Sept 27-Oct 2, 2025 - hold the door

Hi friends,

Well that was a rough one. I feel like September stormed off and the door somehow hit me on its way out. Knocked me flying, really.  

I’ve been here before. One evening, when I was in college, I was racing to close up for the day. My office was newly renovated; everything still smelled like paint and new carpet. In my rush, I gave the main door a hard yank… not realizing that it was double-hung. I smashed myself in the face with that glass door so hard that I hit the wall and crumpled to the floor. It was cinematic. It’s hard enough to get your lungs and legs back in working order after a hit like that. It does a number on your dignity and confidence too.  

Can we all agree that "recombobulation" is entirely too cute to describe those first few painful moments of recovery? It think there’s something beautiful about heaving ourselves up and trying again, despite it all.  

This was week 37, let’s take it gingerly.  

What’s happening now

• Nine universities face a very public choice about the so-called “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education.” For the low, low price of ceding control over admissions policies, grading, tuition, and much more, they can reap the benefits of “extraordinary relationship with the US government." The administration made its initial offer to Brown, Dartmouth, MIT, Vanderbilt, University of Arizona, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, UT Austin & University of Virginia on Wednesday. The response to  “extortion, plain and simple” ranges from forceful faculty senate resolutions to public statements by groups like American Council on Education, AAUP & AFT, and ACLU to California’s explicit promise to strip state funding from any university that signs on. For a deeper dive, I recommend Adam Harris’s analysis in “Raw New Deal.”  
• The government shut down at 12:01am on Wednesday. Immediate impacts vary but are relatively limited for now. My sense is that stability, such as it is, may start degrading as soon as next week. Some federal employees must continue reporting for duty but will not be paid until after a new spending bill is approved. The others are on furlough, a mandatory, unpaid leave during which no work can be done. The specifics of who is furloughed and which work continues vary quite a lot by agency, so I appreciated the reporting in this piece for getting a high-level view. I also find it unsettling to think about how this week also, separately, included the largest mass resignation of federal employees in history. If you’re not affected directly, I think it’s easy to get numb to this kind of news. You’re not wrong if you feel like shutdowns have become common but this one is different because of the administration’s intention to use it to continue mass firings of federal employees. Labor unions have already sued to stop the plans, and legislation has been introduced to block those addition RIFs.
• Four NIH directors who had been on administrative leave since April have now been fired. They include: Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, previously director of NIAID, who blew the whistle on NIH leadership for disregarding court orders, withholding research money, and undermining vaccines; Dr. Eliseo Pérez-Stable (previously director of National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities); Dr. Diana Bianchi (previously director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development); and Shannon Zenk (previously director of the National Institute of Nursing Research). I don’t know these leaders personally, but I think they matter. It’s just a small thing, but I spent time searching for interesting links for each of them and hope you take a look. I wish I could do the same for every person who is fighting to serve community, advance knowledge, and hold the line against authoritarianism. Thank you all for your service.

What’s next & what to do

As I saw the news break earlier this week, I wrote, “Some problems have simple solutions. This new “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” is one. The answer is simply saying no.”  

But I’m not an idiot or an asshole: I know that the simple solution isn’t the same as an easy one. To “simply” say no means to oppose a regime that is strategically, malevolent, and deliberately cruel. The stakes are already painful, and the screws are going to keep turning.  

I think about how and when leaders buckle under pressure, and what it feels like when they do. Feels like a heavy door smashing right into your face.  

But I also think about people I cherish, who hold powerful positions of leadership in universities right now. I think about what they’ve told me - that what they need is support in holding the line, not just more pressure. I think about how different it feels when I focus on a specific person rather than an abstraction, for better and for worse. And I come back around to the thought that the right thing, the simple thing, is not the same as the easy thing.  

So where does that leave us? I saw a quote earlier this week that I can’t stop thinking about:

”Part of what keeps us sane is other people's perspectives, which are often in tension with ours. When you say something questionable, others will challenge you, ask questions, defy you. It can be annoying, but it keeps us tied to reality, and it is the basis of a healthy democratic citizenry. Truth is intersubjective, meaning we need other people - their testimony, their experiences, their rationality - to be well informed."

So my parting thought tonight is this: sometimes we have to force the issue, ratchet up the pressure, and hold our ground no matter what. I believe this compact is one of those times. I also believe that approach works best when we’ve picked that battle carefully.

But no matter how carefully we pick our fights, or how necessary they are, sometimes the door will hits us. When it does, I hope we can heave ourselves up, hold on to each other, and be willing to try again.  

Liz