Week 8
Figuring out what to focus on now & what to focus on next in science and higher ed
This newsletter is my part of an ongoing conversation among colleagues who’ve had a rough week. I share two or three pieces of the puzzle that feel are most important, hazard a guess about what to expect next, and offer at least one useful thing to do.
MEETING THE MOMENT: 2025-03-14
Hi friends,
Our team had a call this afternoon to catch up on where we are, what we’re facing, and how we’re doing. We covered a lot of ground (some of it truly bananas) and I left smiling, carrying something Julie said with me. I started this whole series with the idea that it’s a marathon, not a sprint, but she reminded me, “It’s actually a relay race. You’re not in this alone.”
We are not alone. We don’t have to do everything ourselves or keep going forever. We are not starting from scratch. In our science and all the rest of our lives, we are the legacies of those who came before us. We might be refashioning their well-honed tools or building entirely new ones, but we know it works best when we work together.
Speaking of building new things, I’ll have more to share soon. For now I’ll just say that I’m inspired by my collaborators, and am particularly grateful for the batons I was able to pass off while I’ve been traveling. I’m ready for the next lap.
This was week 8. Let’s talk about it.
What’s happening now:
Despite overwhelming opposition, the Senate passed the continuing resolution today to keep the government from shutting down. The new spending measure keeps funding levels more or less the same as they have been since last October. “More or less” actually means $13 billion in cuts to non-defense spending and a devastating and deliberate maneuver to force Washington DC to cut a billion dollars from the city budget. It’s really bad. For science broadly, my best understanding is that this is less about immediate budget cuts, and more about control. The question is who decides how money is spent, and the details for health research, disease surveillance, climate research, and more are all disturbing.
The announcement of this administration’s intent to undo more than thirty landmark environmental regulations made Wednesday “the most disastrous day in EPA history.” This one really hit me hard. Please remember that neither intention nor unhinged rhetoric are the same as authority: they will have to win dozens of critical fights to make it so. And there are more urgent manifestations of catastrophic abandonment in front of us. A historic storm system is ravaging the country this weekend. Tonight, something like 100 million people are threatened by deadly winds, dust-storms, wildfires, tornadoes, thunderstorms, hailstorms, and blizzards. Please keep a close eye on your local weather station. The forecasts for these storms are a genuine marvel and another terrible example of how the science that keeps us safe is being destroyed, along with next generation warning systems, and our emergency response and recovery systems. I dearly hope you and yours stay safe.
Saving this last bullet for signs of hope and properly good news helps keep me going. In week 4, I wrote about massive layoffs of probationary federal employees. On Thursday, Federal Judge William H. Alsup ruled that it was unlawful for OPM to fire those staffers.1 He has directed six federal agencies2 to reinstate probationary employees. A little later, Federal Judge James Bredar handed down an even wider decision that temporarily3 blocks further firings in eighteen agencies. In both cases, the judges took exception with the way the government used the false pretext of ’poor performance’ as an excuse for its actions. We’re going to hear a lot more of the phrase “Reduction in Force” in the coming weeks - we don’t have any details from them, but agencies were required to submit their plans for mass layoffs yesterday.
What’s next:
We all need to pay close attention as the disaster at Columbia continues to intensify. Shortly after I sent our last debrief, Mahmoud Khalil, a recent graduate who was a leader among pro-Palestinian campus protests, was swept up in an alarming arrest.4 He has not been charged with any crimes but now faces deportation. Since then, Department of Homeland Security agents searched two students’ rooms in university apartments and arrested a second Palestinian protestor. On Thursday, the university suspended, expelled, and revoked diplomas from other protestors. It also received a staggering list of demands5 for further action from the administration. I don’t know what they’ll do, but I’m glad to see past Columbia president Lee Bollinger say so plainly, “We’re in the midst of an authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government. It’s been coming and coming, and not everybody is prepared to read it that way.”
What to do:
A deep breath is usually good. Have you had a moment for that lately? I’ll wait.
Okay. One concrete thing to do: protect yourself from measles. The disease is doing exactly what we expect and fear, which is bad now and for years to come. If you were born between 1957 and 1989, like me, our childhood vaccinations were less effective than the modern version. I was thinking about this because Katie Mack got her titers tested. I’m scheduled for my MMR booster on Monday. Join me!
And then talk about with your people.
Vaccination is a critical - and timely - science communication issue. Nothing saves more lives. We urgently need to get it right. Fortunately, there is an abundance of communication research and clinical practice to draw from. Take a quick look at how the CDC, WHO, and American Association of Pediatricians recommend talking about vaccines. Go deeper with focus-group findings. Finally, explore the COVID Vaccine Handbook - you’ll notice material specifically about MMR there. If you want to, dive deep into the research.
But don’t get lost in it. We’re imperfect people doing imperfect work. There’s no optimal phrase or magic word that will make hard conversations easier. But fortunately, this is one of those areas where a little effort on reading up can help us do a lot better. And so does that deep breath.
Keep it up,
Liz
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“A sham,” in his words. The proceedings were really something. I’m really glad he seems to be paying attention to the actual issue of where fired workers are able to appeal their employment decisions. But please note he’s not saying these firings cannot be done - just that they can’t be done this way. ↩
Departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Defense, Energy, the Treasury, and the Interior. This is on top of the 5,600 Department of Agriculture employers who received a 45-day reprieve last week. ↩
Judge Bredar’s temporary order is in place for two weeks, though it may be extended. ↩
On Saturday, March 8, Homeland Security Investigations agents, who typically handle terrorism and drug crimes, arrested Khalil outside his Columbia apartment and told him his student visa was being revoked. He was not on a student visa - he has a green card. They told him that was being revoked instead and took him away. It took days of work to establish where he was being held. He had been flown to New Jersey and then to Louisiana, where he is still being held. The deputy secretary of Homeland Security can’t give a direct answer about why, while the president says this is just the “first of many” detentions we’re going to see. ↩
Including a mask ban and placing the Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies Department under “academic receivership.” It’s unthinkable. ↩