Hello friends,

Today is Juneteenth, and I’m thinking about how long emancipation took, and all the long, painful years of struggle since. As Deborah Archer writes, “General Granger rode into Galveston with a message that was two and a half years late. Two and a half centuries after the nation’s founding, Juneteenth asks whether America will… finally embrace the fuller promise… not merely freedom declared, but freedom secured, restored, and made durable for generations to come.”

Before we talk about what it will take to rebuild science and higher education, we must confront the failures of Reconstruction in the first place.

This was Year 2, Week 25, and this one is for everyone who refuses to settle for half-measures.

What’s happening in science & higher ed

• First, a very welcome update on the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI). The NSF has responded to pressure by announcing yesterday that no further equipment will be removed. Even better, they claim that the buoys and sensors that were pulled out of the water last year¹ will be serviced and redeployed. This announcement follows a bipartisan Senate measure passed on Wednesday.² This is all great, but the OOI is not the only critical weather and climate infrastructure under attack. Earlier this week, AIP published a helpful update on the administration’s plans to dismantle NCAR.³
• There is also some mixed but potentially positive news on one of the lawsuits⁴ brought against that $100,000 H-1B visa fee: On June 8, Judge Leo Sorkin decided that the fee violates the separation of powers and must be voided in its entirety. He has, however, temporarily stayed his decision until the Massachusetts appellate court weighs in on the administration’s appeal.
• As the administration continues to dismantle the Department of Education, two key oversight functions were transferred to other agencies this week. Because of statutory requirements, the changes are technically “interagency agreements” and these latest additions bring the total count up to 14. Disability education is being transferred to Secretary Kennedy at HHS, to the dismay of advocates and anyone repulsed by his eugenicist talking points. After resolving zero cases of sexual or racial harassment last year, the agency’s civil rights enforcement will now be handled by the DOJ.⁵ The moves have spurred one member of the House education committee into introducing articles of impeachment against Secretary McMahon.
• The reason I write this newsletter, and I suspect the reason you are reading it, is because we want to figure out which metaphorical fires are about to accelerate into full-blown emergencies. We want to figure out what to do about a specific crisis, especially because we understand that it’s important to focus on root causes. To that end, I strongly recommend spending the time to really absorb Mark Histed’s argument about how the unitary executive theory, backed by our current Supreme Court, breaks science as we know it. His new essay is available now in The Atlantic. I suggest pairing that read with the new one from Alexa Romberg and Sylvia Chou on the attack on accurate science communication now happening within NIH.
• On the subject of rebuilding, there are many conversations to be had about good-faith reforms to academia and how we conduct scientific research. I’m regretfully skeptical about whether the NIH Office of Science Policy’s new Request for Information on Measuring and Rewarding Scientific Impact will advance those discussions. If you are an NIH-funded researcher, it is important to understand how the momentum building around replication and so-called “Gold Standard Science” are laying the groundwork for your future.

And what’s next

The US is a country where racial inequality is built into every system and anti-Black hostility permeates our power structures. What we need, again as Archer puts it, is to develop and sustain “the interlocking and mutually-reinforcing institutions,” that collectively ensure that “access, opportunity, and economic and political power, are secure rather than contingent.”

We’re still engaged in a Civil Rights movement. So today, and every day, the question, “What will happen next?” is an invitation to imagine, build, and fight for better futures, and a chance to learn from the experiences of those who have been doing so for a long time.⁶

Liz

As ever, thanks for reading & thinking with me. Meeting the Moment will always be free, but if you want to contribute, you can ⤵️

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