Becca S. Bassett

ED is requesting public comments on the direction that they should take the Institute of Education Sciences. Feedback is due October 15.

public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2025-18608.pdf

"New York, New Jersey, California, and Illinois stand out as states that not only achieve high rates of access but also high proximity. This indicates that these states not only have a high proportion of Pell students enrolled in EEs, but their EEs are also within reach of communities"

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Important new study on “spatial injustice” finds that low-income and minority students living in the South are more likely to live in “education deserts” without access to college.

journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

My newest research project applies a spatial lens to college graduation gaps, exploring the uneven distribution of institutions that are consistently accessible to and effective at serving low-income students, or what I call "Equity Engines."

Video summary here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftyy...

Today in @aeraedresearch.bsky.social comms, coverage of a new study by an amazing scholar (& good friend) @bbassett2.bsky.social about spatial injustice & universities that support low-income students!

Open access article: www.doi.org/10.1177/2332...

Video summary: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftyy...

Thank you for being there every step of the way, my friend!

Every cut that the government makes to social services is effectively a tax on women. Because they're the ones who will be expected to fill in the gaps.

Enjoyed your piece in Change and glad that you and Barrett will be developing these ideas into a book!

More broadly, it’s wild to see the federal government use the same tools that were initially deployed to get southern states to stop discriminating against nonwhite students (i.e. funding coffers and civil rights law oversight) to erode progress towards greater racial and class inclusion in HE.

Trump Justice Dept. Pressuring University of Virginia President to Resign

I was at HGSE when Jim Ryan was Dean and admired his leadership and pride in being a first-gen student. This transparent and pathetic attempt to oust him for not kowtowing to Trump’s nonsensical demands is a huge threat to institutional autonomy. Glad he’s a lawyer.

www.nytimes.com/2025/06/26/u...

You can't call immigrants lazy moochers looking for government handouts and then round them up at Home Depots where you know they are looking for work.

You can't say immigrants don't follow the rules and then round them up in courthouses where they are following the rules.

Get your lies straight.

We're at the point where higher education cannot count on any international students being present in the fall. One of America's biggest export industries is quickly being demolished.

If you’re going to #AERA2025 make sure to check out our Div J symposium Friday morning!!

It’s been five years since the COVID-19 pandemic hit college campuses and we’ve too easily forgotten some of the most important lessons we learned in that era…

@tichavakunda.bsky.social @katscho.bsky.social

My friend @sarahbruhn.bsky.social wrote a terrific op-ed about why sanctuary cities are an imperfect but necessary solution to promote community wellbeing, justice, and human rights amidst mass deportations and the revival of cruel family-separation policies. Read it: progressive.org/op-eds/sanct...

The Caring University is now available for pre-order!

It's about structural and cultural change to improve the higher ed workplace.

See the ToC ⬇️

I'd be grateful if you would consider reposting to your networks to spread the word.

tinyurl.com/6kk9fryt

Listen, Broligarchy is not some cute synonym for oligarchy. It's genuinely different & WAY more dangerous.

I'm a sociologist who's been studying the ultra-rich globally for 17 yrs, entering their world as an offshore wealth mgr. Published 2 books abt them.

🧵Broligarchs are distinct in 3 ways:

Oakland resident dead in hit-and-run crash at intersection The collision happened around 7:10 p.m. Monday near the entrance to Children’s Fairyland.

I can’t believe one of the most impactful sociologists of our time was taken away in an instant by some idiot driver racing through a pedestrian intersection. I hate 2025 so much. Rest in peace, Michael Burawoy. www.mercurynews.com/2025/02/04/o...

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a midday press briefing that she would have to “check back on” whether Medicaid was implicated by the funding pause. Leavitt said more broadly that “assistance that is going directly to individuals will not be impacted by this pause.” The federal government does not pay individual Medicaid members directly, unlike with programs like Supplemental Security Income. Rather, Medicaid funding is paid as grants to states, which run the programs, said Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families.

"I'm gonna have to check back on whether we shut down 11% of the federal budget and health insurance for poor families" is next level incompetence

www.statnews.com/2025/01/28/f...

Can’t wait to gather with the wonderful sociology of education community to think about how we can leverage our work and insights for productive change. Join us next month!

I would love them! Just sent you an email.

Currently building my syllabus for a new Research Methods in HE course- excited to read this and bring it into conversation with Small’s “How Many Cases” piece.

This is Liliana Garces’s @garceslm.bsky.social concept of “repressive legalism” in action—when university admin and faculty go above and beyond what is required in anti-DEI laws out of fear and uncertainty, thereby enabling the law to achieve its goal of suppressing discussions of racial equity.

I just woke up to the news that Trump is again the president of the United States. I want to say I am surprised, but I am not. I have been conducting fieldwork in Hawaii since June 2023 for our project on immigrant conservatives. I spent 1.5 months with Filipinos and many other immigrants and Native Hawaiians who are Republicans in Hawaii just before the elections, most of them Trump supporters (there were some who are "Never Trump" Republicans). So many of them were former Democrats. I don't have a hot take right now, and my observations are perhaps limited because Hawaii is different from the mainland. And yes, Harris still won in Hawaii. But let me share what I found out while in the field. I have not processed my field notes and interview data yet, so these are preliminary: (1) Many people have real material grievances (e.g., housing, high cost of living) that to them is not being addressed by the Democratic leadership (Hawaii has been dominated by Democrats for 70 years). They have been extremely dissatisfied by the leadership that, to them, is "not really interested in solving their economic problems." The appeal to identity politics and threat of fascism (the main campaign message of Harris) does not resonate with them. They have just completely lost faith in the Democratic Party, and the only alternative for them (because we are a two-party system) is the Republicans. One interviewee said, "They promised and then they sold us out" (rough translation). One woman who went door-to-door campaigning for Obama in 2008 and 2012 went 180 in 2016 and completely disdained Democrats. She said, "I almost lost my house. I'm in debt. I have lost trust in their ability to deliver." Now why would an underpaid Filipino immigrant and a Native Hawaiian who has been on the waitlist to finally get a home put their faith on the Republican Party and Trump to their economic concerns. These groups have faced extreme racism (the racial structure in Hawaii is different) and economic…

This is the GOP long game at work. By hamstringing budgets, they've prevented Dems from keeping promises to help people and eroded the effectiveness of many existing public programs. This fuels resentment toward Democrats, since they're the ones claiming government is good. 1/

STOKED to share that my first book--Keeping the Promise: How a Remarkable Group of Universities are driving Equity in America is under contract with the University of Chicago Press!! This project has been years in the making and I can't wait to share it with you all.

We read an essay from @tressiemcphd.bsky.social’s Thick this week in my Diversity in HE class and I’ve been thinking about how if you change the word “beautiful” to “country” in that last sentence-the political aims of Cowboy Carter become clear. Check out her column! www.nytimes.com/2024/04/04/o...

In Defense of Imagination West Virginia University's unprecedented cuts to its liberal arts programs sells the public a university tethered to market demands at the expense of imaginative expansion and intellectual curiosity.

In Defense of Imagination

Thrilled to have @tichavakunda.bsky.social join my Diversity in Higher Ed class this week to discuss his excellent book - Black Campus Life! Pick it up ASAP: sunypress.edu/Books/B/Blac...

Also: the light beams in this pic are hard evidence of his glowing aura.