STAT’s Post

In a panic, universities that rely heavily on federal grants are suspending research projects, canceling conferences and closing offices in response to President Trump's ban on “diversity, equity and inclusion” across the U.S. government. Among other things, the grants fund postdoctoral scholars and graduate students and cover a significant amount of administrative costs. For example, the University of California, San Francisco, received about $815 million in research funding from the National Institutes of Health for fiscal year 2024 and uses about 40% of that for administrative costs. Canceling or pausing programs with any element of DEI--whether its in the university's grant proposal or in the funding agency's request for proposals--is a defensive move. Nidhi Subbaraman and Douglas Belkin report for #WSJScience and #WSJEducation.

These words in Monday's Inside Higher Ed from Barbara Snyder, president of the Association of American Universities (AAU), are chilling in light of yesterday's freeze on NIH grant funding meetings, travel, and communications. "President Trump has repeatedly said he wants to make America great and keep us ahead of China and other competitor nations. I am optimistic that he will support policies and investments that ensure the United States continues to be the world’s leader in scientific research. The president and Congress can secure that position by both increasing our public investments in cutting-edge research and by promoting policies that make it easy for the world’s best and brightest technological and scientific minds to study, work and stay here and advance U.S. innovation and economic growth. My single greatest fear would be that some might try to convince the president to pull back these investments in America’s greatness and close ourselves off from the global talent and knowledge that has helped make our country great. I hope that he and Congress will resist that shortsightedness and will choose to recommit our country to the government-university research partnership that has made us the world’s strongest and most prosperous country." Full article with hopes & fears from other higher ed leaders: https://lnkd.in/gCB2ngGb

Read the latest issue of the #NIHCatalyst to learn about The National Institutes of Health Undergraduate Scholarship Program, which is celebrating 30 years of investing in the next generation of scientists and clinicians: https://go.nih.gov/OyYOaOA #NIH_IRP

On the sidelines of our #THEeurope summit this week, university leaders from around the world kept a watchful eye on campus unrest in the US. The protests that have flared at Columbia University and spread to multiple other campuses have brought a global gaze, following the Congressional hearings into anti-Semitism that had earlier forced the resignations of the presidents of Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania. As our North America Editor Paul Basken reports, Mike Johnson, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, has now called for the resignation of the Columbia president, Baroness Shafik. Her appearance before the education committee of the US House had the dual effect of failing to mollify hostile Republican members, and alienating significant numbers of both faculty and students back on campus. But whatever her missteps, and the undoubted discomfort at Columbia, the moment is being seen as yet another escalation in the campaign by US conservatives to use campus protests over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to weaken academic freedom and university autonomy across the country. Our story on this week's developments (which will no doubt be overtaken by events swiftly) is here: https://lnkd.in/eaxrn4Mk Also from Times Higher Education today is this fascinating analysis from former University of California, Berkeley president Nicholas Dirks, now president of the The New York Academy of Sciences, reflecting on a deteriorating relationship between faculty and administrators that he believes is making US universities close to ungovernable. "In recent years, the relationship between administrators and faculty has taken on elements of class war," he writes. Nick provides a typically insightful historical analysis, as well as bringing that up to date with ideas about how this impasse could be eased. "Structure precedes agency here, since it seems likely that neither faculty nor administrators will be able to change the way they think about the university until their institutional location is radically reset, alongside consequent identities and loyalties," he writes. "The sharp divisions between administrators and faculty were created for compelling reasons, but there are equally compelling reasons now for both groups to rethink not just how they must work together but the protocols of university governance across the board – in departments and schools internally and in relation to donors and governments." Nick's analysis is my recommended reading for the week: https://lnkd.in/e4Xy5RHX

Voices of Excellence looks at the amazing work being done in the College of Arts and Sciences at The Ohio State University with Professor David Staley as your host. CHRR director Steve Gavazzi discusses his research on public higher education in this week's featured episode, "Shaping Public Policy with Data." Listen to the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/guN62XPE _____________________________________ Gavazzi emphasizes the importance of the good relationships between universities and their communities and shares insights from longitudinal studies run by CHRR, such as the National Longitudinal Study of Youth (NLSY). The discussion also touches on the American Population Panel and CHRR’s role in housing secure, accessible data repositories for long-term research. Gavazzi also discusses the upcoming 60th anniversary of CHRR.

TLDR: The inaugural US National Academies State of the Science given by Dr. Marcia McNutt showed that funding models have dramatically changes for US STEM (more private and philanthropic, less federal and state) even as our publication rates, impact, education, workforce and positive public perception have dropped. There was a strong call to improve science communication and to re-think the university model of STEM education and research. There are ideas about how to do this in the talk, too. She also quantified the impact of restrictive visa programs (we can't bring international students in, or keep them employed here) on US and US partner research and education. This is worth a watch, as is the panel discussion after the event. https://lnkd.in/ggmU47tS

When is Justice Transformative? ⚖️ At our DIT Day conference "How to transform a university", Ana Vasques and Agni Kalfagianni will host a roundtable discussion on this topic. This roundtable aims to explore what a transformative research justice agenda looks like, which societal actors are likely to support it, and how to organize transformative justice initiatives in practice. The roundtable involves speakers from different perspectives to discuss the following questions: 🟢 What issues of injustice are at play in your area of work/research? 🟢 Which are the responses to these injustices (if any), who supports them, and how would you distinguish their transformative justice potential? 🟢 What does a transformative justice research agenda mean for you? 🟢 Which are inspiring ways for universities to (co)organize/support justice initiatives that can transform politics, societies, and the university itself? If you're interested then join us on June 4th - sign up here: https://lnkd.in/gXFMBriy Alessandra Arcuri, Daphina Misiedjan, Ph.D., Danny Vader, Hélène Van Engelen

Exciting news for the University of Rhode Island! Rhode Island's FY2025 budget, signed this week by Governor Dan McKee, boosts investment in URI to $110.8M—an increase of $5.4M from last year—strengthening URI's active role in advancing the blue economy, life sciences, and healthcare innovation in the state. The University will also receive: 🔹 $14 million in capital plan (RICAP) asset protection funding. 🔹 $20 million in RICAP funding for a PFAS water treatment plant. 🔹 $87.5 million for a general obligation bond for the construction of a biomedical sciences building on the Kingston Campus, pending voter approval in November. Additionally, a 21-member commission will study the creation of a medical school at URI. The state budget “signals continued positive investment by the state in its flagship research university,” said URI President Marc Parlange. “URI, as Rhode Island’s flagship public research university, is committed to addressing the state’s most pressing needs and to making a positive difference in our communities and in the lives of Rhode Islanders.” Read more: ➡️ https://lnkd.in/etErEfdd

In this episode of ¿Qué pasa, HSIs? we spotlight empirical research that is relevant to HSIs. Our guest, Rogelio Salazar, is a doctoral candidate in the Higher Education & Organizational Change program at UCLA's School of Education. Guided by critical frameworks and methodologies that center an intersectional lens in interrogating P-16 policy, their research demonstrates how policies, organizational processes, and practitioners can disrupt or exacerbate existing educational inequities. We talk about dual enrollment (DE) and state promise programs, and specifically the ways that racially minoritized students benefit from or are disadvantaged by these programs. We also discuss mentoring practices for Latine students in HSIs, guided by an article published in the Journal of the Alliance of HSI Educators. Throughout this plática Rogelio offers best practices for ensuring that policies advance equity in practice for Latine, Black and first generation students. Guest: Rogelio Salazar (he/him/el), PhD candidate, UCLA Social Media:  X: _rogeliosalazar LinkedIn: https://lnkd.in/gg_sgiYh  Website: https://lnkd.in/gyPuUF6Z APA Citation:  Garcia, G. A. (Host). (2024, October 20). Research Spotlight: Dual Enrollment & Promise Programs. (No. 506) [Audio podcast episode]. In ¿Qué pasa, HSIs?. https://lnkd.in/gMKUVjEv Attachments/Show Notes:  Salazar, R. (2024). Working towards an equitable future in California dual enrollment programs. UC Berkeley Center for Studies in Higher Education. https://lnkd.in/gisFvNkF Salazar, R. (2023). An analysis of statewide college promise programs: Towards a racially equitable future. In D. A. Smith, C. M. Cain, J. N. Friedel (Eds.), New Directions for Community Colleges (p. 111-127). https://lnkd.in/ggqYFXsd  Salazar, R. (2021). Mentorship experiences of Latino students among university mentors of color in a California State University Hispanic Serving Institution. Journal of the Alliance of Hispanic Serving Institution Educators, 1(1), 15-35.