We Had to Destroy the Universities to Save Them "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” – Ronald Reagan Skim most any document

On curbing academic freedom in the name of academic freedom:

A scene from "war ravaged Portland," July 2025:

Join me on June 14

Real power isn't staged in DC — it rises up everywhere else. Join me on No Kings Day to stand together against cruelty, corruption, and authoritarianism. app.sosha.ai/s/TIirmUuD

Frank: Forget Bucket Lists. Aging Is for Savoring As I entered the murky zone between middle and old age, I came up with a slogan: “If not now, when?” Meaning, I should go-be-do while I’m still hale and

Column: Musings of a Geezer

Candy Is Dandy, but Keeping Your Student Visa Is Sweeter In my campus mailbox last week I found a sandwich bag filled with “fun size” packs of Skittles and Laffy Taffy. They weren’t for me, as an unsigned

Follow-up column on student deportations:

The ICE Man Cometh to Penn State Jack is an international student at Penn State. I’m not going to tell you his real name, where he’s from or what he’s studying because I don’t want to

Column: First they came for the students...

Coach Franklin’s Staff Accidentally Texted Me Their Game Plans Penn State football coaches included me in a group chat about its next game against Ohio State. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started getting caught for touchdowns.

My Jeff Goldberg imitation:

Announcing the Million Alte Kaker March The term anticipatory obedience is popping up a lot these days to describe educators, politicians and bazillionaires who are crawling on their bellies

Geezer Power!:

‘Paranoia Strikes Deep in the Heartland’ Among the many Valentines I received on Feb. 14 was one that appeared to be from Penn State Human Resources informing me that I needed “to complete a new

Column: We're all conspiracy theorists now.

Spineless Creatures:

Beetles
Snails
Slugs
Earthworms
Leeches
Jellyfish
Flatworms
Tapeworms
Ticks
Sponges
Members of the U.S. Congress
TechBros

D-E-I is D-E-D Dear National Science Foundation,  I am in the midst of preparing an NSF grant application and, as I am sure you can appreciate, I want to make sure

Column: Better scrub those NSF/NIH proposals:

Bam!

Will Subu Vedam Prevail? It all comes down to the size of a bullet and a bullet hole, measured in fractions of an inch. Subramanyam Vedam, imprisoned 42 years on a murder rap,

Subu Vedam, imprisoned for 42 years, gets a hearing this week:

Trump 2.0: Smile Though Your Heart Is Breaking Some of my friends don’t like it when I say Donald Trump is ridiculous.  A pie in the face is ridiculous, they say. Trump is dangerous.  I agree

My latest column: