Kris Olds

Striking Economist chart in the latest Tooze newsletter. Presumably NY's vertiginous rents would make NY's _real_ real wages (i.e. real wages post housing costs) look even worse by comparison. New mayor really has got a challenge on his hands

At USC, more than 900 employees laid off since July amid 'difficult' fiscal crisis The private university, long known for its wealth, has eliminated more than 900 positions and introduced other cuts in an effort to close a deficit of $200 million-plus.

At USC, more than 900 employees laid off since July amid 'difficult' fiscal crisis www.latimes.com/california/s...

“Meanwhile, the MSCA postdoctoral fellowships received 17,058 applications — the most for any funding initiative in the 40-year history of the EU’s research framework programmes.”

“Applications to the European Research Council (ERC), the EU’s funding organisation for basic research, and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA), the EU’s initiative for doctoral and postdoctoral research, hit all-time highs in 2025.”

“It’s the combination of great [universities] in the UK and Europe, a good regulatory framework, and tradition,” Raffaele Savi, global head of BlackRock’s quantitative investing teams

Commerce Moves to Take Cut of Research Patents The agency has opened the possibility in a recent funding announcement and threatened to take control of Harvard’s patents.

This could go sideways...The US Commerce Department Moves to Take Cut of Research Patents www.aip.org/fyi/commerce...

CDC IRB. Gone.

"Staff with the CDC’s institutional review board, which reviews the design of studies, and the ethics office, which oversees all conflicts and interests for CDC leaders and advisory committee members, were also let go."

Harvard suffers $113mn loss after Trump’s cuts to research funding University’s losses are the largest since 2011 and have forced lay-offs and freezes on hiring and salary increases

Harvard suffers $113mn loss after Trump’s cuts to research funding www.ft.com/content/1b3c... via @financialtimes.com

Trump Offers All Colleges Preferential Funding Plan Rejected by MIT The Trump administration is inviting all US colleges to participate in a compact — initially rejected by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology — that would grant preferential federal funding in re...

After getting zero firm commitments to this point from the first nine invitees, the Trump administration is extending its proposed compact to all colleges. Expect some red-state publics to say yes.

We call for the immediate rejection of the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”...No institution that is committed to the free pursuit of knowledge should submit to the degradation of autonomy and academic freedom contained in it. -ACLS Statement Regarding White House “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”

ACLS has released a statement regarding the White House “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education”: bit.ly/3IviMig

The Ontario Teacher’s Pension Plan certainly does get around...
www.oxfordnorth.com/news-events/...

UChicago sells prized institute amid high debt and low returns Endowment of famed finance school posted weak investment gains as it borrowed heavily to invest in research capacity

"The University of Chicago, renowned for producing world-leading research in economics and finance, is selling a prized research centre as it struggles with heavy debt and lacklustre endowment returns" www.ft.com/content/4501... via @financialtimes.com

As Trump Tightens Visas, China Woos World’s Science Graduates

As Trump Tries to Limit Foreign Workers, China Woos Them. A new visa for science and engineering graduates is part of China’s effort to establish itself as the world leader in science and technology. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/26/w...

Austria hails 'brain gain' in luring 25 academics away from US after cuts Austria has lured what it calls 25 "top researchers" away from U.S. institutions including Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton with grants set up in response to the Trump administration's funding cuts targeting universities.

Austria hails 'brain gain' in luring 25 academics away from US after cuts www.reuters.com/world/austri...

Vanderbilt Eyes National Expansion The university plans to build a campus in Florida, has leased a site in New York City and aims to establish a foothold in California in its quest to grow beyond Nashville.

Vanderbilt Eyes National Expansion
The university plans to build a campus in Florida, has leased a site in New York City and aims to establish a foothold in California in its quest to grow beyond Nashville.
www.insidehighered.com/news/busines...

UChicago Freezing Ph.D. Admissions for Multiple Programs The indebted institution tasked committees of faculty and staff with planning for changes. But this week, a dean forged ahead and announced broad cuts. Two other units are also pausing admissions.

UChicago Reducing, Freezing Ph.D. Admissions for Multiple Humanities [& Public Policy] Programs www.insidehighered.com/news/busines...

ASU Projects 18% Drop in International Student Enrollment Arizona State University typically welcomes over 17,900 international students to its four campuses each year, but this fall, due to a variety of complications, the university expects only 14,600 inte...

National self-harm viewed via one prominent US university: www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...

The Harvard-Trained Lawyer Behind Trump’s Fight Against Top Universities

The Harvard-Trained Lawyer Behind Trump’s Fight Against Top Universities www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/u...

Trump Administration Threatens to Take Over Harvard’s Patents The move is the latest escalation in the White House’s battle with the Ivy League school.

The Commerce Department threatening to take over Harvard's patents shows the extent to which the federal government is trying to pressure the university into a settlement. They are trying everything possible. (gift link)

New executive order puts all grants under political control All new funding on hold until Trump administration can cancel any previously funded grants.

New executive order puts all grants under political control arstechnica.com/science/2025...

Fluctuating tariffs exacerbate US science funding woes For new faculty and others ordering big-ticket items, the import taxes can be a gut punch.

Fluctuating tariffs exacerbate US science funding woes pubs.aip.org/physicstoday...

A fun reminder that a loss of 60,000 jobs in and around academia is ~50% more than all coal mining jobs in the entire country.

Purdue student detained by ICE and taken to troubled Louisiana holding facility Yeonsoo Go, 20, was detained after her immigration hearing in Manhattan and taken away by ICE agents.

Go, a college student, has a dependent visa (her mother, an Episcopal minister, is here on a religious worker visa), which doesn't expire until Dec. But when she tried to renew it early, ICE nabbed her and sent her halfway across the US to a detention center.
www.wthr.com/article/news...

Rep. Tom Tiffany targets visa program exception that UW uses to hire for hard-to-fill jobs U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany seeks to end an exception in the H-1B visa program that allows universities to hire an unlimited number of specialized workers from overseas.

Wisconsin GOP Congressman Tom Tiffany introduced a bill that would eliminate the exception that allows colleges and universities to hire an unlimited number of specialized international workers as part of the H-1B visa program. Tiffany said the practice "hands good-paying jobs to foreign workers..."

Vanderbilt Reportedly Considering a San Francisco Campus Vanderbilt University is in talks with the city of San Francisco to establish a campus there, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. A Vanderbilt spokesperson confirmed to the Chronicle that the univer...

Nashville-based Vanderbilt University considering establishing a campus in San Francisco: www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-t...

Me literally yesterday when NASA employees did this

www.splinter.com/catastrophic...

U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi stands at a podium and speaks into a microphone. She is a blonde white woman wearing a black suit.

4 Things to Know About In-State Tuition Benefits for Undocumented Students

The federal government is suing states that offer in-state tuition to noncitizens. These state laws were once bipartisan efforts. #HigherEd #EDUSky #AcademicSky bit.ly/44E4zrw

Duke School of Medicine plans salary cuts for tenured faculty who do not meet grant expectations Set to go in effect in 2026, the proposed policy would apply to the School’s basic sciences units. These units rely heavily on grants from the National Institutes of Health, which have been increasing...

Nice. I worked at Duke for more than seven years. Don’t get me started.

www.dukechronicle.com/article/2025...

Threats to the Fed go beyond firing Powell Curtis Yarvin’s ideas are going ever more mainstream in Trump’s Washington — and investors should be worried

Threats to the Fed go beyond firing Powell https://on.ft.com/4nV9CeF | opinion