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Patrick Jackson

@pehjackson.bsky.social

Infectious Diseases at UVA: HIV virology, clinical trials at Joint Emerging Diseases Initiative, medical education, stewardship. Skeets are my opinion alone, unless they’re bad. He/him

550 Posts3074 Follower3392 Folgt
Kevin M. Kruse@kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 2w ago

If you're a cis person insisting that the prospect of trans children playing youth sports is not only "a problem" but in fact one of the biggest problems we currently face as a nation, I'd be happy to introduce you to literally a million other things that should be worrying you more.

Patrick Jackson@pehjackson.bsky.social · 2w ago

Contrary to the prevailing narrative, universities enjoy far more public trust than Congress or this administration. We should be going them instruction rather than the other way around.

David Kaye@davidakaye.bsky.social · 2w ago

the department of education today issued a 'national call to action' - which, in plain english, is a call for capitulation to trump administration's assault on higher ed. www.ed.gov/media/docume... note how this doc deploys recent yale & vanderbilt reports

Several university leaders have publicly recognized the need to chart a new course to rebuild public confidence and trust. In May, Yale’s Committee on Trust in Higher Education boldly acknowledged that the dilution of academic standards, opaque admissions policies, and a domineering monoculture have badly eroded public trust. Last month, in response to a charge from the presidents of Vanderbilt and Washington University, a committee of leading scholars documented the politicization of the humanities and humanistic social sciences.
Kevin Ault @kevinault.bsky.social · 2w ago

Henrietta Lacks was #BOTD in 1920, and died in 1951 of cervical cancer. The cell line from her cancer contains HPV 18 integrated into her genome. Today we have a vaccine that prevents cervical cancer - #OncSky + #MedSky. nmaahc.si.edu/object/nmaah...

Henrietta Lacks (HeLa): The Mother of Modern Medicine | National Museum of African American History and Culture

"Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer on October 4, 1951 at the age of 31. During an examination, cells were taken from her body without her knowledge or consent by a doctor at Johns Hopkins Hospit...

nmaahc.si.edu

Walker Bragman@walkerbragman.bsky.social · 3w ago

The right really wants to validate the COVID lab leak conspiracy theory because some version of it can serve to undermine public health as an institution, government, and of course, Fauci. But it’s bullshit and these endless hearings and innuendo are a disgrace to our nation. No justice. Wasted $

Patrick Jackson@pehjackson.bsky.social · 3w ago

I said from the beginning that the obsession with the (almost certainly natural) origin of SARS-CoV-2 was a harmful distraction from preparing for the next pandemic, and I regret to inform you that I’m entirely correct.

Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3w ago

Fauci accuses Rand Paul of having an "unhinged obsession with calling for my prosecution" and of making "repeated slanderous comments," then says "although it pains me to do so... under advice of my attorneys, I will invoke my right under the 5th Amendment to refrain from answering your questions."

Mark Copelovitch@mcopelov.bsky.social · last mo.

“Compared to what?” is always the essential question when asking about critiques of higher education & universities, whether we’re discussing declining trust, freedom of speech, viewpoint diversity, or any of the other things.

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Ryan Enos@ryanenos.bsky.social · last mo.

This is crucial and often unmentioned. Almost every single diagnosis of declining faith in universities fails to mention that it is runs in parallel to declining faith in almost all American institutions. Any failure to recognize this means it is really flawed or not a serious effort.

I Travel Like Sound Dog@chadstanton.blacksky.app · 4w ago

The sleight of hand here is in portraying the obsessions of editors at elite publications and some think tanks as “the public,” especially considering the fact that, despite *decades* of anti-intellectual propaganda, the vast majority of students and parents *demand* access to higher education.

Aparna Nair@disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 4w ago

No, Tyler. Im angry because I know you know that the lack of public trust in US universities is the result of DECADES of media and political efforts--of which your whole grift is part. Quite the gall to be part of destroying public trust and then turn around and point to the lack of public trust.

Tyler Austin Harper @Tyler_A_Harper · 5h What’s striking about the academics who are hysterically opposed to more ideological diversity in academia is that they have no plan for regaining public trust and don’t even seem to think they need it. Their only strategy is complaining that the media and right are mean to them. Tyler Austin Harper @Tyler_A_Harper · 5h I think increasing the representation of non-progressive ideas in academia is a necessary (though not sufficient) condition for regaining public trust. If you disagree, fine. But most of the people melting down have no alternative theory about how to regain public confidence. Tyler Austin Harper @Tyler_A_Harper In fact, the bulk of angry responses seem to tacitly turn on the idea that public trust isn’t something academics should have to lower themselves to care about. The public owes the Ivory Tower trust and money, but that same public should also have no say in what goes on there.
Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani@mayor.nyc.gov · last mo.

This morning in Biddeford, Maine, a 26-year-old man said goodbye to his wife and daughter and left for work. Moments later he was dead, shot in the head by ICE agents, the second man ICE has killed in six days. ICE is killing our neighbors. ICE cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.

Bradford Vivian@bradvivian.bsky.social · last mo.

I’m not one to ask for performative mea culpas. But a host of pundits + many profs have claimed for years that DEI, social justice views, etc., are censorship. That’s the basis of the “universities are anti-free speech” story. Courts continue to find they’re actually forms of *protected speech.* 1/2

Before GRANT, LAGOA, and WILSON, Circuit Judges. GRANT, Circuit Judge: "Congress shall make no law .... abridging the freedom of speech." U.S. Const. amend I. The First Amendment, incorporated against the States in 1868, is this country's written commitment to the idea that freedom of speech is essential to freedom of thought, and that both are essential to maintaining our liberty. The Supreme Court has long been clear that teaching and scholarship are due some measure of protection under the Amendment. But how much? And in what contexts? That Court has not had to say, but this one is now put to the test. The State of Florida legislated a broad set of speech restrictions banning certain viewpoints relating to race, color, sex, and national origin in various settings. The provision at issue here bars Florida's educators from promoting or endorsing those disfavored ideas when instructing students. Its prohibition applies not only in primary and secondary education, where states traditionally exercise a great deal of control, but also in public colleges and universities, where the state government's role has been far more limited. When several groups of professors challenged Florida's new restrictions, the State cast about for an existing case or doctrine that could support its speech ban in the university setting. Finding none, it tried to marry public-employee speech cases with government speech doctrine, resulting in a new rule: if thegovernment pays a professor's salary, it has total control over her classroom speech. That is not a blessed union. Florida's salary-for-speech rule is a breathtaking assertion of power to ban unpopular ideas from public discourse in the very places the State's own statutes recognize as centers of inquiry—classrooms where students are trusted to puzzle through ideas that are good and bad, easy and hard, ideally getting ever closer to the truth. This new rule also runs headlong into the Supreme Court's repeated, if imprecise, endorsements of academic freedom. If the First Amendment offers any boundary of protection at all for public university classrooms, this statute crosses it. Nor does this Court's leading academic speech precedent, Bishop v. Aronov, demand the outcome Florida seeks. 926 F.2d 1066 (11th Cir. 1991). In fact, it counsels the opposite. The restriction in that case was imposed by one university, against one professor, relating to speech about one thing-personal religious views that got in the way of the course's well-understood parameters.
Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · last mo.

BREAKING: Eleventh Circuit, on a 2-1 vote, upholds injunction blocking Florida from enforcing its 2022 Stop WOKE Act in the university context. The majority opinion is from Judge Britt Grant, a Trump appointee: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Before GRANT, LAGOA, and WILSON, Circuit Judges. GRANT, Circuit Judge: "Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech." U.S. Const. amend I. The First Amendment, incorporated against the States in 1868, is this country's written commitment to the idea that freedom of speech is essential to freedom of thought, and that both are essential to maintaining our liberty. The Supreme Court has long been clear that teaching and scholarship are due some measure of protection under the Amendment. But how much? And in what contexts? That Court has not had to say, but this one is now put to the test. The State of Florida legislated a broad set of speech restrictions banning certain viewpoints relating to race, color, sex, and national origin in various settings. The provision at issue here bars Florida's educators from promoting or endorsing those distavored ideas when instructing students. Its prohibition applies not only in primary and secondary education, where states traditionally exercise a great deal of control, but also in public colleges and universities, where the state government's role has been far more limited. When several groups of professors challenged Florida's new restrictions, the State cast about for an existing case or doctrine that could support its speech ban in the university setting. Finding none, it tried to marry public-employee speech cases with government speech doctrine, resulting in a new rule: if the
Max Kozlov@maxkozlov.bsky.social · 2mo ago

NIH grants have been under political scrutiny since early 2025. But what does the screening process actually look like? What is being flagged? I spent a month digging into leaked docs and emails. We've published the 235-word list that are being flagged by an internal AI tool. And so much more. 🧵

Inside the new political screening that’s stalling NIH grants

Mandatory reviews by top health officials and checks for 235 disfavoured terms have left hundreds of vetted grant applications in administrative limbo.

nature.com

Indivisible Charlottesville@indivisiblecville.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Join us after the People's Activist session on Monday, June 29 - for an online community forum on Food Insecurity among local immigrant families. On-the-ground service providers will share stories and perspectives on the real life consequences of this regime's policies.

Immigrant Food Insecurity Forum — Indivisible Charlottesville

Many immigrant families are food in-secure due to federal detentions, deportations, and acts of intimidation. Join us online to hear from on-the-ground service providers about the severe challenges a...

indivisiblecharlottesville.org

Don Moynihan@donmoyn.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Musk's gutting of USAID killed hundreds of thousands, possibly millions. He has used his net worth to stoke hatred against people he dislikes and to fuel white supremacy. So no, I don't think he is uplifting humanity.

Mr. Musk’s allies said his net worth was justified by his impact, providing an example and incentive for those who want to build successful companies. Mr. Diamandis, the head of the XPrize Foundation, an organization that holds contests to encourage scientific breakthroughs, said Tesla and SpaceX were “raising the floor.” “The fruits of his labor are making him into a trillionaire, and they’re uplifting humanity,” Mr. Diamandis said.