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Notes -
Penn is rescinding some PhD offers as part of cuts to graduate programs in light of DOGE funding changes. Vandy, USC, and Pitt are pausing PhD admissions for now, which feels slightly more reasonable than rescinding.
It's interesting that the cuts are occurring to the "next generation" of incoming talent, although it somewhat makes sense - Penn PhDs are funded, with very nice stipends. Rescinding is still a big move, though, when Penn could cut administrative bloat or decrease the full funding such that potential candidates decide not to join the program in the first place. The whole point of the Ivy, I mean, Ivory Tower is to strengthen their own prestige and little robots, so rescinding feels weird. There's also the ability to dip into the endowment, but I know that gets complicated fast.
I am also wondering how they're deciding who to rescind from. Are any international future students getting the boot? Are there DEI level decisions being made after the fact, as a way of getting around affirmative action? Are they going to change their minds if funding frees up if lawsuits throw down or the DOGE pause ends?
I'm a law student, and firms talk a lot about lessons learned from the financial crisis. An entire "generation" of talent was lost from cutting start classes during the crisis, and firms really feel it now - it had longer term impacts down the road to not just take the financial hit of having a few new associates bumbling around. I wonder if academia is about to undergo the same learning experience?
Or will academia, particularly STEM, turn to embrace private funding more thoroughly? Private influence in STEM academic research could increase innovation and development, and solve the "funding crisis" presented from the withdrawal of government funds. The influence of private interests in nonprofits/educational institutions is an old culture war argument, but one that might start playing out among graduate programs.
It's also interesting that undergraduate programs, for now, aren't getting hit. Maybe they're more lucrative/cash cows, although many are moving to full need-based funding. Maybe it's the demographic cliff.
I'm having trouble understanding what this means. Are you saying that colleges cut down on law students during the financial crisis? This wouldn't seem to make sense because law schools are the biggest moneymakers for universities. Maybe fewer law students matriculated because they couldn't afford the tuition?
On a larger level, what can be done to prevent "malicious compliance", otherwise known as Washington Monument Syndrome or "firefighters first"? If anti-Trump organizations see a funding cut, they often immediately axe the programs that people want the most. They never seem to cut administration overhead, conference travel, DEI, or other frivolities. There was a story yesterday about Yosemite National Park firing the only person who had keys to the bathrooms, which they apparently had to do because of the Trump cuts.
I'm not sure that's what's going on here, but I think it's possible.
This isn't in any way specific to "anti-Trump organizations" but how almost all such bureaucracies work. A while ago the Finnish Heritage Agency had to face some fairly minor (non-political) cost cuts. They promptly announced that this would "force" them to shut down some of the most popular museums and outdoor sites in an effort to artificially make those cuts seem worse and make them less popular instead of cutting some non-essential niche operations that the public cares little about.
Iron law of institutions remains undefeated
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