School’s back in session but the news continues.
Today’s biomedical/higher education updates include a heck of a statement that’s not really about the Smithsonian, an open letter to RFK Jr signed by hundreds of federal employees, the meaning of “scientifically justifiable”, and the intrusion of AI into our spreadsheets.
The President doubled down on his critique of the Smithsonian yesterday, stating on social media that his Administration will “go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made”. The NYT and many others have reporting.
The Department of Education has opened an investigation into Haverford College for “to respond as required by law to multiple incidents of discrimination and harassment against Jewish and Israeli students.”
After the attack on the CDC main campus on August 8th, hundreds of current and former employees of the agency have signed an open letter asking HHS Director RFK Jr. to “stop spreading inaccurate health information”, “affirm CDC's scientific integrity”, and “guarantee the safety of the HHS workforce”. The letter also has signatories from NIH, who call on NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya “to refrain from his dangerous politicization of mRNA vaccine technology.”
The New York Times has a piece on the Administration’s negotiations with universities across the country. This is the first reporting that I’ve seen that states that the financial terms of the settlements we have seen so far have come directly from the President.
The Boston Globe has a report on how the Administration’s dispute with Harvard University may have a chilling effect on hiring policiesthat have – for decades - encouraged tbroad representation in the workforce. Specifically, the University faces Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation over allegations that it discriminated against white, Asian, male, or heterosexual job applicants and employees.
The Atlantic has a piece with some insights into some of the happenings at NIH. Mostly it is about the relationship between the term “scientifically justifiable” and the Administration’s priorities and perspectives, but there some discussion about how a recent proposal to prohibit the collection of gender-related data was “shot down by NIH leadership”.
Better data will be available in the fall, but it looks like there will be a drop in international student enrollment in the United States this year.
This is perhaps a bit out of scope, but AI is coming is our Excel spreadsheets. This functionality is already in place in Google Sheets…