Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
@shane.st
Associate Professor (Linguistics) at University of Washington
https://shane.st
https://shane.st
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
I'm packing for NASSLLI 2025. The lineup is terrific! I'm looking forward to enjoying Seattle for the first time and climbing again with @shanest.bsky.social, who organized the school (kudos!). nasslli25.shane.st/schedule/
North American Summer School on Logic, Language and Information (NASSLLI '25) @ UW
Official website for the North American Summer School for Logic, Language and Information, taking place June 23-27 at the Univeristy of Washington, Seattle.
nasslli25.shane.st
June 21, 2025 at 8:43 AM
I'm packing for NASSLLI 2025. The lineup is terrific! I'm looking forward to enjoying Seattle for the first time and climbing again with @shanest.bsky.social, who organized the school (kudos!). nasslli25.shane.st/schedule/
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
Just to be clear, we reached the arresting-judges-and-deporting-US-citizens-without-due-process stage of the slide into authoritarianism today.
And the citizens in question included a toddler and a child with cancer who needs treatment in the US.
And the citizens in question included a toddler and a child with cancer who needs treatment in the US.
ICE Deports 3 U.S. Citizen Children Held Incommunicado Prior to the Deportation | American Civil Liberties Union
Families disappeared and isolated without legal access; one child with cancer deported without medication and pregnant mother deported as well
www.aclu.org
April 26, 2025 at 4:04 AM
Just to be clear, we reached the arresting-judges-and-deporting-US-citizens-without-due-process stage of the slide into authoritarianism today.
And the citizens in question included a toddler and a child with cancer who needs treatment in the US.
And the citizens in question included a toddler and a child with cancer who needs treatment in the US.
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
I might be able to hire a postdoc for this fall in computational linguistics at UT Austin. Topics in the general LLM + cognitive space (particularly reasoning, chain of thought, LLMs + code) and LLM + linguistic space. If this could be of interest, feel free to get in touch!
April 21, 2025 at 3:56 PM
I might be able to hire a postdoc for this fall in computational linguistics at UT Austin. Topics in the general LLM + cognitive space (particularly reasoning, chain of thought, LLMs + code) and LLM + linguistic space. If this could be of interest, feel free to get in touch!
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
Almost certainly an anti-Semitic hate crime. And the President who is trying to tear up the American university system on the pretext of fighting anti-Semitism hasn't said a word.
It is horrifying no matter what — and there is still a lot to learn — but it’s particularly concerning that the Jewish PA Governor’s home was set on fire on the first night of Passover. apnews.com/article/josh...
Police say they are investigating an arson attack at the Pennsylvania governor's residence
Police say they evacuated Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family from the governor’s official residence after someone set fire to the building.
apnews.com
April 14, 2025 at 1:11 PM
Almost certainly an anti-Semitic hate crime. And the President who is trying to tear up the American university system on the pretext of fighting anti-Semitism hasn't said a word.
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
I had been doubtful that we were going to have a "this is the crisis moment" with Trump, as opposed to "everything about this is a destructive catastrophe."
But the Abrego Garcia case is the crisis moment.
1/
But the Abrego Garcia case is the crisis moment.
1/
April 14, 2025 at 4:41 PM
I had been doubtful that we were going to have a "this is the crisis moment" with Trump, as opposed to "everything about this is a destructive catastrophe."
But the Abrego Garcia case is the crisis moment.
1/
But the Abrego Garcia case is the crisis moment.
1/
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
In a formal press event, in the Oval Office, Trump replies to a reporter's question saying that, yes, he would send U.S. citizens to the Salvadoran prison.
We are at a dangerous, dangerous moment in US history, where the President of the United States is threatening to send US citizens to be imprisoned by a foreign ally, and the foreign ally is saying it won't respect an US court orders to release people that it's holding.
REPORTER: You mentioned you're open to deporting individuals that aren't foreign aliens but aren't criminal to El Salvador. Does that include US citizens?
TRUMP: If they are criminals and hit people with baseball bats, if they rape 87 year old women, yeah. Yeah. That includes them. I'm all for it.
TRUMP: If they are criminals and hit people with baseball bats, if they rape 87 year old women, yeah. Yeah. That includes them. I'm all for it.
April 14, 2025 at 5:00 PM
In a formal press event, in the Oval Office, Trump replies to a reporter's question saying that, yes, he would send U.S. citizens to the Salvadoran prison.
Evil
"After ICE abducted Khalil, Mahdawi sheltered in place for more than three weeks for fear of being picked up himself.
Instead of taking him off the street, however, immigration authorities scheduled the citizenship test at the Colchester USCIS office and took Mahdawi into custody when he arrived."
Instead of taking him off the street, however, immigration authorities scheduled the citizenship test at the Colchester USCIS office and took Mahdawi into custody when he arrived."
SCOOP: Columbia student Mohsen Mahdawi went into an interview today hoping he would come out a U.S. citizen. Instead, ICE arrested him. theintercept.com/2025/04/14/i...
April 14, 2025 at 6:30 PM
Evil
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
When the head of ICE starts talking about how great it would be to have Amazon Prime for shipping human beings to a concentration camp in El Salvador that no one ever leaves, you’ve gone way past “it could never happen here.”
ICE director envisions Amazon-like mass deportation system: ‘Prime, but with human beings’ • Michigan Advance
The leader of Immigration and Customs Enforcement said that his dream for the agency is squads of trucks rounding up immigrants for deportation the same way that Amazon trucks crisscross American citi...
michiganadvance.com
April 9, 2025 at 10:42 PM
When the head of ICE starts talking about how great it would be to have Amazon Prime for shipping human beings to a concentration camp in El Salvador that no one ever leaves, you’ve gone way past “it could never happen here.”
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
You can tell who the Good Guys are because they're the ones smashing a car window to drag a mother away from her child while wearing ski masks.
“Mommy, no. Mommy.”
Daughter captures the moment masked ICE agents smash the window of her mother's car in order to take her into custody.
The government claims the 52-year old seamstress is an associate of the MS-13 gang.
www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/lo...
Daughter captures the moment masked ICE agents smash the window of her mother's car in order to take her into custody.
The government claims the 52-year old seamstress is an associate of the MS-13 gang.
www.thebaltimorebanner.com/community/lo...
Rejected at her door, ICE nabs a Maryland woman in her car after smashing her window
Video shows a U.S. ICE agents breaking the window of a Maryland woman, Elsy Noemi Berrios, after failing to detain her at home.
www.thebaltimorebanner.com
April 9, 2025 at 11:49 PM
You can tell who the Good Guys are because they're the ones smashing a car window to drag a mother away from her child while wearing ski masks.
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
The lesson for universities is you may as well fight back. You'll lose the money either way. The only question is whether you keep your dignity.
Exclusive: Weeks after President Donald Trump’s administration ordered NIH to pull $250 million in biomedical research grants to Columbia University, the agency is freezing all remaining grant money owed to the university until further notice. scim.ag/4if5Rg1
NIH freezes all research grants to Columbia University
Amid negotiations with Trump, the university could risk losing nearly $700 million
scim.ag
April 9, 2025 at 10:25 PM
The lesson for universities is you may as well fight back. You'll lose the money either way. The only question is whether you keep your dignity.
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
EVERY time EVERYONE stand up to Trump, he caves
Paging university presidents/chancellors
Paging university presidents/chancellors
And today, on tariffs, we see 3.
EVERY time a few strong countries or people stand up to Trump, he caves.
EVERY time a few strong countries or people stand up to Trump, he caves.
Big Bully Politics (TM) can create 3 responses:
1. The bullied give in, the Big Bully wins and pushes harder.
2. The bullied fight back alone, and are crushed, and the Big Bully wins and pushes harder.
3. The bullied fight together and defeat the Big Bully, who loses his aura of all-powerful.
1. The bullied give in, the Big Bully wins and pushes harder.
2. The bullied fight back alone, and are crushed, and the Big Bully wins and pushes harder.
3. The bullied fight together and defeat the Big Bully, who loses his aura of all-powerful.
April 9, 2025 at 5:52 PM
EVERY time EVERYONE stand up to Trump, he caves
Paging university presidents/chancellors
Paging university presidents/chancellors
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
A basic red line for defending academic freedom would be not turning over faculty data because they signed an open letter.
The University of California is actively cooperating with the government witch hunt against some 850 faculty members.
cucfa.org/2025/04/cucf...
cucfa.org/2025/04/cucf...
April 4, 2025 at 10:30 PM
A basic red line for defending academic freedom would be not turning over faculty data because they signed an open letter.
It was a pleasure talking to the great @carlzimmer.com about a really exciting new paper from Mélissa Berthet and colleagues about possible non-trivial compositionality in Bonobos. Story in the quote below; paper here: doi.org/10.1126/scie...
Today I wrote about compositionality--a foundation of human language. Is it also in the calls of apes? Gift link: nyti.ms/4iO0zct
In the Calls of Bonobos, Scientists Hear Hints of Language (Gift Article)
Hundreds of hours of recordings suggest that the apes can generate meaning by stringing sounds together in pairs. But some scholars are skeptical.
nyti.ms
April 4, 2025 at 7:41 PM
It was a pleasure talking to the great @carlzimmer.com about a really exciting new paper from Mélissa Berthet and colleagues about possible non-trivial compositionality in Bonobos. Story in the quote below; paper here: doi.org/10.1126/scie...
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
Every single university president should be asked, in public, why they are not speaking out this way to support all the students currently detained without due process, and all those terrified that they will be next, on every campus in this country. Yes, including Columbia's acting president.
NEW: Tufts files a declaration in support of Rümeysa Öztürk: "The University has no information to support the allegations that she was engaged in activities at Tufts that warrant her arrest and detention." www.tufts.edu/president/sp...
April 3, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Every single university president should be asked, in public, why they are not speaking out this way to support all the students currently detained without due process, and all those terrified that they will be next, on every campus in this country. Yes, including Columbia's acting president.
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
A lot of people like to dismiss racism as insubstantial to material realities but we’re watching a nation burn trillions of dollars in wealth to entrench a racial system of domination.
April 2, 2025 at 9:23 PM
A lot of people like to dismiss racism as insubstantial to material realities but we’re watching a nation burn trillions of dollars in wealth to entrench a racial system of domination.
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
We have had nearly two decades of panic about Free Speech on Campus and not a single case, not even the ones they made up, were as bad as what's happening now
This is the text of the email just sent to hundreds of international students telling them that their visas have been revoked due to activism or social media posts.
March 29, 2025 at 2:24 PM
We have had nearly two decades of panic about Free Speech on Campus and not a single case, not even the ones they made up, were as bad as what's happening now
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
Yes, and they need to do it this week. And the week after. And the week after that. Loudly, collectively, publicly. The silence is deafening. And it's not working. Which everyone could have predicted, because it didn't work before when the attacks were coming from the state level.
March 20, 2025 at 2:58 AM
Yes, and they need to do it this week. And the week after. And the week after that. Loudly, collectively, publicly. The silence is deafening. And it's not working. Which everyone could have predicted, because it didn't work before when the attacks were coming from the state level.
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
What would you say if you saw it in another country? Happening right now
abducted by masked agents of the state in the streets of the capital and slated for deportation for the offense of being linked to views
SCOOP: Hooded ICE agents snatched Indian-born Georgetown postdoc Badar Suri from Rosslyn street Monday, per court filing. Like Khalil, linked to pro-Palestinian views & Rubio 'foreign policy' power, lawyer says. Then whisked to Louisiana. w/ @kyledcheney www.politico.com/news/2025/03...
March 20, 2025 at 4:10 AM
What would you say if you saw it in another country? Happening right now
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
ICE is a terrorist organization.
SCOOP: Hooded ICE agents snatched Indian-born Georgetown postdoc Badar Suri from Rosslyn street Monday, per court filing. Like Khalil, linked to pro-Palestinian views & Rubio 'foreign policy' power, lawyer says. Then whisked to Louisiana. w/ @kyledcheney www.politico.com/news/2025/03...
Trump is seeking to deport another graduate student who is legally in the country, lawsuit says
Badar Khan Suri, a fellow at Georgetown, says he is being punished because of the suspected views of his wife, a U.S. citizen with Palestinian heritage.
www.politico.com
March 20, 2025 at 5:14 AM
ICE is a terrorist organization.
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
"I don't care what the judges think" should be grounds for impeachment for any public official, but especially for key actors in the national security system.
Homan: "We're not stopping. I don't care what the judges think. I don't care what the left thinks. We're coming."
March 17, 2025 at 4:16 PM
"I don't care what the judges think" should be grounds for impeachment for any public official, but especially for key actors in the national security system.
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
This is going to be a bloodbath.
The Trump administration has terminated $800 million in grants to Johns Hopkins University, spurring the nation’s top spender on research and development to plan layoffs and cancel health projects
Johns Hopkins Plans Staff Layoffs After $800 Million Grant Cuts
Local and international health research efforts are already winding down as the university braces for even more potential cuts.
www.wsj.com
March 12, 2025 at 12:13 AM
This is going to be a bloodbath.
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
This isn't going to get the attention of Columbia, but it's at least as bad: the University of Maine is having its funding cut off because the governor of Maine dared to challenge Trump.
I'm appalled by the USDA's decision to pause funding to the University of Maine System.
This will hurt our farmers, halt critical research, and impact students throughout Maine.
Once again, our state is being targeted for retribution—all because our officials are standing up for the rule of law.
This will hurt our farmers, halt critical research, and impact students throughout Maine.
Once again, our state is being targeted for retribution—all because our officials are standing up for the rule of law.
USDA halts more than $100M in funding for University of Maine System programs
The move temporarily pauses USDA funding for Maine's university system after President Donald Trump threatened to cut off the state over Maine's decision to allow transgender athletes to compete in sp...
www.pressherald.com
March 11, 2025 at 5:21 PM
This isn't going to get the attention of Columbia, but it's at least as bad: the University of Maine is having its funding cut off because the governor of Maine dared to challenge Trump.
Reposted by Shane Steinert-Threlkeld
a democratic senator and members of the board at the university aided and abetted mahmoud khalil's arrest
March 11, 2025 at 3:02 AM
a democratic senator and members of the board at the university aided and abetted mahmoud khalil's arrest