Celebrating Bond

Bill authorizing $23 billion bond to fund California scientific research clears key Senate committee

UC Office of the President 

Senate Bill 895, legislation authored by Sen. Scott Wiener and sponsored by the University of California to help fund scientific research, passed the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee on a 5-2 vote yesterday. As UC faces one of the most significant disruptions to its research enterprise in its 158-year history, this bipartisan legislation would place a $23 billion bond to fund scientific research across California on the November 2026 ballot.

If passed by voters, the measure would help preserve research central to protecting jobs, sustaining lifesaving medical advancements, supporting the health of California communities and maintaining the state’s global leadership in innovation. Prior to the hearing, researchers and faculty submitted over five dozen letters on behalf of the University, and the UC Advocacy Network sent more than 5,000 emails to lawmakers in support of SB 895 and the critical research funding the bill would provide...

Full news release at https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/press-room/bill-authorizing-23-billion-bond-fund-california-scientific-research-clears-key-senate.

UCLA History - Warren

Former Chief Justice of the US Supreme Court attends celebration of the 25th anniversary of the UCLA Institute of Industrial Relations (now Institute for Research on Labor and Employment) in 1970. As governor of California, Warren had signed the legislation creating the Institute in 1945. Seated to the right of Warren (top left and bottom left) is Prof. Benjamin Aaron, director of the Institute.

Straws in the Wind - Part 317

From The Dartmouth: Since its launch in August 2023, the College’s Open Expression Facilitator program has supported more than 150 campus events. The program trains staff members to intervene in the case of “disrupt[ive]” protests, according to civic engagement, expression and learning director Ed McKenna, who manages the program. The program fits into the College’s broader commitment to dialogue and free expression by supporting “all events,” especially debates and events featuring high profile guests, McKenna said. Recent examples include events with former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., former Vice President Mike Pence and former U.S. transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg. An OEF serves as a “viewpoint neutral” presence who can address disruptions at such events “if necessary,” according to the Office of Student Life website. Eighteen staff members currently serve as facilitators. 

The OEF program “is a support system to ensure that those events can go forward,” McKenna said. “And obviously, that’s important for dialogue.” The College’s approach to advancing dialogue and its position of institutional neutrality have enkindled mixed reactions on campus. But regarding the OEF program specifically, McKenna said that he “feels confident” that there is community trust in facilitators.

...According to McKenna, in the two years since the program’s inception, there has been one disruption at an event where facilitators were on hand... College spokesperson Jana Barnello wrote in a statement to The Dartmouth following the event. “When attempts to resolve the situation were unsuccessful,” the Hanover Police Department arrested and charged the two protestors with disorderly conduct. In such cases of disruption, an OEF first defers to the event’s host to address the disruption, McKenna said. If the disruption continues, the OEF then addresses the disruptors by “informing” them of Dartmouth’s Freedom of Expression and Dissent policies — which prohibit disruptions that “interfere with those activities or with the ability of audiences to see, hear or otherwise engage with” an event — and “requesting” that they “stop the disruption or leave.” If necessary, the Department of Safety and Security steps in by “telling” disruptors to leave the space. If police are present, they are responsible for physical removal...

Full story at https://www.thedartmouth.com/article/2026/04/sanchez-three-years-in-a-look-into-dartmouths-open-expression-facilitator-program.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 144

From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 said he was “disappointed” by the widespread ignorance of Harvard students who expressed strong opinions on the Israel-Palestine conflict — and their disinterest in learning the facts of the issue. Speaking at an event in Manhattan, Garber said he was struck both by students who held firm views without a grasp of the underlying history and by those who chose to avoid forming views altogether. “If you’re going to have strong views about an issue,” he said, “I would hope that at a University you would have the curiosity to learn the facts.”

The remarks mark a shift in emphasis for Garber, who has spent much of the past year warning about deteriorating conditions for free expression on campus. In a December podcast appearance, he argued that Harvard “went wrong” by allowing faculty to inject their personal views into the classroom, a shift he said discouraged open disagreement.

[Last] Monday, Garber made clear he sees the problem extending beyond faculty. Garber described the attitude among students as “disturbing” and “ignorant,” saying he was especially troubled by a combination of shallow knowledge and reluctance to engage in disagreement...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/4/15/garber-talk-israel-palestine/.

AI's Indirect Threat to the Wayback Machine

Users of the Wayback Machine, a service of the Internet Archive, will find the item below of interest. The Wayback Machine enables a look at websites in the past. Thus, changes in information or deletions of information can be tracked.

From the San Francisco Examiner:

If you use the Internet Archive to look up recent news stories from some of the biggest media companies, you might have trouble finding them.

In recent months, a growing number of news publications have sought to block the nonprofit online library from crawling their sites and making copies of their stories or other content, or restricted its ability to share their content.

Although the San Francisco-based organization has frequently had a contentious relationship with a variety of copyright holders, the publications’ moves come not so much out of concern about the archive itself, but with artificial-intelligence developers.

To prevent what many publishers see as theft of their copyrighted material by potential competitors, some of them have blocked AI developers from crawling their websites and copying stories from them. But many such publishers have grown concerned in recent months that AI developers are using the archive as a kind of back door to the publishers’ content, and so they’ve also started to block its access to their material or curtailed its ability to distribute that material.

“We are collateral damage,” said Mark Graham, director of the archive’s Wayback Machine, its web-page repository.

For their part, certain publishers see blocking the archive’s access to their material or its ability to share that material as crucial to protecting their businesses at a time when search engines and AI chatbots are increasingly answering users’ news queries directly rather than directing them to news sites...

Full story at https://www.sfexaminer.com/news/technology/internet-archive-collateral-damage-in-ai-news-battle/article_d3a37294-dc35-4861-8f7a-0a8cbfb12a58.html.

Straws in the Wind - Part 316

To the Amherst College Alumni Community:

I am writing to share the sad news that Hampshire College has announced that it will begin preparations for closure by the end of the fall 2026 semester. The announcement comes after years of very hard work and dedication by Hampshire’s leadership and faculty in the face of mounting financial and operational challenges, and I am sure that this decision was extraordinarily difficult to make.  

The closure of Hampshire will be a profound loss not only to our region and to the Five Colleges, but to anyone who cares about higher education. I know it will be especially painful news to those of you who studied on Hampshire’s campus and developed friendships with Hampshire students over the last six decades.

Since its founding, Hampshire has pioneered innovations that have been widely adopted by colleges and universities across the country. From its pathbreaking approach to interdisciplinary teaching and research, to giving students the freedom to design their own course of study, to an abiding commitment to environmental sustainability, Hampshire has left a lasting impact on how faculty teach and students learn in every undergraduate institution, including ours.

Amherst’s relationship with Hampshire is particularly deep. A gift from an Amherst College alumnus was critical to Hampshire’s founding in 1965, and the College’s first vice president and second president was Amherst staff member and future trustee Chuck Longsworth ’51. Dozens of Hampshire students study each year in our classrooms, and the College’s faculty and staff collaborate closely with ours. We have been partners in the development of the Five Colleges, Inc., and the vibrancy of the Connecticut River Valley, and many people who work and study at Amherst have spouses and friends who are members of the Hampshire community.

In the coming weeks and months, Amherst will be working to assist our colleagues at Hampshire as they begin the difficult process of winding down operations. This is a challenging and uncertain time, and Amherst will offer support to the faculty, staff, and students where we can. And I hope that the entire Amherst community will reflect with gratitude on our six decades of partnership and the extraordinary contributions Hampshire has made to higher education.

Michael A. Elliott ’92, President, Amherst College

Source: Email sent by Amherst and forwarded to yours truly by a blog reader.

Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge? - Part 143

From the Harvard Crimson: Harvard sharply rebuffed the Department of Justice’s lawsuit seeking its admissions records in a Tuesday court filing, accusing the Trump administration of prematurely escalating negotiations into litigation for political ends. In a 20-page response filed in the U.S District Court in Massachusetts, the University argued that the DOJ mischaracterized months of back-and-forth over document production and failed to follow required procedures under Title VI. The clash stems from the Trump administration’s investigation into whether Harvard has complied with the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision banning the use of race in admissions. In its February complaint, the DOJ alleged Harvard “thwarted” and “slow walked” the inquiry by withholding key admissions data, placing Harvard in violation of Title VI and its obligations as a federal grant recipient.

Harvard disputed that account on Tuesday, writing that it produced more than 2,000 pages of records — including aggregate enrollment data, admissions policies, training materials, and internal guidance documents — and remained open to negotiations before the government filed suit. The Trump administration has sought extensive admissions data from Harvard. As part of its investigation, federal officials sought five years of applicant-level admissions data across Harvard College, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Medical School, including applicants’ grades, test scores, essays, extracurricular activities, admissions outcomes, and race and ethnicity...

The University’s alleged noncompliance is also under investigation by the Department of Education, which in March gave Harvard 20 days to provide the requested admissions records. A Harvard spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on whether the University submitted the data before the April 12 deadline. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Myong J. Joun, a Biden appointee, who previously granted a temporary restraining order blocking the Department of Education from canceling teacher-training grants — a decision that the Supreme Court later stayed in a 5-4 decision pending appeal...

Full story at https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/4/15/harvard-doj-admissions-suit-response/.