Earlier quoted context omitted.
They may not be acting in good faith but there is extremely clear evidence that UCLA has engaged in illegal racial hiring and admissions practices and has supported antisemitism on campus. UCLA chose to give them that ammunition.
I wonder why the last Trump administration didn't do anything when there was a rally where people flew nazi flags , chanted "jews will not replace us" on the grounds at UVA, and murdered a counterprotestor. Why was that antisemitism overlooked?
Terence Tao on the suspension of UCLA grants
291–300 of 328 posts
Re: Terence Tao on the suspension of UCLA grants
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
They think urban intellectuals have a fair bit of power. They also think they are not always correct, not always unbiased, and possibly not always honest; and the bias tends to be towards either things that benefit the urban elite, or "luxury beliefs" that have disproportionate costs on other people.
Are you talking about math PhDs? What power do they have, politically?
Wouldn't economics and sociology PhDs have both more room for bias in their work, and tend to have power over the economy and society?
"Experts" have a lot of sway over the public sector and legal system.
The public sector has increased to take up a huge percentage of GDP, and the legal sector has also arguably expanded a lot in power.
The perception is that a huge amount of public spending is controlled by the public service, and they tend to defer to academics if the executive keeps them in line.
Re: Terence Tao on the suspension of UCLA grants
#293NSF has suspended Terry Tao's grant - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44755429 - Aug 2025 (332 comments)
Re: Terence Tao on the suspension of UCLA grants
#294Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you talking about math PhDs? What power do they have, politically?
Why suggest math PhDs unless it's in bad faith? Wouldn't economics and sociology PhDs have both more room for bias in their work, and tend to have power over the economy and society? "Experts" have a lot of sway over the public sector and legal system. The public sector has increased to take up a huge percentage of GDP, and the legal sector has also arguably expanded a lot in power. The perception is that a huge amou…
Expertise in this case isn’t cheaply earned. It’s the top of a pyramid of intellectual effort.
Re: Terence Tao on the suspension of UCLA grants
#295https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/29/ucla-lawsuit...
Just for the record, not just on StackOverflow but everywhere it is good practice to not just post a link and nothing else. One should always include a TL;DR summary so that it is clear what the link is about without having to click. Especially on mobile, having to click to even know what some link is about is bad. Linked article summary: "UCLA agrees to $6.5m settlement with Jewish students over pro-Palestinian prot…
Re: Terence Tao on the suspension of UCLA grants
#296Fuck it hurts me to say this as a former China hawk. But: How does Chinese immigration work for STEM? What does residency look like for someone making $500+ k in America? What are the Y Combinators? (No CCP Tans.)
Why reach for China before Europe? Similar sized economies; much smaller language barrier for an immigrant from the USA; and with stories like this being what makes you ask the question, relatively more freedom.
We’re allies. Barring a massive geopolitical realignment, D.C. will take Europe down with it.
Re: Terence Tao on the suspension of UCLA grants
#297Fuck it hurts me to say this as a former China hawk. But: How does Chinese immigration work for STEM? What does residency look like for someone making $500+ k in America? What are the Y Combinators? (No CCP Tans.)
can speak to the yc part. one's called https://www.miracleplus.com/ , run by the former yc china head Lu Qi. similar investment terms and philosophy.
Re: Terence Tao on the suspension of UCLA grants
#298Earlier quoted context omitted.
Seemed pretty consensual, but since you're asking, here's a top result i got on my first search on google's. https://nypost.com/2025/04/23/us-news/psychiatrist-who-criti... And there are tons of other. Gender theory was a pretty big drive for censorship.
Sorry. You are wrong. Your first assertion was that the only difference was trump pushing different issues than Biden. And your source for this false equivalence is an example of a professor fired by a University that has nothing to do with Biden in any way shape or form. You seem to have difficulty with the truth and difficulty engaging in a good faith dialog.
i mentionned biden's presidency. I think the date matches.
Indeed as i said elsewhere the style was different, much less a one-man decision. But biden's administration was pushing an agenda as well, and it wasn't soft on people that disagreed.
Re: Terence Tao on the suspension of UCLA grants
#299> UCLA was “failing to promote a research environment free of antisemitism and bias” Is Trump using antisemitism as an excuse to crack down on liberal universities? Because this will make people only more critical of Israel.
Yes, this is part of Project Esther by the Heritage Foundation. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/18/us/project-esther-heritag... US universities do a lot of research on Palestine and Israel's occupation and apartheid there. In addition, universities are naturally liberal and are targets of the right wing anti-education movement.
Re: Terence Tao on the suspension of UCLA grants
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
it is extremely hard to form a reasonable opinion of what is happening in gaza with the current level of vitriol online. i feel i’d have to do a substantial personal research project to see if i can believe the cumulative casualty numbers that are being bandied about. not to mention the numbers about deaths from starvation. i wish institutions would do the work to publish their sources in a way that is clear complete…
The guardian US does a good job IMO. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/02/gaza-famine-st... https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/aug/02/the-us... idk what you want, there’s mountains of evidence.