Terence Tao on the suspension of UCLA grants

Post by m101 » Sat, Aug 02, 2025, 12:15 PM UTC

tzs wrote: post #212

m101 wrote: post #13

UCLA has an endowment of 3.8bn$. Whilst I'm sympathetic to their desire to be further government financed for the work they do, I feel like government financing should be made available to those that actually need the money. The attitude that you have access to government funds even if you have the ability to pay yourself needs to change.

Endowments are not piles of money that they just sit on. Universities typically spend 4-5% of their endowment every year. The endowment is invested and managed to try and make that 4-5% a year spending sustainable indefinitely. If the policy was no government funding if you have an endowment the net result would be that endowments would be spent down, and then not only would they need government funding for the thing…

Post by ben_w » Sat, Aug 02, 2025, 12:20 PM UTC

lawn wrote: post #170

numbers_guy wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nowhere to run and hide. Europe is worse than the US on this front. China also demands party loyalty. In a sense this is just the human condition. The ruling faction demands loyalty. Only a very advanced human civilization could move past that and allow criticism of the ruling class. Maybe the US had achieved that for a brief movement in the past or maybe it was just an illusion. EDIT: For people wondering w…

> why I think it's worse in Europe, it's because in Europe the ruling class and the universities are on the same side Sounds like a feature, not a bug. > And when I say Europe, I mean UK, France and Germany. Europe is much larger and more diverse than those three countries. Scandinavia for example consistently top the list in most well-being statistics.

Post by tzs » Sat, Aug 02, 2025, 12:29 PM UTC

roenxi wrote: post #181

tzs wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And the commissioner was just sacked and the reason given was because she was incompetent The reason given was she purposefully changed the numbers to make Trump look bad. There was of course no evidence given for that.

The reason given [0] is that "A lengthy history of inaccuracies and incompetence by Erika McEntarfer, the former Biden-appointed Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, has completely eroded public trust in the government agency charged with disseminating key data used by policymakers and businesses to make consequential decisions. Under McEntarfer, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) consistently published…

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Aug 02, 2025, 12:39 PM UTC

bsaul wrote: post #134

kergonath wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which president did anything like this anywhere close to that scale? You are getting confused by propaganda.

It was much less a one-man thing, i agree. Looking at the US debates from europe however, I have the feeling monolithic thinking was very much in place in academia on a wide range of topics (gender theory, climate change, israel support, vaccine mandate, etc). And not just academia if i look at zuckerberg's testimony over federal government censoring people arbitrarily on the platforms.

Post by aaomidi » Sat, Aug 02, 2025, 12:44 PM UTC

jkhdigital wrote: post #157

kergonath wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is purely Orwellian. They gaslit everyone into thinking that opposing an intolerant theocracy in Israel, and by extension the burgeoning autocracy in the US, was antisemitism, while at the same time moaning about Jews controlling and ruining the US. This naked cynicism is disgusting.

Intolerant theocracy? And you’re using this phrase to refer to Israel?