Eric Kelderman

Spent the weekend putting new baseboard on a basement floor - painful reminder that I should have spent more time listening to my dad, a talented carpenter

What I know is there are still great journalists - even at elite media outlets - who are doing good work. Adopting a knee-jerk cynicism about all they do abandons those journalists. And it's lazy. And it plays into hands of authoritarians who WANT people to distrust all fact-based journalism.

Judge blocks Trump administration push to fine UCLA $1.2 billion for alleged antisemitism A federal judge late Friday issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from imposing a $1.2-billion fine on UCLA for alleged civil rights violations over antisemitism, its recog...

In a major win for UC faculty groups and unions that sued, a federal judge on Friday blocked the Trump from imposing a $1.2-billion fine on UCLA along with stipulations for deep campus changes in exchange for being eligible for federal grants: www.latimes.com/california/s...

‘Stunned and Angry’: James Ryan Gives First Detailed Account of His Ouster at UVa In an expansive letter, the former University of Virginia president told the story of his resignation, blasting board members and saying the government had pledged to “bleed UVA white.”

Breaking news: In a letter to UVA faculty, former president James Ryan gave his first detailed account of the circumstances that led to his departure. https://chroni.cl/3M163Vz

Texas A&M System Sharply Restricts How Faculty Can Teach About Race and Gender A new policy approved Thursday — following a viral video that led to a professor’s firing — prohibits courses from advocating for “race or gender ideology” without prior approval.

www.chronicle.com/article/texa...

Reporter gripe: “off the record” doesn’t mean anything in the context of a meeting with dozens of people in attendance, even if that group includes a reporter. Might I suggest that people ask everyone to agree to Chatham House rules

A cartoon by Roz Chast, from 2022. #NewYorkerCartoons

A Dead Cat, A Lawyer's Call And A 5-Figure Donation: How Media Fell Short On Epstein Why did it take some of the nation's biggest news organizations so long to take seriously the accusations against the late Jeffrey Epstein? Allegations about his behavior go back more than a decade.

Amazing 2019 story from @davidfolkenflik.bsky.social Worth rereading today. (And man these media outlets let us all down.) www.npr.org/2019/08/22/7...

For folks (and journalists) who want to search the Oversight Committee email texts, I made a database for searching the 20k text files:

splendorous-chaja-f79791.netlify.app

The Crack-Up at the Heritage Foundation Is a Warning Sign for MAGA World By defending a controversial Tucker Carlson interview, think tank president Kevin Roberts unleashed a flood of discontent in the conservative establishment.

The divisions within the Heritage Foundation highlight growing fractures facing President Trump’s winning 2024 coalition on.wsj.com/4ottEg6

Epstein Bantered Regularly With Larry Summers

"Summers declined to comment on Wednesday beyond referring to previous remarks in which he acknowledged 'regretting my past associations with Mr. Epstein.' (...Summers is a contributing writer for The New York Times Opinion section.)"

They don't mention the IQ email

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/u...

Fascinating discussion on athletics policy at #ASHE2025, including comments from Ezinne Ofoegbu at Santa Clara U, that the association rarely accepts presentations on the topic because it isn’t considered relevant

Ad Industry Veterans Honored With Cola War Memorial

Ad Industry Veterans Honored With Cola War Memorial https://theonion.com/ad-industry-veterans-honored-with-cola-war-memorial-1819564285/

Donald Trump, International-Student Advocate? Enrolling more foreign students is good business, the president said.

President Donald J. Trump, booster of international students?! “I actually think it’s good to have outside countries. I want to be able to get along with the world.” www.chronicle.com/newsletter/l...

Tracking US flight delays and cancellations in charts | CNN CNN is tracking delays and cancellations for flights traveling to, from or within the US using data from FlightAware. Data updates every 15 minutes.

We're tracking flight cancellations and delays across the US as a result of the government shutdown: www.cnn.com/us/flight-de...

Were you at all surprised that Durbin was one of the votes to move forward?

Data on the debt and earnings of nine programs that ED defines "professional" and five that it does not.

I took a quick look at the debt and earnings levels of programs that the negotiated rulemaking committee deemed "professional," as well as other large doctoral programs that were excluded (in spite of having better debt-to-earnings ratios).

robertkelchen.com/2025/11/10/e...

50 years ago, the Edmund Fitzgerald, a 'rock star' ship, sank in Lake Superior Twenty-nine sailors drowned when the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in the Great Lakes' icy waters on Nov. 10, 1975. The ship was immortalized in a surprise hit 1976 folk ballad by Gordon Lightfoot.

Twenty-nine sailors drowned when the Edmund Fitzgerald went down in the Great Lakes' icy waters on Nov. 10, 1975. The ship was immortalized in a surprise hit 1976 folk ballad by Gordon Lightfoot.

I think also the explanation that "we're doing this big thing right now but it doesn't have anything to do with this political pressure, etc."

Hot take: a major challenge for higher ed right now is responding to threats from the Trump administration without making it seem like (or acknowledging) you're responding to threats from the Trump administration...

A play in two acts:

‘God is an anti-vaxxer’: Inside the conference celebrating RFK Jr.’s rise An anti-vaccine conference in Austin celebrated Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s rise to political power, highlighting his influence in Trump’s Washington.

www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

Grocery prices have jumped up, and there's no relief in sight Groceries saw their biggest jump in nearly three years last month, a worrisome sign for inflation-weary shoppers. Tariffs are contributing to higher prices for imported staples like bananas and coffee.

Groceries saw their biggest jump in nearly three years last month, a worrisome sign for inflation-weary shoppers. Tariffs are contributing to higher prices for imported staples like bananas and coffee.

That’s a good day! Enjoy the W!

wow, great timing on that photo!

Cornell Will Pay $60 Million and Provide Admissions Data in Deal to Restore Federal Funding The university, which had seen hundreds of millions of dollars frozen, said the deal “will enable us to return to our teaching and research in restored partnership with federal agencies.”

"Cornell is the fourth institution to achieve an agreement with the Trump administration to restore federal money, following Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Brown University." www.chronicle.com/article/corn...

They are essentially piloting the commission's standards/processes for a couple years, but will maintain their current accreditation with SACSCOC. That will likely require some extra staff time, etc.

also, none from SC, where one of the commission's staff is from

AI Has Joined the Faculty More instructors are teaching with it. Is it making their courses better or dragging the profession down?

Every faculty member should read this @bethmcmurtrie.bsky.social story on how faculty are and aren’t using AI www.chronicle.com/article/ai-h...

#FreeSandwichGuy