Author Archives: woit

The Situation at Columbia X

Posted on April 25, 2025 by woit

There was a Senate Town Hall held here at Columbia last night, which I should have attended, but didn’t (I thought it would be pointless debate about possible reform of the Senate, my mistake). The Columbia Spectator has an article … Continue reading →

Posted in The Situation at Columbia | 6 Comments

The Situation at Columbia IX (Harvard Lawsuit Edition)

Posted on April 21, 2025 by woit

Harvard has gone ahead and done what Columbia should have done a month and a half ago: filed a lawsuit over the Trump administration’s illegal cutoff of funding for grants hosted at the university. The statement from Harvard about this … Continue reading →

Posted in The Situation at Columbia | 35 Comments

The Situation at Columbia VIII

Posted on April 16, 2025 by woit

There was a standing room only Arts and Sciences faculty meeting today here at Columbia, in which the acting president Claire Shipman spoke for a while and then took questions from faculty members. The questions on the whole were challenging … Continue reading →

Posted in The Situation at Columbia | 23 Comments

Oscars of Science, Censored Version

Posted on April 16, 2025 by woit

You can now watch the “Oscars of Science’ here. The US tech billionaires and various Hollywood starlets gathered for this ceremony on April 5, in the middle of a massive illegal defunding of US scientific research by our new Fascist … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

The Situation at Columbia VII (and Harvard…)

Posted on April 14, 2025 by woit

The first good news I’ve heard so far: Harvard has announced that it will not cave-in the way Columbia did. The letter from their lawyers is the one Columbia’s lawyers should have written, ending with: [your letter] presents demands that, … Continue reading →

Posted in The Situation at Columbia | 10 Comments

The Situation at Columbia VI

Posted on April 10, 2025 by woit

Yesterday Science magazine had an exclusive news story that the NIH freezes all research grants to Columbia University, going beyond the previous \$250 million in biomedical research grant money. According to the story In an 8 April email seen by … Continue reading →

Posted in The Situation at Columbia | 12 Comments

The Situation at Columbia V

Posted on April 6, 2025 by woit

Two pieces of news this evening: 1. A week or so ago the interim president of Columbia was removed by the trustees, seemingly to appease the Trump panel she was negotiating with. At the time we were told she would … Continue reading →

Posted in The Situation at Columbia | 20 Comments

Some Math and Physics Items

Posted on April 6, 2025 by woit

The 2025 Breakthrough Prize winners were announced yesterday. On their website there’s a video saying that Hollywood is set to roll out the red carpet for the Breakthrough Prize ceremony, scheduled for Saturday April 12 at 3pm Eastern time. But, … Continue reading →

Posted in Experimental HEP News, This Week's Hype, Uncategorized | 11 Comments

The Situation at Columbia IV

Posted on April 4, 2025 by woit

Not much news from Columbia this week, the Fascist dictatorship was successful at getting the president of Columbia removed and has now moved on to Harvard, Princeton and Brown. Hopefully the leadership of those institutions is more willing to fight … Continue reading →

Posted in The Situation at Columbia | 12 Comments

The Situation at Columbia III

Posted on March 29, 2025 by woit

The interim president of Columbia was forced out last night from her position, it appears as a demand of the “Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism”, see here. This indicates that the trustees continue to believe that they have to … Continue reading →

Posted in The Situation at Columbia | 76 Comments