Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 3h

Do we have any verification of this yet?

Robert Kelchen @robertkelchen.com · 6h

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...

www.bloomberg.com

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Drug Monkey @drugmonkey.bsky.social · 7h

NIH Study Sections are on hold...again. drugmonkey.wordpress.com/2025/10/13/n...

NIH Study Sections are on hold…again.

The primary input to deciding on the merit of proposals submitted to the NIH for potential funding, as most of my remaining blog audience well knows, is the outcome of the initial peer-review proce…

drugmonkey.wordpress.com

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 1d

“work as if you live in the early days of a better nation”

Amal El-Mohtar @amalelmohtar.com · 1d

Going through old newsletters I came across this one from 2023, which I'd locked to paying subscribers -- a thing I do periodically for a variety of reasons. I decided to make it public today, & hope you enjoy it. It starts with a dream & ends with the world.

amalelmohtar.com/a-dream-a-wa...

A dream of a wake

A crowded bus that was also a wake. It wasn't when I embarked but somewhere between Glasgow and Cornwall it became so, dark and raucous, and I wasn't sure I was supposed to be there. But there was a j...

amalelmohtar.com

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Lena Sun @lenasun.bsky.social · 2d

BREAKING: Some of the layoffs at CDC are being REVERSED.
Here is my updated story.
www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

More than 1,000 CDC staff receive layoff notices during government shutdown

Another round of mass layoffs has struck CDC. The agency had already been cut during a reorganization this year, and more employees are now being shed amid the government shutdown.

www.washingtonpost.com

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Prisonculture @prisonculture.bsky.social · 2d

I'm so proud of everyone from my old neighborhood of Rogers Park in Chicago. I see what you have been and are doing. I am so proud of how organized the community is and how much more so everyone is becoming. It is inspiring. Just one example... And this is something EVERYONE can do. Everyone.

Informational flyer about Rogers Park Whistle Protocols, explaining how to use whistles to alert neighbors of emergencies, with color-coded alerts, steps for use, and encouragement to form a crowd and stay loud for safety.

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 2d

bsky.app/profile/publ...

🎃 public HELLth guy 🎃 @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 3d

as someone who worked at the CDC, the way they’ve targeted these illegal firings are pretty much what i would do to inflict maximum damage to what remains of our nation’s federal public health infrastructure. a hostile takeover of the agency

Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · 3d

You would not fire these people—including the staff of the hugely, HUGELY important 'Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report'—if you cared at all about public health, if you wanted people to live.

And you would not let your thuggish henchmen fire people like this if you were a responsible president.

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Preorder Read This When Things Fall Apart @mskellymhayes.bsky.social · 2d

I know not everyone is who they thought they would be under a fascist, authoritarian regime. That's okay. But it's time to do more than react and post about it. It's time to get organized—including mapping or creating lines of support and defense in your community.

Mapping Community Defense and Care in Our Neighborhoods

This worksheet can help us prepare for Trump's military interventions at the neighborhood level.

organizingmythoughts.org

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 2d

Each Friday, I summarize what is happening to American science & higher ed. 🧪
This was Week 38:
- MIT declines loyalty oath/compact & I review latest at other 8 universities
- Newest RIFs gutting CDC
- “Payroll pirates” targeting university HR

& so much more buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

Week 38

Oct 4-10, 2025 - failure state

buttondown.com

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 2d

This matches what I’ve been hearing (but no story published yet from Lena www.washingtonpost.com/people/lena-...)

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 2d

The specifics of the RIFs I’ve seen in group chats have been staggering. Bracing & reminding myself these are specifically intended to cause fear & distress.

Please share URLs for any good trackers you seen as they emerge. (I want more than OMB’s version) fedscoop.com/trump-federa...

Table of how many federal employees have been laid off in the latest RIF (Reduction in Force). This is from an OMB legal filing from Oct 10. For each agency, it lists number of fired employees, RIF notice date, and whether the administrations has recalled any of those employees to do work. Total headcount is 4,100 across 8 agencies. Treasury (1446) and HHS (1200) are the most affected. EPA (30) had the fewest layoffs this time.

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 2d

Ah, this summer was hard. I’m so sorry for the heartbreak, and hope the healing has begun

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John Schwartz @jswatz.bsky.social · 2d

One judge compared their district’s current relationship with the Supreme Court to “a war zone.” Another said the courts were in the midst of a “judicial crisis.” www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Federal Judges, Warning of ‘Judicial Crisis,’ Fault Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders

www.nytimes.com

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Joshua Weitz @joshuasweitz.bsky.social · 2d

"Roughly 70 Epidemic Intelligence Service officers — the so-called “disease detectives” who respond to outbreaks around the globe — received layoff notices"

There is no 'make healthy' objective here, but there will be costs and consequences, to readiness, safety, and lives.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 3d

FULL STORY HERE: Emails began flooding CDC inboxes late Friday night announcing dozens of layoffs. HR people brought back from furlough to oversee the RIFs. Disease detectives, entire Washington office, global health, injury prevention, MMWR staff among those hit.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/u...

Trump Administration Lays Off Dozens of C.D.C. Officials

www.nytimes.com

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 2d

News accelerated as I wrote this week‘s debrief (proper post tomorrow, meanwhile get some sleep, friends)

buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

Week 38

Oct 4-10, 2025 - failure state

buttondown.com

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Erin Kissane @kissane.myatproto.social · 3d

It is difficult for me to express how disastrous this is.

Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 3d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Sheryl Gay Stolberg @sherylnyt.bsky.social · 3d

BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:

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Erin Kissane @kissane.myatproto.social · 3d

This is what I do with a lot of my time right now. It's so wild that the "simple" things—like keeping the chronology, pointing to specific events—are so hard right now. But they need doing.

Unbreaking @unbreaking.org · 3d

The clear story in Immigration this week is the escalation of—and pushback against—the Trump administration’s militarized raids and warrantless stops in Democrat-run major cities. We’ve updated our timeline with a lot of events in this zone:

unbreaking.org/issues/immig...

Immigration — Unbreaking

How the administration is breaking the government, and what that means for all of us.

unbreaking.org

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 3d

Do we have any updates on him? I know every hour of waiting must be excruciating for family, friends & colleagues. Sending support.

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Mark Histed @markhisted.org · 3d

Russell Vought has announced that "mass firings [RIFs] have begun."

Lawless. The RIFs in the spring were illegal, as Judge Illston outlined. Yes, the conservative SCOTUS supermajority lawlessly signed off. But the Calvinball Court is not doing law.

Congress can stop this. A thread: 1/

'RIFs have begun.' Vought announces start of mass firings during government shutdown

The White House budget office said Friday that mass firings of federal workers have started in an attempt to exert more pressure on Democratic lawmakers as the government shutdown continues.

www.pbs.org

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 3d

GOOD!

MIT officially rejects the compact/loyalty oath for higher ed. That’s 1 of 9. I hope we see many more announcements today.

Josh Moody @byjoshmoody.bsky.social · 3d

MIT rejects "compact" proposed by the Trump administration.
MIT prez wrote: it "would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution" and "is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone."
orgchart.mit.edu/letters/rega...

Regarding the Compact | MIT Organization Chart

orgchart.mit.edu

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Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 3d

really nice piece on this btw from @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...

"The Printing Press Democratized Knowledge": When Slogans Masquerade as History — Sonja Drimmer

The phrase is said so frequently it seems, like the mechanism it celebrates, to mechanically replicate itself.  It's become a favorite catchphrase among tech boosters of any sort (see my post on...

sonjadrimmer.com

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 3d

Whether & how we think about issues is not a sovereign choice we each make for ourselves. This 🧵 offers a helpful reminder/explanation that discourse is often deliberately shaped.

If you’re curious, “agenda-setting theory” is helpful keyword to start digging into comms research.

David Roberts @volts.wtf · 3d

All I want in life is to persuade everyone, when encountering politics & culture, to ask, "why are we talking about this?" I mean that very literally: anything you encounter on your screens reflects a choice. Someone covered that, talked about that, rather than the many other things out there. Why?

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Anna Kornbluh @annakornbluh.bsky.social · May 18

say it again:

4 million people work in higher ed, the largest employer in 10 states, second largest employer in 10 more, and in 60 of the 100 biggest cities

ROI for NIH and NSF for local economies is conservatively 4x, often close to 10x

demolishing higher education is economic sabotage

Evan Torner @guyintheblackhat.bsky.social · May 18

There is a false dichotomy drawn between "the ivory tower" and "the real world," and I'm here to report that in a post-industrial society, your real-world economy absolutely hinges on the university.

University towns are factory towns. Universities drive economic activity, not the other way around.

Prof Christina Pagel @chrischirp.bsky.social · May 18

A must read

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Liz Neeley @lizneeley.bsky.social · 4d

Thank you so much for these notes!

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Charmaine Chua @charmainechua.bsky.social · 4d

The Berkeley Faculty Association is currently running an event featuring about the UC’s release of 160 names of faculty, staff and students to the Trump administration’s OCR. Three lawyers - Catherine E. Lhamon, Brian Soucek, and Asli Bali will speak. I’ll be live-tweeting key moments.

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