com
