Diti Kohli

Bezos isn't destroying the Washington Post because it isn't profitable. He's destroying the Washington Post because he's calculated that a robust free press threatens the ability of his class to warp society around their interests

Massive cuts at the Department of Education are causing big problems at Massachusetts colleges - The Boston Globe Local universities rely on the agency in order to disburse financial aid disbursement, create new programs, or merge with other institutions. Now, they're scrambling.

My comments in @bostonglobe.com on how dismantling of ED affects colleges: “When you haphazardly cut whole teams, and people from other teams quit or are forced to retire, there are going to be problems with everything.” @ditikohli.bsky.social www.bostonglobe.com/2025/11/04/b...

‘It’s just crickets’: An uptick of apartment vacancies in Boston suggests a decline in student enrollment - The Boston Globe Signs are emerging that there may be fewer international and graduate students in the Boston area this academic year.

‘It’s just crickets’: An uptick of apartment vacancies in Boston suggests a decline in student enrollment… www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/15/b... Andrew Brinker and @ditikohli.bsky.social

WIRED for the Moment In a conversation with Status, WIRED’s Katie Drummond argues that Silicon Valley is no longer just innovating new technology—it’s actively shaping American democracy.

Tech doesn’t exist in isolation from politics - especially not right now. I talked to @oliverdarcy.bsky.social about why @wired.com is doing what we’re doing right now.

www.status.news/p/wired-kati...

A DOGE AI Tool Called SweetREX Is Coming to Slash US Government Regulation Named for its developer, an undergrad who took leave from UChicago to become a DOGE affiliate, a new AI tool automates the review of federal regulations and flags rules it thinks can be eliminated.

The U.S. government is deploying an AI tool, called SweetREX and developed by DOGE, to gut federal regulations.

(More specifically, the tool was developed by an undergrad who took leave from college to join DOGE...)

www.wired.com/story/sweetr...

Jay Bhattacharya once studied health disparities. As NIH director, he’s allowed such research to wither Jay Bhattacharya’s tenure as NIH director has seen health disparities research swept up in the Trump administration’s attack on DEI

NEW: Massive and confusing inconsistencies at NIH. New director says health disparities research is critical yet grants are being cut left and right. With @aniloza.bsky.social and @ericboodman.bsky.social. (Also my last story for STAT. 😢) www.statnews.com/2025/08/01/n...

Student debt call out (link)

If you have (or had!) student loans, the Globe wants to hear about it for a few stories we have cooking on changes in the college financial aid system. Tell us how you're feeling here: podboston.survey.fm/student-debt...

The @bostonglobe.com today covers one way in which colleges and universities are dealing with the economic strains largely triggered by the current presidential administration: cutting low enrollment degree programs.

I offer my dismal science observations.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/30/b...

As financial woes mount, colleges are starting to cut majors - The Boston Globe Degrees are being eliminated or scaled back at Boston University, Clark, Lesley, and the Berklee College of Music to the dismay of students and faculty.

Contemporary theater at Berklee. Ancient history at Clark. Seven degrees at the University of Maine.

In an era of cost-cutting and layoffs, universities are eliminating — or scaling back — some academic programs. For @bostonglobe.com: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/30/b...

As colleges cut back, non-teaching staff are the first to go - The Boston Globe Project managers, events directors, and research scientists — who never stand at the front of the classroom — are bearing the brunt of universities’ financial crisis.

Students and professors are the most visible part of universities. But college staff who rarely enter the classroom are the first to be impacted by colleges' mounting financial crisis, raising questions about the future of the Mass. middle class. My latest: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/27/b...

How a researcher from Medfield created the go-to database of federal research cuts - The Boston Globe A lawyer-turned-Harvard scientist built what was known as Grant Watch from a Google spreadsheet over a matter of months.

Grant Watch — now called Grant Witness — is the leading watchdog of lost research dollars from the NIH and NSF. I wrote about how the site came to be and about Scott Delaney (@scott-delaney.bsky.social), the Harvard research scientist who helped make it happen: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/24/b...

ICE arrested more people in Mass. in a month than all of last year. Here’s what happened next. - The Boston Globe Immigrant neighborhoods in Massachusetts are feeling the strain of recent ICE actions, which have intensified in recent months. The Globe spent seven days in local communities to tell their stories.

The Globe spent seven days reporting from immigrant communities, where the streets and pews are quiet, the graduation is skipped, the barber shop empty. Some families have locked their doors and pulled their shades, turning their homes into stifling bunkers.
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/02/m...

As Trump administration punishes Ivy League, universities in the heartland stand to benefit - The Boston Globe SEC school leaders predict wealth and talent will soon be broadly distributed at public universities around the country and less concentrated in elite institutions.

Our elite universities are fighting for billions in lost research dollars. But many of the large public schools in the South and Midwest see themselves well-positioned to grow, or even flourish.

For @bostonglobe.com w/ @hilaryburns.bsky.social: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/26/m...

As battle with Trump persists, layoffs and cuts are spreading at Harvard - The Boston Globe Harvard is pulling from a far smaller pool of money for day-to-day operations than it’s used to.

Shorter reappointments for Harvard postdocs. Staff layoffs at the Kennedy School. And a push to have some PhD candidates graduate early.

In the midst of the Trump-Harvard battle, here are the myriad ways the university is already cutting back. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/26/b...

The costs of restricting abortion? More than $130 billion per year. A new report quantifies the costs of rising abortion restrictions three years after Dobbs.

Exclusive: A new analysis from the Institute for Women's Policy Research estimates that the Dobbs decision overruling Roe v. Wade—issued 3 years ago tomorrow—is costing the nation more than $133 billion annually.

First reported by me for @motherjones.com:
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Fall River plows forward amid tariffs and harsh immigration policies - The Boston Globe Businesses across the South Coast are grappling with deep uncertainty as the costs of imports rise, and some workers could disappear amid immigration crackdowns.

NEW: My latest for @bostonglobe.com is about how Fall River, a city in southern Massachusetts, is grappling with the reality of tariffs and changing immigration policies.

A member of RFK Jr.’s MAHA movement and a public health expert met on Zoom. Here’s what happened next. - The Boston Globe When public heealth experts and MAHA activists broke bread together, they found more in common than they expected.

www.bostonglobe.com/2025/06/16/m...

They Asked an A.I. Chatbot Questions. The Answers Sent Them Spiraling.

People are having very strange conversations with ChatGPT, in which they discover secret cabals or conspiracies or that we are all in fact living in The Matrix.

It sends these people into delusional spirals.

Then ChatGPT tells them to email me about it.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/t...

Exclusive | Economists Raise Questions About Quality of U.S. Inflation Data The Labor Department says staffing shortages reduced its ability to conduct its massive monthly survey, forcing it to turn to less precise guesses.

This is a big deal. Economists Raise Questions About Quality of U.S. Inflation Data

How the Farm Industry Spied on Animal Rights Activists and Pushed the FBI to Treat Them as Bioterrorists For years, a powerful ‘Big Ag’ trade group served up information on activists to the FBI. Records reveal a decade-long effort to see the animal rights movement labeled a “bioterrorism” threat.

How the Farm Industry Spied on Animal Rights Activists and Pushed the FBI to Treat Them as Bioterrorists
www.wired.com/story/fbi-wm... @rshapiro.bsky.social of @propertyofthepeople.org does excellent FOIA work, give them a follow

Harvard has a $53 billion endowment. Will that be enough to withstand Trump’s assault? - The Boston Globe The university endowment is an enormous asset, but tapping it isn’t as simple as withdrawing cash from an ATM.

Harvard has long said its $53 billion endowment is not a piggy bank to be tapped in emergencies. But as Trump's attacks intensify, will the university's budget crunch will be enough to warrant — or force — a change of course?

My latest @bostonglobe.com story: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/05/27/b...

Why are so many students in Mass. losing their visas? The answer lies in a little-known database. - The Boston Globe Federal immigration authorities are using a little-known database to find students and terminate their status, experts say.

ICYMI: Our explainer of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program, or SEVIS, is mighty relevant today. www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/15/m...

Missouri’s Struggle to Restore Abortion Access The state’s voters defeated an abortion ban. So why can’t more people get one?

"I tried to book an appointment at the Columbia clinic, where, she said, 'almost everybody' was able to get one. But there were none online, and there were none when I called. The receptionist suggested I go to Kansas."

How the Trump Administration Is Weakening the Enforcement of Fair Housing Laws Starting with cases involving sexual orientation and identity, the Department of Housing and Urban Development is hobbling enforcement of the Fair Housing Act. Said one HUD attorney: “People are…

“No one is watching, no one will hold them accountable, so they can just do what they want,” said one HUD attorney. “The civil rights laws that people marched for and fought for, ... it’s not happening. And people are really being harmed by it.”

By @jessecoburn.bsky.social

Amid Trump’s crackdown, Harvard Medical School braces for layoffs, cuts, and broad changes - The Boston Globe The country’s premier medical school has lost money for years and leans heavily on research dollars that are now under threat from the White House.

Harvard Medical School operated in the red for years. What does that mean now, as research dollars vanish, layoffs begin, and leaders talk about a "longterm, sustainable" shift in how the school operates?

My latest for @bostonglobe.com: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/24/b...

What questions do you have about the Trump administration’s battle with Harvard? Submit them here, then join our reporters for a live Q&A. - The Boston Globe As the weeks-long standoff between the university and the president continues, we want to know your questions. Then, join us on Thursday, April 24, at 11 a.m. to get answers.

The Globe higher ed team (and me!) will be answering questions about the Harvard-Trump standoff live on Thursday at 11 a.m. And we're taking questions until then here: www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/22/m...

DOGE Is Building a Master Database to Surveil and Track Immigrants DOGE is knitting together data from the Department of Homeland Security, Social Security Administration, and IRS that could create a surveillance tool of unprecedented scope.

🚨SCOOP🚨: DOGE is building a master database at DHS that could track and surveil immigrants.

They are already cross-referencing immigration data with data from SSA, IRS, and voting records from at least Pennsylvania and Florida, sources tell me.
www.wired.com/story/doge-c...

*has launched against

The UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia top the list of Harvard gifts from foreign governments, though there was a drop-off in all giving last year.

It's yet another tactic in the pressure campaign the White House against Harvard, which relies heavily on philanthropy for its operations.

Harvard receives more foreign $$$ than any other Ivy, MIT, BU, and UMass Amherst.