Straws in the Wind - Part 102

From House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party: Over the past two years, the Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party and the Committee on Education and the Workforce’s (Committees) investigations revealed how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) exploits U.S. universities to fuel its military and technological rise...  

This report provides new findings on joint institutes and other problematic partnerships between U.S. universities and the PRC, new information on stepped-up enforcement of foreign gift disclosure rules and university responses. This investigation:

 1.   Further highlights the risks these partnerships pose,

 2.   Exposes universities that continue to ignore the risks, 

 3.   Identifies dozens of not-yet-reported academic collaborations that create risks to U.S. national security, 

4.    Examines changes in university disclosures of foreign funding, and 

5.    Reveals the impact of the Trump Administration’s stepped-up enforcement of foreign gift reporting requirements. 

...Since the time of the release of our report and our continued investigations, eight universities chose to do the right thing for academic freedom and U.S. national security by shuttering their joint institutes with Chinese partners. These include the University of California, Berkeley; Georgia Institute of Technology; University of Michigan; University of Pittsburgh; Oakland University; University of Detroit Mercy; Eastern Michigan University; and University of Illinois. 

But many others have not. Last fall, the Committees identified high-risk joint institutes at the following universities, all of which have failed to act: Duke University; University of Arizona; University of Delaware; Drake University; University of Houston; Kean University; University of Miami; New York University; University of North Alabama; Northeastern State University (Tahlequah); Portland State University; State University of New York - Stony Brook; and Trine University...

These partnerships must end...

Full report at https://selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/joint-institutes-report-final.pdf.

Follow the (federal) Money

Top 20 Universities Receiving NIH Grants (2023)

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Johns Hopkins University $842,956,584

University of California, San Francisco $789,196,651

University of Pennsylvania $703,217,343

Duke University $701,940,461

University of Michigan $698,264,076

University of Pittsburgh $658,312,303

Washington University, St. Louis $633,343,121

Columbia University Health Sciences $633,309,114

Stanford University $628,835,527

Yale University $622,499,969

University of California, Los Angeles $580,267,623

University of California, San Diego $572,451,525

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill $559,512,811

University of Washington, Seattle $558,170,733

Vanderbilt University $546,405,280

Mount Sinai Icahn School of Medicine $501,120,829

Emory University $485,429,870

University of Wisconsin, Madison $446,888,313

New York University $424,963,095

Northwestern University $413,561,989

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Source: Forbes https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaeltnietzel/2024/02/10/top-20-universities-for-nih-funding-johns-hopkins-ranks-first-again/.

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Note: The table above shows only grants from NIH. In UCLA's case, the total contracts and grants revenue was $1.3 billion, much of which comes from the federal government of which NIH is a part. UCLA's total budget was $11.7 billion. Note also that money flows into UCLA from other federal programs such as Medicare, Medi-Cal (Medicaid), student loans, etc.

Source: UCLA Annual Report 2023 at https://ucla.app.box.com/v/acct-pdf-AFR-22-23.

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From the NY Times: ...The opening weeks of President Trump’s second term have cast America’s campuses into turmoil, with upheaval that threatens to erode the financial foundation of higher education in the United States. As the administration orders the end of diversity programs and imposes cuts to foreign aid, university presidents and their lawyers fear that millions of dollars in federal funding could ultimately vanish. Some research projects, including many connected to the U.S. Agency for International Development, have been suspended, and program directors have made plans for layoffs.

But universities have largely been quiet. Professors and administrators alike seem wary of provoking a president who has glorified retribution and has already started to tighten the funding spigot. Staying out of the spotlight, some reason, is prudent. Those who have spoken have often relied on carefully calibrated letters and statements, noting that they are watching but hardly offering any overt opposition. In some instances, researchers and campus leaders have been pressured into silence by a government that has demanded they not speak to reporters as money remains bottled up...

Full story at https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/us/trump-executive-orders-universities.html.

The Way We Live Now

From Inside Higher Ed: The University of Pittsburgh in installing panic buttons in about 400 classrooms, the university announced Friday. The buttons will send an alert to the campus police and, in rooms with electronic locks, lock the door, enabling people to exit but not enter the room. The safety measure comes in response to a “swatting” incident in April, in which emergency calls reported what ended up being a fake mass shooting in Pitt’s Hillman Library. Armed police swarmed the library, alarming students, who received no information about the phony calls until 90 minutes later.

Source: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/quick-takes/2023/08/29/u-pittsburgh-installs-panic-buttons-classrooms.

Reminder:

Or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrbqmzCZS_A.

We are not alone - Part 2

In an earlier posting, we noted that another UC campus - Santa Barbara - was joining UCLA in tightening up its coronavirus rules.* But like the disease, the tightening up has spread: 

From Inside Higher Ed:

The University of California, Los Angeles, restored its indoor mask mandate last week, joining the University of Hawai‘i system, Pennsylvania State University (for both the main campus and 13 others), and other colleges and universities. “The past few weeks have revealed a consistent rise in COVID-19 cases in Los Angeles County and on our campus. Last week alone, UCLA had close to 870 new cases, which, per the UCLA COVID-19 Pivot Matrix, would place us at the ‘severe’ level,” said a letter announcing the mandate.

The letter outlined limited cases where masks may be removed: performance arts rehearsals and performances, indoor dining, and when alone in one's room. At commencement, June 10-12, all attendees must wear masks indoors, but speakers may remove their masks for their addresses, and graduates “may momentarily remove their masks while walking across the stage and while being photographed on or adjacent to the stage,” the letter said. (UCLA operates on a quarter system, and the spring quarter classes are not over until June 3.) Other institutions that have announced mask mandates have already had commencement and are in summer sessions, or their renewed mandates were announced just prior to commencement. UCLA also said weekly testing for COVID-19 will continue until June 15.

For colleges, indoor mask mandates were a key part of their response during earlier peaks of the pandemic. The lifting of mask mandates was seen by many as a sign that the pandemic was behind us. But most of the colleges are citing rising COVID-19 cases as a reason for their actions. Here are some of the colleges restoring mask mandates:

• Penn State University. On Friday, the university restored mask mandates for the university’s main campus and the Penn State campuses at Beaver, Greater Allegheny, New Kensington and Schuylkill. The university previously announced that masks were required at the campuses in Abington, Behrend, Brandywine, Great Valley, Hazleton, Lehigh Valley, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre. The College of Medicine also continues to require masks indoors. Penn State said it acted on the basis of guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, based on county COVID-19 rates.
• University of Hawai‘i system. The system restored its mask mandate for the entire university system except when people are working in a room alone or at least six feet from others. “The indoor face mask requirement will remain in place and be re-evaluated when the level of COVID-19 transmission in the state decreases,” the university said.
• University of Pittsburgh. The university on Friday cited the CDC in restoring the requirements for the Pittsburgh, Greensburg and Titusville campuses. Masks remain optional on the Johnstown and Bradford campuses.
• University of Delaware. The university imposed an indoor mask requirement last week, citing “rising numbers of COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations around the country, including in Delaware over the past week.” The university permitted people to be outdoors without a mask, but administrators at commencement appeared with masks outdoors...

All of those colleges acted last week. Some of the colleges that acted earlier to restore indoor mask mandates include Gallaudet, Georgetown, Howard, Johns Hopkins and Rice Universities; and the University of Rochester.  California State University, Los Angeles never removed its mask mandate.

Rochester had promised when instituting its mandate on April 15 to update the policy in early May. On May 4, Rochester announced, “Campus health officials believe indoor masking has reduced the number of COVID infections among students in recent days. Based on the effectiveness of the mask requirement in returning COVID cases to more manageable levels, as well as the still relatively high rate of COVID infections in the greater Rochester community and in New York State—the current face mask policy will remain in place for now, including at indoor commencement ceremonies and events.”

Full story at https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2022/05/31/ucla-university-hawai%E2%80%98i-penn-state-adopt-mask-mandates.

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*http://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2022/05/we-are-not-alone.html.