Lauren Tompkins

From the Community | We must refuse the 'Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education' Associate professor Greg Martin writes on behalf of the Stanford's AAUP chapter to condemn the White House's compact on higher education.

Agree 100% @stanfordaaup.bsky.social!

“When it inevitably comes time for Stanford to choose, we must remember that we owe our loyalty not to any executive branch official but to our own foundational principles. We must be ready, when it’s our turn, to walk away.”

stanforddaily.com/2025/10/12/f...

To Outlive Tyranny - Dissent Magazine Flesh and blood alone cannot halt the advance of iron and steel. To stop the tanks, we need people to place blocks on the road and throw sand into the gears.

So grateful to write for @dissentmag.bsky.social's Fall 2025 issue "Authoritarianism and Resistance." I drafted the piece in June with the new school year in mind, as an immigrant scholar severed from her homeland: What can we teach the young about how to exist and persist at this historic juncture?

To Outlive Tyranny - Dissent Magazine Flesh and blood alone cannot halt the advance of iron and steel. To stop the tanks, we need people to place blocks on the road and throw sand into the gears.

The singular @yangyangcheng.bsky.social

"A campus cannot insulate the young from the horrors of this world; what it can do is equip them with courage, camaraderie, and critical thinking. Let fear keep us honest. Let uncertainty manifest possibility."

www.dissentmagazine.org/article/to-o...

Oakland showed up!

I love a good plot, and these are good plots. But it’s also devastating.

100% agree that the only response is collective action -- across universities and beyond!

Trump’s call for ‘gold standard science’ has prompted an outcry: here’s why Thousands have signed an open letter against the US president’s latest order, anxious about political interference in science and more.

And from Nature. @ucs.org president Gretchen Goldman suggests the EO steamrolls longstanding efforts to create a buffer between science and politics, putting US scientists and science under the thumb of political appointees like HHS secretary RFK Jr.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Making it clear, once again, that the administration is trying to bribe or strong-arm universities into ideological fealty with research funding and international students.

Our White Plaza rally is also about protecting international students! Education should be open to all. See the flyer made by our awesome student organizers. Faculty 🤝 Students 🤝 Staff 🤝 Public @stanfordaaup.bsky.social @aaup.bsky.social

Other speakers include:

*Shirin Sinnar 🔥 Prof of Law
*Larry Diamond 🌲 Prof of Policy Sci and Sociology
*David Polumbo-Liu ✊ Prof of Comp Lit
*Alyssa Burgart⚕️Prof. of Medicine
*David Waksberg 🤝 Invisible PA

*And students doing the WORK 💪💪💪💪

@stanfordaaup.bsky.social @aaup.bsky.social

So excited to have Hakeem as one of our speakers! Let's get fired up!

Opinion | Beware: We Are Entering a New Phase of the Trump Era

"And so just when we most need to act — while there is indeed room for action and some momentum to the resistance — we tend to be lulled into complacency by the sense of relief on the one hand and boredom on the other."

www.nytimes.com/2025/05/28/o...

Lowest science funding in decades. 85% less physics funding so far this year.

www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Let's Rally Stanford!!!!! Next Friday I'll be speaking about TAKING ACTION this summer.

Scientists and science-lovers, it's so important to tell these stories of the impact of federally funded science!

(c) Discriminatory prohibited boycott means refusing to deal, cutting commercial relations, or otherwise limiting commercial relations specifically with Israeli companies or with companies doing business in or with Israel or authorized by, licensed by, or organized under the laws of Israel to do business. The term discriminatory prohibited boycott also includes an academic boycott of Israel in which an educational or research institution enacts or implements restrictive policies, or otherwise participates in activities having the object or effect of restricting ongoing or potential academic, educational, or research institutions. Notwithstanding any restriction on the applicability of other NSF rules and regulations, the requirements in paragraph (c) applies to both foreign and domestic institutions receiving funding from the NSF.

(a) By accepting the award, recipients are certifying that: (i) They do not, and will not during the term of this financial assistance award, operate any programs that advance or promote DEI, or discriminatory equity ideology in violation of Federal anti-discrimination laws; and (ii) They do not engage in and will not during the term of this award engage in, a discriminatory prohibited boycott. (3) NSF reserves the right to terminate financial assistance awards and recover all funds if recipients, during the term of this award, operate any program in violation of Federal antidiscriminatory laws or engage in a prohibited boycott.

🚨🚨 Alarming NSF policy update

By accepting an NSF award, an institution now must say it's:

1. Not engaging in boycotts of Israel (yes really)

2. Not advancing or promoting DEI in violation of anti-discrimination laws

Announced via a footnote today: nsf-gov-resources.nsf.gov/files/gc1-ma...

Trump officials take steps toward a radically different NSF Efforts to shrink staff, budget, and focus have alarmed members of Congress

Women are PIs on 34% of all NSF grants, while 4% of PIs are Black. Nonetheless, these two groups account for 58% and 17%, respectively, of grant terminations.

This is not a challenging chi-square to calculate.

www.science.org/content/arti...

US researchers must stand up to protect freedoms, not just funding Curtailment of freedoms and disregard for the rule of law in the United States is destroying the ability of science to serve the nation’s, and the world’s, interests. Researchers can take action.

"Many scientists to whom we have spoken advocate for silence because they fear further funding cuts. We are aware that many scientists seem to be putting funding and immediate job security ahead of civil liberties and academic autonomy."

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Stanford Medicine researchers develop RNA blood test to detect cancers, other clues Stanford Medicine researchers have created a liquid biopsy test capable of detecting cancers, molecular mechanisms of resistance to treatment and tissue injury.

Note that this groundbreaking discovery made at @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social was made possible by no fewer than six NIH grants. There is enormous public value that comes from government-supported research.

med.stanford.edu/news/all-new...

There are huge cuts proposed for Nasa's science budget. So much knowledge about the universe would be lost if they go through! See the open letter below for details and contact your congress people!

600 students represent 13% of the yearly national physics and astronomy graduate cohort. The brain drain is real.

Impacts of Restrictions on Federal Grant Funding in Physics and Astronomy Graduate Programs

@aipstats.bsky.social just released new data on the impacts of funding cuts on physics & astronomy programs. 600 fewer grad students, more reductions expected for 2026. ww2.aip.org/statistics/i...

OPM proposes rule to formally revive Schedule F The federal government’s dedicated HR agency estimates that 50,000 federal workers will be stripped of their civil service protections and become at-will employees.

Scientists, don't want the stewards of our national science programs to be replaced with people passing political fealty tests? Submit your public comment opposing the schedule F change here: www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

www.govexec.com/workforce/20...

Improving Performance, Accountability and Responsiveness in the Civil Service The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is proposing a rule to increase career employee accountability. Agency supervisors report great difficulty removing employees for poor performance or misconduc...

SCIENTISTS: The proposed Schedule F is out. It has potential to undermine or destroy merit-based science.

Rules/regulations have the force of law. This rule may put peer review in the hands of political appointees.

Make your public comment here: www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

Making an argument with evidence rather than vibes. Imagine that! 🔥 from my colleague @hakeemjefferson.bsky.social

"These data are a call to action for greater storytelling around the indispensability of public health and science. ... these stories should also be told at the individual level, within personal networks, as well as the organizational and institutional level by professional organizations/societies"

Plaque says: The Burghers of Calais In 1884 the French city of Calais commissioned Auguste Rodin to create a memorial honoring heroes of the Hundred Years' War. He depicted the six burghers, or citizens, who in 1347 volunteered to leave the defeated city barefoot, tied by rope at the neck, and offer their own lives and the keys to Calais to King Edward III of England. The burghers' fortitude, de-termination, and devotion to their community preserved Calais from being pillaged at the end of a devastating siege. The burghers are shown at the moment of departure from the city. For Rodin this episode was an opportunity to celebrate the idea that heroic deeds may be performed by ordinary people. He did not follow tradition by idealizing the figures, rather he was uncompromising in his depiction of the emaciated hostages and represented them as distinct individuals. Their faltering steps, despairing gestures, and anguished expressions eloquently express the inner turmoil of each man struggling in his conscience between fear of dying and devotion to their cause. This installation of independent casts was suggested by the sculptor's wish to have the figures set amidst the paving stones of Calais' town square so that the citizens of today might learn from the example of their heroic ancestors.

The Stanford AAUP’s “What Does Higher Education Mean” alongside Rodin’s “The Burghers of Calais” — bronze figures of citizens who offered their own lives to prevent their community from being pillaged by a king, sculpted to express the struggle of facing fears in devotion to a just cause.

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, an IRS that could create a surveillance tool of unprecedented scope.

ICYMI, 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.

SEE YOU TOMORROW!!!