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Harvard “fights” Trump in court, but does his bidding on campus
Revealing report from the Harvard Crimson. Of course, these changes are relatively benign compared to the outrageous demands the Trumpistas were making.
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A strong piece by the Columbia philosophy student unlawfully detained by the Trumpistas in Vermont
Here; an excerpt: The American government accuses me of undermining U.S. foreign policy, a patently absurd pretext for deportation for political speech that the Trump administration dislikes. The government is scraping the bottom of the barrel in its attempts to smear me. My only “crime” is refusing to accept the slaughter of Palestinians, opposing war…
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Group of Yale faculty call for hiring freeze on administrative staff…
…and a faculty-led audit of administrative bloat. Other universities should probably do the same, although some of the administrative bloat is surely brought on by legal requirements, but much of it is not. (Thanks to Michael Clune for the pointer.)
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Hübner from Cornell to UCLA
Karolina Hübner (early modern philosophy, Jewish philosophy, history of metaphysics, philosophical theology), Associate Professor of Philosophy at Cornell University, has accepted a tenured offer from the Department of Philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she will start this fall.
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Brake from Rice to Wisconsin/Madison
Elizabeth Brake (ethics, applied ethics, political philosophy, feminist philosophy), Professor of Philosophy at Rice University, has accepted a senior offer from the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, she she will start next academic year.
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Law prof Michael Dorf on Trump’s lawlessness
A remarkable catalogue, that deserves to be shared widely. Unless the courts, the other branches of government and civil society get serious about this soon, we're doomed. (As Professor Dorf notes, only one law professor of the 35 that the NYT consulted tried to make excuses for this orgy of lawlessness–Adrian Vermeule of Harvard [see,…
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Federal judge frees Columbia philosophy student unlawfully detained by the Trumpistas
Good, but now it remains to be seen what the next move of the fascists will be.
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Art of the aphorism, part 2
"We are so used to disguising ourselves from others that we end by disguising ourselves from ourselves." –La Rochefoucauld
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In Memoriam: Karl Ameriks (1947-2025)
Professor Ameriks, a longtime member of the philosophy faculty at the University of Notre Dame, where he was emeritus, was an internationally renowned expert on Kant and German Idealism. Comments are open for remembrances from those who knew Professor Ameriks or from those who wish to comment on the significance of his work. (Thanks to…
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DOE’s Office of Civil Rights finds Penn in violation of Title IX…
…for letting a trans woman compete on the women's swimmng team. It's not clear to me what "investigation" was actually undertaken, but at least the proposed remedies do not involve cutting off federal funding for health and science research! In the annals of th Trump war on universities, this is the least egregious bit of…
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Now the National Science Foundation starts cancelling grants
A report from Northwestern University, but I don't know how widespread this is yet. The targets at Northwestern are all "DEI"-related in some sense or others. Are cancellations reaching beyond that, and is this affecting other schools? Links to more information welcome in the comments.
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Virtual dissertation groups, 2025
From Joshua Smart: Virtual Dissertation Groups (VDG) is shifting to a summer schedule. Open sign ups for this summers’ groups go through Saturday, May 10th at www.jasmartphilosophy.com/virtual-dissertation-groups. What it is: Virtual Dissertation Groups is a free service for those currently working on their doctoral dissertations in philosophy departments (or philosophy of science or the like). Since…
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Art of the aphorism
"Neither the sun nor death can be looked at steadily." –La Rochefoucauld
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The media’s mostly incompetent coverage of Trump’s illegal rampage against the universities
Josh Marshall makes the key point, using the New York Times as his target: I wanted to point your attention to this recent article from the Times on the battle between Trump and Harvard University. It captures the Times’ feature quality. It contains good factual detail, but it radiates what I can only describe as a…
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Consciousness and the allegedly “unified, objective” world
Philosopher Christian List comments.
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Great moments in obscure rock ‘n’ roll: Rory Gallagher, “Bullfrog Blues,” live in 1976 and 1980
ORIGINALLY POSTED AUGUST 13, 2016 From the band Taste in the late 1960s, through his solo performances into the 1990s, the great Irish guitarist Rory Gallagher was a "big name" throughout Europe, but never got the same level of recognition on this side of the Atlantic. A fabulous rock, blues and slide guitarist, as well as…
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More on the capricious deportation of human beings to the El Salvador concentration camp
A striking account from NYT columnist Michelle Goldberg.
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New APA Prize in ethics in honor of Stephen J. White…
…who taught philosophy at Northwestern and died tragically young.
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What if AI is making our lives worse?
Philosopher Benjamin Mitchell-Yellin discusses.
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Authoritarian rulers need friends in the capitalist class….
…and Shari Redstone, owner of Paramount (which owns CBS), is one.
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8 philosophers elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences
They are: Lucy Allais (Johns Hopkins), Noel Carroll (CUNY Graduate Center), Jenann Ismael (Johns Hopkins), Jennifer Lackey (Northwestern), Liam Murphy (NYU), Peter Singer (Princeton), and Oystein Linnebo (Oslo). In addition, philosopher Harry Brighouse (Wisconsin) was elected in the Education section of the Academy.
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Blast from the past: Trump, the fascist wannabe
Back in 2015–I was right about one thing (he wanted to rule as a tyrant) and spectacularly wrong about another!
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An interview with Graham Priest about Wittgenstein, paradox…
…truth, and non-Western philosophy.
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“The Authoritarian Attack on Truth”
Philosopher Michae Lynch comments.
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Statement from Jewish faculty at Northwestern University…
…on the attempts to weaponize anti-semitism to attack academic freedom and university autonomy.
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Canadian boycott of American products picking up speed
Predictable and understandable, given the behavior of the monster child. (Thanks to Charles Bakker for the pointer.)
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Advice for universities on how to resist the Trumpistas…
…from Ars Technica. Some sensible advice, although it's a shame they don't understand the Kalven Report's idea of "institutional neutrality": academic institutions must, of course, speak out about public issues that affect their ability to function!
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Harvard sues the Trumpistas
Harvard's statement, including a link to the complaint. May they prevail, and quickly! (I am assuming that the Trumpistas will comply with court decisions. If that assumption is wrong, then we're all dead, perhaps literally.)
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War on the universities, Texas edition
Amazing: SB 37, authored by Sen. Brandon Creighton, fundamentally reshapes how colleges and universities approach curriculum, course selection and other elements tied to instruction. Among its provisions: It establishes a method to file complaints about schools suspected of not complying with such changes It creates a state-appointed committee to assess which core curricula are "foundational"…
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Conservatives who believe in the rule of law, 4th Circuit edition
Excellent opinion written by Judge Wilkinson (a Reagan appointee) regarding the wrongful deportation of a Maryland man to El Salvador: It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all. The government is asserting a right to stash away residents…
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Austria welcoming US academics
A job site here, and a news article (auf Deutsch) here.
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“The emergency is here”
Ezra Klein sums it up pretty well and, as far as I can see, he's completely correct: The crisis is now. It is not six months away. It is not another Supreme Court ruling away from happening. It’s happening now. Perhaps not to you, not yet. But to others. Real people. We know their names.…
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Harvard Law’s Jack Goldsmith (former Office of Legal Counsel under GW Bush) on what has “surprised” him about Trump
Here: [S]everal things have surprised me. I wasn’t prepared for the extent of the onslaught. It’s really just remarkable how many things they’re doing, especially inside the executive branch, to try to bring complete control of the president. And I wasn’t expecting the extent of the loyalty tests and the insistence that the president gets…
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Blast from the past: what kind of background needed for graduate work in philosophy of physics?
Back in 2009, with reader discussion.
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Trump is so bad, even Thomas Friedman has to notice!
Good for him for using his big platform to say this: This whole Trump II administration is a cruel farce. Trump ran for another term not because he had any clue how to transform America for the 21st century. He ran in order to stay out of jail and to get revenge on those who,…
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Statement of the Columbia Philosophy Department on the federal kidnapping of their student
Here: It has come to the attention of members of the Department of Philosophy at Columbia University that one of our students, Mohsen Mahdawi, was detained in Vermont by agents of the Department of Homeland Security. We express our horror and dismay at the fact that a legal resident of the United States — someone…
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The case of the man wrongfully deported to El Salvador
The district court judge's patience is wearing thin: she's laying the foundation for holding the government lawyers in contempt and imposing sanctions. It's pretty clear, as the judge says, that nothing has been done to "facilitate" the return of the victim here. The depositions of government officials and lawyers will no doubt confirm this over…
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Three philosophers win 2025 Guggenheim Fellowships
They are: James Dwyer (William & Mary), Hannah Ginsborg (Berkeley), and Simon Hutteger (UC Irvine).
Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog
News and views about philosophy, the academic profession, academic freedom, intellectual culture, and other topics. The world’s most popular philosophy blog, since 2003.
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