Use the f-word; The Ink, October 1, 2024

 The Ink; Use the f-word

"Philosopher Jason Stanley talks about why fascists have mounted an attack on education, why universities haven't fought back, and how to resist."

Only the First Amendment Can Protect Students, Campuses and Speech; The New York Times, September 6, 2024

Cass R. Sunstein , The New York Times; Only the First Amendment Can Protect Students, Campuses and Speech

"To answer those questions, we should turn to the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states that Congress “shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.” Those words provide the right foundation for forging a new consensus about the scope and importance of free speech in higher education.

As a rallying cry, that consensus should endorse the greatest sentence ever written by a Supreme Court justice. In 1943, Justice Robert H. Jackson wrote, “Compulsory unification of opinion achieves only the unanimity of the graveyard.”

It is true that private colleges and universities, unlike public ones, are not subject to the First Amendment, which applies only to public officials and institutions. If Harvard, Stanford, Baylor, Vanderbilt, Pomona or Colby wants to restrict speech, the First Amendment does not stand in their way.

Still, most institutions of higher learning, large or small, would do well to commit themselves to following the First Amendment of their own accord.

First Amendment doctrine, developed over the centuries, provides excellent guidance."

‘Dangerous and un-American’: new recording of JD Vance’s dark vision of women and immigration; The Guardian, August 31, 2024

 Jason Wilson, The Guardian; ‘Dangerous and un-American’: new recording of JD Vance’s dark vision of women and immigration

"Vance also talked about institutions like universities and the media as components of a “broken elite system”, and portrayed their inhabitants as enemies whom conservatives would need to reckon with.

“There is no way for a conservative to accomplish our vision of society unless we’re willing to strike at the heart of the beast. That’s the universities.”"

CMU Joins $110M U.S.-Japan Partnership To Accelerate AI Innovation; Carnegie Mellon University, April 11, 2024

 Kelly Saavedra, Carnegie Mellon University; CMU Joins $110M U.S.-Japan Partnership To Accelerate AI Innovation

"Carnegie Mellon University and Keio University have announced they will join forces with one another and with industry partners to boost AI-focused research and workforce development in the United States and Japan. The partnership is one of two new university partnerships between the two countries in the area of artificial intelligence announced in Washington, D.C., April 9 at an event hosted by U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo.

The collaboration joins two universities with outstanding AI programs and forward-looking leaders with leading technology companies committed to providing funding and resources aimed at solving real-world problems. 

CMU President Farnam Jahanian was in Washington, D.C., for the signing ceremony held in the Department of Commerce's Research Library, during which the University of Washington and the University of Tsukuba agreed to a similar collaboration."

New Federal Rules Aim to Speed Repatriations of Native Remains and Burial Items; ProPublica, December 8, 2023

Mary Hudetz, ProPublica; New Federal Rules Aim to Speed Repatriations of Native Remains and Burial Items

"The Biden administration has revised the rules that institutions and government agencies must follow to comply with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act — a law long hampered by limited funding and the unwillingness of many museums to relinquish Indigenous remains and burial items.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to hold a U.S. cabinet position, said Wednesday that the regulations will “strengthen the authority and role of Indigenous communities in the repatriation process” by requiring institutions to defer more to tribes’ knowledge of their regions and histories in their decision-making about repatriations.

Thirty-three years ago, Congress passed NAGPRA to prevent grave looting and push museums to return human remains and items excavated from Native American gravesites to tribes. But the promise of repatriation that many tribal nations once saw in the law has not been fully realized, with federal data showing institutions continue to store about half of the 200,000 ancestral remains they reported holding following passage of the 1990 law.

This year, ProPublica’s Repatriation Project investigative series revealed that archaeologists and scientists at some of the nation’s top universities and museums have exploited loopholes in NAGPRA to delay or resist turning over holdings reported under the law."

At Harvard, a Battle Over What Should Be Said About the Hamas Attacks; The New York Times, October 10, 2023

 Anemona Hartocollis, Stephanie Saul and Vimal Patel, The New York Times; At Harvard, a Battle Over What Should Be Said About the Hamas Attacks

"The debate over Israel and the fate of Palestinians has been one of the most divisive on campus for decades, and has scorched university officials who have tried to moderate or mollify different groups.

But Dr. Summers’s pointed criticism raised questions about the obligation of universities to weigh in on difficult political matters.

A famous 1967 declaration by the University of Chicago called for institutions to remain neutral on political and social matters, saying a university “is the home and sponsor of critics; it is not itself the critic.” But students over the years have frequently and successfully pressed their administrations to take positions on matters like police brutality, global warming and war."

This is how the Smithsonian will reckon with our dark inheritance; The Washington Post, August 20, 2023

Lonnie G. Bunch III, The Washington Post;  This is how the Smithsonian will reckon with our dark inheritance

"As a historian, I have always felt that a full, unvarnished, honest telling of history is the only way for us to move forward as a people, as a nation and as institutions. All of us are profoundly shaped by the past, for good and for ill, and the Smithsonian — like so many other museums and universities — is grappling with a legacy once deemed acceptable but that is so clearly ethically wrong today.

The Post’s recent coverage regarding the human remains still housed in our collections is certainly illustrative of the Smithsonian’s darkest history. This is our inheritance, and we accept the responsibility to address these wrongs to the fullest extent possible."

Local universities prepared to teach ethics of using generative AI; Rochester Business Journal, August 15, 2023

 Caurie Putnam, Rochester Business Journal; Local universities prepared to teach ethics of using generative AI

"How are local schools handling these platforms that have the potential to produce human-like AI-generated content like essays based on the input of the user? You may be surprised."

Minnesota colleges grappling with ethics and potential benefits of ChatGPT; Star Tribune, August 6, 2023

Hannah Pinski , Star Tribune ; Minnesota colleges grappling with ethics and potential benefits of ChatGPT

"While some Minnesota academics are concerned about students using ChatGPT to cheat, others are trying to figure out the best way to teach and use the tool in the classroom.

"The tricky thing about this is that you've got this single tool that can be used very much unethically in an educational setting," said Darin Ulness, a chemistry professor at Concordia College in Moorhead. "But at the same time, it can be such a valuable tool that we can't not use it.""

Inside the AP’s investigation into the ethics practices of the Supreme Court justices; AP, July 11, 2023

ERIC TUCKER AND BRIAN SLODYSKO, AP ; Inside the AP’s investigation into the ethics practices of the Supreme Court justices

"An Associated Press examination of the ethics practices of the U.S. Supreme Court relied on documents obtained from more than 100 public records requests to public colleges, universities and other institutions that have hosted the justices over the past decade.

Here’s a look at how the reporting was done:...

Some institutions were less forthcoming. The AP went to the Illinois state attorney general to get a binding opinion directing the Chicago Public Library to produce documents related to a visit by Justice Sonia Sotomayor. Other schools, including the University of Arizona, have said their search for records remained ongoing after more than six months.

The AP did pay some schools for documents, including $350 to the University of Utah; $140 to Michigan State University; $159.24 to the University of Minnesota; and roughly $150 to the University of Mississippi.

But some schools responded to records requests with fee demands that the AP deemed unreasonable. The initial fee cited by the University of Georgia for processing two requests was $18,800.50, though it was later reduced after the AP narrowed its request."

Universities Are Making Ethics a Key Focus of Artificial Intelligence Research; Insight Into Diversity, August 16, 2022

Lisa O'Malley , Insight Into Diversity; Universities Are Making Ethics a Key Focus of Artificial Intelligence Research

"As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more commonplace in our lives, many activists and academics have raised concerns about the ethics of this technology, including issues with maintaining privacy and preventing bias and discrimination...

“The subject of ethics and justice in technology development is incredibly urgent — it’s on fire,” Sydney Skybetter, a senior lecturer in theater arts and performance studies at Brown, explained in a recent university news release. Skybetter is one of three faculty members leading an innovative new course titled Choreorobotics 0101 in the computer science department. The class allows students with experience in computer science, engineering, dance, and theater to merge their interests by learning how to choreograph a 30-second dance routine for a pair of robots provided by the company Boston Dynamics. The goal of the course is to give these students — most of whom will go on to careers in the tech industry — the opportunity to engage in discussions about the purpose of robotics and AI technology and how they can be used to “minimize harm and make a positive impact on society,” according to the release."

Plagiarism is a big deal. This new case at the University of Kansas wasn’t the first; The Kansas City Star, February 10, 2022

TIMOTHY MILLER, The Kansas City Star; Plagiarism is a big deal. This new case at the University of Kansas wasn’t the first

"The University of Kansas recently announced the resignation, under pressure, of its interim Vice Provost for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging D. A. Graham, who had held the position since December 2020. The message he sent to the university community to mark Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, as KU explained, “contained sentences similar or identical to those in a message written by Curtis L. Coy, Deputy Under Secretary for Economic Opportunity in the Veterans Benefits Administration, in 2015.” Provost Barbara Bichelmeyer called the termination “a consequence that befits the action.” KU, like universities everywhere, regards plagiarism as a cardinal academic sin."

Study: Only 18% of data science students are learning about AI ethics; TNW, July 3, 2020

Thomas Macaulay, TNW; Study: Only 18% of data science students are learning about AI ethics

The neglect of AI ethics extends from universities to industry

"At least we can rely on universities to teach the next generation of computer scientists to make. Right? Apparently not, according to a new survey of 2,360 data science students, academics, and professionals by software firm Anaconda.

Only 15% of instructors and professors said they’re teaching AI ethics, and just 18% of students indicated they’re learning about the subject.

Notably, the worryingly low figures aren’t due to a lack of interest. Nearly half of respondents said the social impacts of bias or privacy were the “biggest problem to tackle in the AI/ML arena today.” But those concerns clearly aren’t reflected in their curricula."

Justice Department investigates Sci-Hub founder on suspicion of working for Russian intelligence; The Washington Post, December 19, 2019

Shane Harris and Devlin Barrett, The Washington Post; Justice Department investigates Sci-Hub founder on suspicion of working for Russian intelligence

"Elbakyan’s work has been the subject of legal and ethical controversy. In 2017, a New York district court awarded $15 million in damages to Elsevier, a leading science publisher, for copyright infringement by Sci-Hub and other sites...

Sci-Hub has made millions of documents available to users around the world, said Andrew Pitts, the managing director of PSI, an independent group based in England that advocates for legitimate access to scholarly content.

Pitts said there are 373 universities in 39 countries “that have suffered an intrusion from Sci-Hub,” which he defined as “using stolen credentials to illegally enter a university’s secure network.” More than 150 of the institutions are in the United States, Pitts said...

“She is the Kim Dotcom of scholarly publications,” said Joseph DeMarco, an attorney in New York who represented Elsevier in its lawsuit against Elbakyan. (Dotcom ran a famous file-sharing site that U.S. authorities said violated copyright law.)"

Engineers need a required course in ethics; Quartz, November 8, 2019

Kush Saxena, Quartz; Engineers need a required course in ethics

"The higher education sector cannot ignore its role in preparing students for the future of work as quite literally the purpose it serves. That includes integrating ethics into comprehensive computer science curricula.

Universities like MIT are leading the way by creating research collaborations across disciplines such as law and government, finding ways to embed topics around the societal impact of computing into the technical curriculum.

This type of rigorous education shouldn’t be accessible only to students who can get into elite universities. As more jobs require engineering skills, all institutions—from coding boot camps to community college courses to advanced state-funded PhD programs—need to follow suit."

Nobel laureate takes stance against allowing research to be intellectual property; The Auburn Plainsman, April 11, 2019

Trice Brown, The Auburn Plainsman; Nobel laureate takes stance against allowing research to be intellectual property

"George Smith, recipient of a 2018 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, spoke to a crowd of students and faculty about the problems that arise from making publicly funded research intellectual property.

Smith said one of the greatest problems facing the scientific research community is the ability of universities to claim intellectual property rights on publicly funded research.

“I think that all research ought not to have intellectual — not to be intellectual property,” Smith said. “It’s the property of everyone.”"

Fixing Tech’s Ethics Problem Starts in the Classroom; The Nation, February 21, 2019

Stephanie Wykstra, The Nation; Fixing Tech’s Ethics Problem Starts in the Classroom

 

"Casey Fiesler, a faculty member in the Department of Information Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, said that a common model in engineering programs is a stand-alone ethics class, often taught towards the end of a program. But there’s increasingly a consensus among those teaching tech ethics that a better model is to discuss ethical issues alongside technical work. Evan Peck, a computer scientist at Bucknell University, writes that separating ethical from technical material means that students get practice “debating ethical dilemmas…but don’t get to practice formalizing those values into code.” This is a particularly a problem, said Fiesler, if an ethics class is taught by someone from outside a student’s field, and the professors in their computer-science courses rarely mention ethical issues. On the other hand, classes focused squarely on the ethics of technology allow students to dig deeply into complicated questions. “I think the best solution is to do both…but if you can’t do both, incorporating [ethics material into regular coursework] is the best option,” Fiesler said."

 

Pitt Sets Course for Student Success With Inaugural Advanced Analytics Summit; PittWire, November 2, 2018

PittWire; Pitt Sets Course for Student Success With Inaugural Advanced Analytics Summit


"Ann Cudd, provost and senior vice chancellor at Pitt, said that as advanced analytics moves forward at the University, two topics of focus include identifying whether the use of data is universally good and what potential dangers exist, and how to keep the human components to avoid generalizing...

While the vast amounts of information may be overwhelming, data privacy is seen as a key fundamental of building and maintaining trust between students and universities.

“It is vitally important that the storage of data be secure,” [Stephen] Wisniewski [vice provost for data and information at the University of Pittsburgh] said. “To that end, experts in the field collectively work to understand and address the ever-changing technology landscape to protect sensitive data.”

Wisniewski said that Pitt’s focus on advanced analytics has one driving principle.

“The primary reason is to better serve our students. That is our ultimate goal,” he said.  “That’s what we want out of this. We want them to have the best experience possible and we’re using analytics to help that process.”"

UMD should require ethics courses for all students; The Diamondback. February 26, 2018

Julian Savelski, The Diamondback; UMD should require ethics courses for all students

"Subjects such as math, science, the humanities and others are largely taught from first grade to freshman year of college. And yet children don't get a formal education in ethics, instead relying on a patchwork of parental lessons that usually end some time in high school.

Ethics is not less important than any other individual subject. If anything, it is more vital — everyone should exhibit integrity, but everyone doesn't necessarily need to learn calculus. That's why ethics should be taught in schools.

Ideally, this should happen from first grade and continue on through a child's education. Since this is obviously not the case, colleges should at least pick up the slack. At this university, degrees in most majors are awarded with no requirement to complete any sort of coursework in ethics. As this university rightfully seeks to raise its national profile, it can take the lead on this issue.

Mandating that every major institute an ethics course requirement for graduation would be a bold step in the right direction...

Julian Savelski is a junior government and politics and philosophy major. He can be reached at juliansavelski@gmail.com."

Universities Rush to Roll Out Computer Science Ethics Courses; New York Times, February 12, 2018

Natasha Singer, New York Times; Universities Rush to Roll Out Computer Science Ethics Courses

"The medical profession has an ethic: First, do no harm.

Silicon Valley has an ethos: Build it first and ask for forgiveness later.

Now, in the wake of fake news and other troubles at tech companies, universities that helped produce some of Silicon Valley’s top technologists are hustling to bring a more medicine-like morality to computer science...

“Stanford absolutely has a responsibility to play a leadership role in integrating these perspectives, but so does Carnegie Mellon and Caltech and Berkeley and M.I.T.,” said Jeremy Weinstein, a Stanford political science professor and co-developer of the ethics course. “The set of institutions that are generating the next generation of leaders in the technology sector have all got to get on this train.”"