Archive for July 2025

With remarkable speed and determination, lawmakers have passed a stunning wave of educational gag orders that directly censor academic teaching, as well as laws that target tenure and traditional faculty governance, intervene in how academic and non-academic programs are run and overseen, manipulate accreditation practices, and mandate institutional neutrality in ways that silence important speech.

Censorship of higher education, it seems, is highly contagious.

Manic episodes and hypomanic episodes are periods of abnormally heightened or irritable mood, as well as increased activity or energy. There is no chemical test for them; diagnosis depends on recognising certain kinds of behaviour or thinking. The major guidelines for doing this are similar to each other, so here we’ll draw from definitions used in the latest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR).

The court has said that Tse’s failure to make an accurate income declaration goes beyond mere negligence and deserves criminal sanction.

China plans to offer subsidy coupons to ease the financial strain on its aging population and drive consumption of elderly-care services. The allowances will be paid monthly in the form of electronic coupons to cover part of the costs for seniors’ care services.

Over the last year and a half, American universities have rapidly destroyed the right to protest on campus. At the request of administrators, heavily armed police raided unarmed, nonviolent protesters opposing Israel’s war on Gaza. Encampments have been forcibly cleared, while extreme punishment has been used as a tool of intimidation. Some 3,100 students have been detained or arrested, and thousands more face severe university discipline—suspension, expulsion, and loss of degree.

So let’s suppose a professor declares that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, like the Nazis did in Europe. Would Columbia declare the statement antisemitic and subject the professor to disciplinary action? How about a staff member who says that “Zionism is racism”? Or a student who chants, “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free”? You might view all of these statements as antisemitic. And depending on who is talking and listening, I might agree with you. But I cannot — and will not — abide by a university that restricts our discussion of the matter.