Katie Smith

“The dismantling of Harvard’s diversity offices arrived at Harvard College on Wednesday as websites for centers serving minority students, LGBTQ students, and women disappeared suddenly and without fanfare.”

www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Cool paper with an great title.

Across the world, boys are much more likely to overestimate their math ability than girls.

People from high SES backgrounds do the same

www.iza.org/publications...

On Juneteenth, This Williamsburg Schoolhouse Finds a New Life Beginning on Juneteenth, a restored Virginia schoolhouse where enslaved and free Black students were taught to read is on view in Colonial Williamsburg.

About 250 years ago, an unassuming structure on the campus of William & Mary, housed the Williamsburg Bray School, making it the oldest known building where enslaved and free Black children were formally educated. It is now, on Juneteenth, open to the public.

Link: compass.fivecolleges.edu/islandora/ob...

Old black and white photo of a group of women wearing turtleneck sweatshirts with "1904" sewn on the front. They are holding hockey sticks and sitting together around a dog.

I am becoming a bit of a higher ed history nerd. Old photos and records of women's sports are some of my favorite docs. Check out this fun photo of the 1904 Smith College hockey team and their mascot, Max, curtesy of Smith Special Collections.

I don't have an #NSF grant, but I have spent the past 17 months collaborating with 5 students analyzing open access data from another team's NSF-funded project. Fed investment in education & science is critical for our society, and the benefits are widespread. These cuts have long term implications.

Surprise surprise! Allowing scientists to have continuity and security in their funding lets them focus on research and ask big questions that require long term support to answer, and that are most likely to have big impacts for humanity. TIL. 🧪

Philly lost $10.2 million in the latest round of DOGE funding cuts to AmeriCorps The cuts targeted eleven education programs, including CityYear, Teach for America, and Joyful Readers.

President Donald Trump’s administration has pulled close to $10.2 million in federal grants from AmeriCorps projects in Philadelphia, jeopardizing the future of 11 community service programs.

Harvard University Harvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders who make a difference globally.

Harvard’s website changed to feature research and impact: www.harvard.edu. I know they are private and the literal most well resourced institution in the US, but if you know how hard it is to make even the smallest edit on a college website, this is even more impressive.

Gutting. From the Tallahassee Democrat.

Interesting new research suggesting one reason women are less likely to major in STEM, economics, and business is that they expect to face labor market discrimination later in those fields (so that the return to such majors is lower).

www.nber.org/papers/w33680

Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions - rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking steps to make sure students can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope others follow suit.

If you don't feel like scouring my skyline for all the places I've talked about why encouraging profligate & uncritical use of "AI" in education & public life is is so so so very bad, you can read more on what makes this situation so dangerous & problematic here: afutureworththinkingabout.com?p=5899

Education Department Staff Struggle After Mass Layoffs The Trump administration said its sweeping cuts would eliminate bloat at the department. Staff say the “chaotic” process has stalled essential functions and left remaining employees with unmanageable ...

Pieces like this are why I'm concerned about the ability of students to get financial aid on time in the fall...and for some small colleges to make payroll as a result. Even if there is no intent to cut aid, there don't seem to be the staff to handle inevitable issues that arise.

screenshot of the top of the article from the wall street journal. Title reads: What to know about student loans after trump's move to dismantle the education department. Subhead reads: The federal agency manages roughly $1.7 trillion in student loans to nearly 45 million people. By Oyin Adedoyin and Dalvin Brown. Updated March 20, 2025 at 6:06pm eastern.

screenshot of the article that reads: Trump has suggested moving the student-loan portfolio to another agency, such as the Treasury Department or Small Business Administration. That could mean changes to the contracts between loan servicers and the government, said Dominique Baker, associate professor of education and public policy at the University of Delaware. With servicing changes, there can be headaches and delays. Last year, the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, or Mohela, a student loan servicer, transitioned record-keeping for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program to the Education Department. While the transition was happening, processing of forms and other information was paused, frustrating borrowers. “The number one thing I would expect from that type of move is chaos,” Baker said. She said she could see a scenario where people are making payments but nobody is tracking how many they have made.

In case you wanted to know some of my thoughts on how student loans would be affected by all this nonsense...here you go! Gift link.

www.wsj.com/personal-fin...

In addition to being morally wrong this is also just plain old wrong as shown by research by @kevinshih.bsky.social

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

AERA has just learned that all restricted-use NCES data licenses will be cancelled, possibly as early as March 20. We urgently request that all AERA members and others in the research community with restricted-use licenses take these two actions: www.aera.net/Research-Pol...

We're hearing from multiple sources that all U.S. Dept. of Ed buildings are closing at 6 p.m. and are closed tomorrow. Email to staff cites "security reasons."

"Employees will not be permitted in any ED facility on Wednesday, March 12th, for any reason." @jodiscohen.bsky.social and I are following

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...

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.

Texas Banned Abortion. Then Sepsis Rates Soared. ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind analysis is the most detailed look yet into a rise in life-threatening complications for women experiencing pregnancy loss under Texas’ abortion ban.

NEW: Pregnancy became far more dangerous in Texas after the state banned abortion, according to ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind analysis, which found the sepsis rate for women hospitalized as they miscarried in the 2nd trimester shot up by more than 50%.

https://propub.li/43487Tj

Congratulations!

Tough to see my alma mater (SUNY Geneseo) and a number of other upstate NY institutions on these lists

As a SUNY grad, a number of these institutions are/were known for their education programs. I’d be curious to see how declining enrollments in education programs are impacting the bottom line

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Sociological Quarterly will be publishing an upcoming special issue on student activism. The deadline to submit an abstract is Jan. 15, 2025.

For more information on the special issue, and instructions on submitting an abstract, go to think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issu...

I've been doing follow up interviews with participants from my dissertation about their careers. In college, they chose to be teachers. Today, most plan to leave teaching (or already have). It's a small sample, but a bit sad to see how some of these dreams have unfolded.

The Steelers and Eagles were once the same team. Here’s the history of the short-lived Steagles. World War II left the Eagles and Steelers short on players — so they combined to form the Steagles, a team that lasted only one year, perhaps in part due to two coaches who couldn't get along.

Well isn’t this an interesting little piece of PA history—The Steelers and Eagles were once the same team. Here’s the history of the short-lived Steagles. www.inquirer.com/eagles/steag...

UVA students resume history tours without officials' approval In August, administrators banned the volunteer student guide service from giving university-sanctioned historic tours. Now, the club has decided to go out on its own.

UVA Students Resume Campus History Tours Without Officials’ Approval

In August, administrators banned the volunteer student guide service from giving university-sanctioned historic tours. Now, the club has decided to go out on its own. #HigherEd #EDUSky #AcademicSky bit.ly/3Bpvyeu

Screenshot of online survey. Question: how long does your period last? Remote button options: >7 days, 2-7 days, 1-3 days, 3 days, 4-6 days, 7+ days

Doctor's offices doing wild things out here.

Please check out our new article in the Review of Higher Education titled “Behind the Veil”: Unmasking Anti-blackness in Presidential Discourse and Responses to Racialized Incidents. See link: muse.jhu.edu/pub/1/articl...

The alt doesn't cover what the actual call is so I'm sharing the post and including this link for anyone interested in the history of ed!

docs.google.com/document/d/1...