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NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant

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Re: NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant

#171

Post by adhamsalama »

mupuff1234 wrote: post #100
twixfel wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can certainly see why the Israelis don't want it. I would start with ending the ongoing colonisation of the West Bank and end the war in Gaza before Israel ends up any more of a pariah state than it already is. Colonisation in 2025 is a really, really bad look tbh.

Fair, although I I think it's pretty clear that no one would want that, just as you claim no one would agree to the UN partition. And I think colonization is really the wrong term here, it's just two native populations fighting over a piece of land - not exactly a new historical concept.

TIL Americans and Europeans are native to Palestine.

Re: NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant

#174

Post by vharuck »

roenxi wrote: post #134
mensetmanusman wrote: post #21

Background: UCLA violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, "by acting with deliberate indifference in creating a hostile educational environment for Jewish and Israeli students." Outcome: These grants are likely in a temporary holding pattern until ucla settles the issue.

Additional Background: US government provides funding, US government tries to use that leverage to decide how the show will be run. Over the years I've come to accept the blind spot most people have where, despite all evidence, they assume that the government goals match their own. But it still isn't the case. The prudent approach is to set up institutions that are largely independent of government. Government fundin…

But government funding was set up in a way meant to counteract fickleness. Government actions are supposed to be proposed publicly, accept and consider public comments, and then allow legal arguments about the process and motivations. And funding is assigned by Congress, two legislative bodies with hundreds of members that follow extensive rules and procedures to do anything.

The current "fickleness" is from a single individual. The other branches of government are refusing to check out even criticize his actions. This is what would happen with any funding from individuals. The lesson we should be taking from this situation is either (1) controls on the government need to have more teeth and not rely solely on politicians, or (2) the US accepts authoritarianism right now and no Constitution would stop that.

Re: NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant

#176

Post by dcre »

hackyhacky wrote: post #170
sennalen wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

How do you explain the large number of Jewish students participating in the protests against Israeli policy?

The answer here usually requires either denial of their presence or arguing that they are in some sense not real Jews because of their political views.

Re: NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant

#177

Post by nrclark »

DSingularity wrote: post #161
mensetmanusman wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s more akin to the civil rights movement/counter movement when some universities ignored various assaults on black students (saying it wasn’t their job to police behavior). The protesters were fine to criticize Israel, but then turning the rage to the actual American Jews on campus crossed the line.

Provide evidence from reputable sources. Israeli Jews kill tens of thousands of Palestinian children and we are supposed to care that Zionists feel targeted by the protests on campus? Zionists are literally starving people right now. Do you not get that?

There's a distinction to make between Jewish people and Israel.

Jewish people are fine. The Israeli genocide of Gaza is not.

Re: NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant

#180

Post by cmrdporcupine »

apwell23 wrote: post #141
est31 wrote: post #5

It is comparatively easy for a mathematician to relocate, given that, like most scientists, they already have world spanning international networks, and unlike other sciences there is no need for expensive lab equipment. Stuff like LIGO is hard to move around, but there is plenty of places in the world that have a good math library.

relocate for 250k?

This. Someone like this could maybe come up here to Canada, and enjoy slightly a more sane political/cultural climate, but they won't be getting this kind of funding. Academics here are already barely holding on, and even in the best of times there has never been the kind of flow of cash available in the US for scientists and intellectuals.

I imagine a similar story applies to the UK and other places in the Anglosphere

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