The Pope has a message for AI executives; Quartz, June 20, 2025

Michael Barclay, Quartz; The Pope has a message for AI executives

Pope Leo wants AI to be regulated ethically, while the U.S. is poised to bar any state-level regulations for a decade

"At the Second Annual Rome Conference on Artificial Intelligence on Friday, Pope Leo talked about where AI is headed.

The event was attended by Vatican officials, American academics, and Silicon Valley executives from Google, OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, and more. The new pope urged serious reflection on “the inherently ethical dimension of AI, as well as its responsible governance...

Pope Leo said AI’s benefits and risks must be evaluated using a “superior ethical criterion,” adding that it “challenges all of us to reflect more deeply on the true nature and uniqueness of our shared human dignity.” He added that “access to data — however extensive — must not be confused with intelligence.”"

‘No way to invest in a career here’: US academics flee overseas to avoid Trump crackdown; The Guardian, June 15, 2025

Marina Dunbar , The Guardian; ‘No way to invest in a career here’: US academics flee overseas to avoid Trump crackdown

"Schuster is one of many budding academics reflecting what could become a significant American brain drain, sending the brightest minds in the country to flee the US and take their scholarly endeavors elsewhere. Historically, the US has attracted top talent from around the world, but the moves by the Trump administration may have reversed these conditions in record time.

Research institutions are feeling the strain from funding cuts from some of the biggest grant-making bodies in the world. The National Science Foundation (NSF) funds about 25% of federally backed basic research at US universities, but Trump’s proposed budget would cut over $5bn, or 57%, from its budget, chopping it from roughly $9bn down to $3.9bn. The US National Institutes of Health would lose about 40% of its budget compared to last year.

But those cuts aren’t the only cause for anxiety. Nerves throughout the scholarly community are also on edge given what is widely perceived as a historic attack on academic freedom through administration assaults against universities such Columbia and Harvard University under the guise of rooting out antisemitism and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. Dozens more universities are waiting for their turn."

Where is the moral courage in the decision to eliminate DEI at UMich?; The Michigan Daily, April 10, 2025

 Kevin Cokley, Ph.D., is the University Diversity and Social Transformation Professor of Psychology and Associate Chair for Diversity Initiatives at the University of Michigan, The Michigan Daily; Where is the moral courage in the decision to eliminate DEI at UMich?

"There appears to have been no resistance by the administration to the factually inaccurate criticisms of DEI by the regents, resulting in a pivot on the University’s supposed core values. Perhaps my understanding of values differs from the administration’s. Values are what people or institutions believe are fundamentally right or wrong and what are most important in life. Institutional core values are not supposed to be easily changeable, and if University leadership is so quick to abandon its core values of DEI, one may wonder if they were ever really core values to begin with.

I’m reminded of the proverb, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” This proverb means that in difficult times, individuals with strong character are even more determined to succeed. As the University and higher education at large are being threatened with, what are likely, unconstitutional executive orders, it is more important than ever to have leaders who defend the University’s core values rather than acquiesce...

Martin Luther King Jr. once addressed the moral courage that one needs to stand up for what is right. He said, “Cowardice asks the question — is it safe? Expediency asks the question — is it politic? Vanity asks the question — is it popular? But conscience asks the question — is it right? There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because one’s conscience tells one that it is right.”"

Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College; New York Magazine, May 7, 2025

New York Magazine; Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College

The Professors Are Using ChatGPT, and Some Students Aren’t Happy About It; The New York Times, May 14, 2025

Kashmir Hill , The New York Times; The Professors Are Using ChatGPT, and Some Students Aren’t Happy About It

"When ChatGPT was released at the end of 2022, it caused a panic at all levels of education because it made cheating incredibly easy. Students who were asked to write a history paper or literary analysis could have the tool do it in mere seconds. Some schools banned it while others deployed A.I. detection services, despite concerns about their accuracy.

But, oh, how the tables have turned. Now students are complaining on sites like Rate My Professors about their instructors’ overreliance on A.I. and scrutinizing course materials for words ChatGPT tends to overuse, like “crucial” and “delve.” In addition to calling out hypocrisy, they make a financial argument: They are paying, often quite a lot, to be taught by humans, not an algorithm that they, too, could consult for free."

Trump says he will strip Harvard’s tax-exempt status; Reuters, May 2, 2025

Susan Heavey, Reuters ; Trump says he will strip Harvard’s tax-exempt status

"President Donald Trump said on Friday he planned to strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status, setting up another potential legal fight with the Ivy League school amid his wider crackdown on elite universities and the U.S. education system.

"We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!" Trump said in a post on his social media platform, without specifying when he might take action."

Exclusive: Most Americans see Trump as "dangerous dictator," poll says; Axios, April 29, 2025

 

• Russell Contreras, Axios; Exclusive: Most Americans see Trump as "dangerous dictator," poll says

"

Share who say they agree that President Trump is a "dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy" 

Survey of 5,025 U.S. adults conducted Feb. 28 to March 20, 2025

A bar chart showing the share of U.S. adults who say they agree that "President Trump is a dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy." Overall, 52% of Americans agree. By party, 87% of Democrats and 17% of Republicans agree. Along racial and ethnic lines, 67% of Black people agree, compared to 45% of white people.

All Americans

52%

Party

Democrats

87

Independents

56

Republicans

17

Race/ethnicity

Black

67

Latino

63

Asian American or
Pacific Islander

58

White

45

Data: PRRI; Chart: Erin Davis/Axios Visuals

A majority of Americans say President Trump is a "dangerous dictator" who poses a threat to democracy and believe he's overstepped his authority by actions such as the mass firing of federal employees, a new survey says."

Emerging From a Collective Silence, Universities Organize to Fight Trump; The New York Times, April 27, 2025

 Stephanie Saul and Alan Blinder, The New York Times; Emerging From a Collective Silence, Universities Organize to Fight Trump

"The Trump administration’s swift initial rollout of orders seeking more control over universities left schools thunderstruck. Fearing retribution from a president known to retaliate against his enemies, most leaders in higher education responded in February with silence.

But after weeks of witnessing the administration freeze billions in federal funding, demand changes to policies and begin investigations, a broad coalition of university leaders publicly opposing those moves is taking root. The most visible evidence yet was a statement last week signed by more than 400 campus leaders opposing what they saw as the administration’s assault on academia.

Although organizations of colleges and administrators regularly conduct meetings on a wide range of issues, the statement by the American Association of Colleges and Universities was an unusual show of unity considering the wide cross-section of interests it included: Ivy League institutions and community colleges, public flagship schools and Jesuit universities, regional schools and historically Black colleges.

“We speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education,” the statement said."

Penn State adds artificial intelligence major, with a focus on ethics; WPSU, April 28, 2025

 Abigail Chachoute, WPSU; Penn State adds artificial intelligence major, with a focus on ethics

"Starting this fall, Penn State students will be able to major in artificial intelligence, focusing on the development, application and ethical considerations of AI.

Vasant Honavar, a professor in the College of Information Sciences and Technology, said with the wider applications of AI across industries, it is important for students to understand the societal implications of the technology...

Another goal in the college is to make AI education available to students across majors. Last fall, Honavar taught the first introductory AI course to more than 30 students. The class did not have any prerequisite requirements as a general elective and was open to students across class standings.

Honavar said this class focused on giving students a broad view of how to apply AI as a tool in their lives and in different contexts.

“This is really about becoming an informed citizen, about AI in a world that they are going to be in,” Honavar said. “It is being transformed by it and everybody has to know something about it, all the way from someone that may be sitting in a position in a company making some decision about ethical use of AI within that organization to someone that is on the staff of a legislature or advising them about some regulation around AI.”"

More Than 220 Academic Leaders Condemn Trump ‘Overreach’; The New York Times, April 22, 2025

Stephanie Saul , The New York Times; More Than 220 Academic Leaders Condemn Trump ‘Overreach’

"A day after Harvard sued the Trump administration over its decision to freeze billions in federal funds to the school, more than 220 higher education leaders from around the country signed a joint statement on Tuesday condemning the administration’s efforts to control universities.

The government’s “political interference” and “overreach” is “now endangering higher education in America,” they wrote.

The signers come from a variety of colleges and universities from across the country, as well as higher education associations, illustrating the breadth of the threat they say President Trump poses to academia. Joining in the statement were officials from large public research universities like the University of Virginia and the University of Wisconsin-Madison and smaller private colleges such as Amherst and Kenyon.

The statement, circulated by the American Association of Colleges and Universities and signed by a total of 224 people as of Tuesday afternoon, focuses on concerns that the Trump administration is attacking academic freedom."

US universities’ faculty unite to defend academic freedom after Trump’s attacks; The Guardian, April 16, 2025

Maya Yang, The Guardian; US universities’ faculty unite to defend academic freedom after Trump’s attacks

"Faculty members from US universities – including public ones which do not receive endowments – are banding together in attempts to resist the Donald Trump administration’s attacks on academic freedoms.

This month, Indiana University’s Bloomington faculty council followed in the footsteps of Rutgers University in passing a resolution to establish a pact with all 18 universities under the Big 10 academic alliance to defend academic freedoms.

The resolution comes as a result of “recent and escalating politically motivated actions by governmental bodies [which] pose a significant threat to the foundational principles of American higher education including the autonomy of university governance, the integrity of scientific research, and the protection of free speech”.

The 18 universities part of the Big 10 academic alliance include the University of Illinois, Indiana University, University of Iowa, University of Maryland, University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Northwestern University, Ohio State University, University of Oregon, Pennsylvania State University, Purdue University, Rutgers University-New Brunswick, University of California Los Angeles, University of Southern California, University of Washington and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The resolution says the “preservation of one institution’s integrity is the concern of all and an infringement against one member university of the Big Ten shall be considered an infringement against all”."

Am I Still Allowed to Tell the Truth in My Class?; The Atlantic, April 11, 2025

Phillip Atiba Solomon, The Atlantic; Am I Still Allowed to Tell the Truth in My Class?

"The administration’s claim in the Dear Colleague letter that universities becoming race-blind will allow students to enjoy “a school environment free from discrimination” is absurd on its face. People widely understand racism to refer to folks with power abusing folks without it—injustices that many students experience well before arriving at college. The letter, in contrast, would have readers believe that racism’s greatest harm is hurting students’ feelings on campus. One cannot be a neutral observer of the world and hold this position."

Yale professor who studies fascism fleeing US to work in Canada; The Guardian, March 26, 2025

Rachel Leingang , The Guardian; Yale professor who studies fascism fleeing US to work in Canada

"A Yale professor who studies fascism is leaving the US to work at a Canadian university because of the current US political climate, which he worries is putting the US at risk of becoming a “fascist dictatorship”.

Jason Stanley, who wrote the 2018 book How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, has accepted a position at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

Stanley told the Daily Nous, a philosophy profession website, that he made the decision “to raise my kids in a country that is not tilting towards a fascist dictatorship”...

Social media posts spread on Wednesday, noting the alarm sounded by a scholar of fascism leaving the country over its political climate. Nikole Hannah-Jones, the journalist and creator of the 1619 Project, wrote on the social media platform Bluesky: “When scholars of authoritarianism and fascism leave US universities because of the deteriorating political situation here, we should really worry.”"

More Universities Are Choosing to Stay Neutral on the Biggest Issues; The New York Times, March 11, 2025

Vimal Patel, The New York Times; More Universities Are Choosing to Stay Neutral on the Biggest Issues

"According to a new report released on Tuesday from the Heterodox Academy, a group that has been critical of progressive orthodoxy on college campuses, 148 colleges had adopted “institutional neutrality” policies by the end of 2024, a trend that underscores the scorching political scrutiny they are under. All but eight of those policies were adopted after the Hamas attack...

The universities are adopting such policies at a time when the Trump administration has moved aggressively to punish them for not doing enough to crack down on antisemitism and for embracing diversity, equity and inclusion policies...

On Friday, the administration announced that it was pulling $400 million from Columbia, a move that sent shock waves across higher education. The administration has already said it is looking to target other universities."

Northwestern Libraries’ website removes DEI mention as University responds to executive orders; The Daily Northwestern, February 23, 2025

Melody Xu, Assistant Campus Editor , The Daily Northwestern; Northwestern Libraries’ website removes DEI mention as University responds to executive orders

"Northwestern Libraries removed the mention of diversity on its website, following President Donald Trump’s executive orders against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives."

In Wisconsin, Professors Worry AI Could Replace Them; Inside Higher Ed, December 6, 2024

Kathryn Palmer, Inside Higher Ed; In Wisconsin, Professors Worry AI Could Replace Them

"Faculty at the cash-strapped Universities of Wisconsin System are pushing back against a proposed copyright policy they believe would cheapen the relationship between students and their professors and potentially allow artificial intelligence bots to replace faculty members...

The policy proposal is not yet final and is open for public comment through Dec. 13. ..

Natalia Taft, an associate professor of biological sciences at the University of Wisconsin–Parkside who signed the open letter, told Inside Higher Ed that she believes the policy proposal “is part of the trend of the corporatization of academia.”...

Jane Ginsburg, a professor of literary and artistic property law at Columbia University School of Law, said the university has the law on its side. 

Under the 1976 Copyright Act, “course material prepared by employees, including professors, as part of their jobs comes within the definition of a ‘work made for hire,’ whose copyright vests initially in the employer (the University), not the employee (the professor).”"

Republicans Target Social Sciences to Curb Ideas They Don’t Like; The New York Times, November 21, 2024

Vimal Patel , The New York Times; Republicans Target Social Sciences to Curb Ideas They Don’t Like

"The slashing of core classes across the state, which has often been based on course titles and descriptions, is meant to comply with a state law passed last year that curbed “identity politics” in the curriculum. The law also bars classes from the core that “distort significant historical events” or that include theories that “systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States.”

AI task force proposes ‘artificial intelligence, ethics and society’ minor in BCLA; The Los Angeles Loyolan, November 18, 2024

Coleman Standifer, asst. managing editor; Grace McNeill, asst. managing editor , The Los Angeles Loyolan; AI task force proposes ‘artificial intelligence, ethics and society’ minor in BCLA

"The Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts (BCLA) is taking steps to further educate students on artificial intelligence (AI) through the development of an “artificial intelligence, ethics and society," spearheaded by an AI task force. This proposed addition comes two years after the widespread adoption of OpenAI's ChatGPT in classrooms.

Prior to stepping into his role as the new dean of BCLA, Richard Fox, Ph.D., surveyed BCLA’s 175 faculty about how the college could best support their teaching. Among the top three responses from faculty were concerns about navigating AI in the classroom, Fox told the Loyolan.

As of now, BCLA has no college-wide policy on AI usage and allows instructors determine how AI is — or is not — utilized in the classroom.

“We usually don't dictate how people teach. That is the essence of academic freedom," said Fox. “What I want to make sure we're doing is we're preparing students to enter a world where they have these myriad different expectations on writing from their faculty members.”

Headed by Roberto Dell’Oro, Ph.D., professor of theological studies and director of the Bioethics Institute, the task force met over the summer and culminated in a proposal for a minor in BCLA. The proposal — which Dell'Oro sent to the Loyolan— was delivered to Fox in August and now awaits a formal proposal to be drawn up before approval, according to Dell’Oro.

The minor must then be approved by the Academic Planning and Review Committee (ARPC), a committee tasked with advising Provost Thomas Poon, Ph.D., on evaluating proposals for new programs.

According to the proposal, the proposed minor aims “to raise awareness about the implications of AI technologies, emphasize the importance of ethical considerations in its development and promote interdisciplinary research at the intersection of AI, ethics, and society.

The minor — if approved by the APRC — would have “four or five classes,” with the possibility of having an introductory course taught by faculty in the Seaver College of Science and Engineering, according to the proposal.

Most of the sample courses in the proposal include classes rooted in philosophy and ethics, such as, “AI, Robots, and the Philosophy of the Person,” “Could Robots Have Rights?” and “Introduction to Bioethics.” According to Dell’Oro, the hope is to have courses available for enrollment by Fall 2025."

"Feedback effects": The real censorship caused by fake "cancel culture" outrage; Salon, October 8, 2024

 Amanda Marcotte, Salon; "Feedback effects": The real censorship caused by fake "cancel culture" outrage

"Cancel culture" is a phantasm. Yes, as any true believer will insist, there have been cases where a person saw consequences — such as being suspended for a year from a plum teaching gig — for "political incorrectness." A deeper look, however, often shows that what is being sold as "free speech" is instead repeated abuse of colleagues or students. More often, it's outrage at being yelled at online, as we see with self-described cancellation victims like J.K. Rowling or Elon Musk. In many cases, the "cancellation" is pure myth, such as when a few students complained about bad food at the Oberlin cafeteria, and the press decided it was "wokeness" and not good taste driving anger that limp pork sandwiches were being passed off as "bánh mì."

In his new book "The Cancel Culture Panic: How an American Obsession Went Global," Stanford professor Adrian Daub argues that the hysterics over this alleged trend amount to a moral panic. Worse, fretting about the mythical excesses of youthful leftists has created a pretext for the right to engage in real assaults on free speech, such as banning books for being "woke" or shutting down student protests. But conservatives get away with it because so much of the press — not just in the U.S., but in Europe as well — would rather feed centrist audiences a steady diet of "cancel culture" panic.

Daub spoke with Salon about his book and whether it's "politically correct" to want your bánh mì to taste like a real bánh mì."

Scottish university to host AI ethics conference; Holyrood, October 2, 2024

 Holyrood; Scottish university to host AI ethics conference

"The University of Glasgow will gather leading figures from the artificial intelligence (AI) community for a three-day conference this week in a bid to address the ethical challenges posed by the technology.

Starting tomorrow, the Lovelace-Hodgkin Symposium, will see academics, researchers, and policymakers discuss how to make AI a tool for “positive change” across higher education.

The event will inform the development of a new online course on AI ethics, which will boost ethical literacy "across higher education and beyond”, the university said...

During the symposium, speakers from the university’s research and student communities will present and participate in workshops alongside representatives to build the new course.

The first day of the event will examine the current state of AI, focusing on higher education and the use of AI in research and teaching.

On Thursday, the conference will discuss how to tackle inequality and bias in AI, featuring discussions on AI and race, gender, the environment, children’s rights, and how AI is communicated and consumed.

The final day will involve participants creating an ethical framework for inclusive AI, where they will outline a series of actionable steps and priorities for academic institutions, which will be used to underpin the online course."