Academic Mixtape Nine

a whole month's worth of good stuff

Here’s a nice piece of journalism in Science about the increase in unionization of grad students and postdocs, and how it’s compelling universities to change things for the better.

And a nice piece in Nature profiling five scientists who have moved on to careers outside academia.

My union is currently on strike! The LA Times did a good job covering this story today, showing how poorly compensated faculty are in the California State University, especially lecturers who are working full-time in career positions but not on the tenure track. I’m currently still at work, as our union is doing this as a series of one-day rolling strikes across various campuses, and the two universities I work for haven’t had one yet. Though if I’m hoping I’ll be able to find the opportunity to show up at one of the other striking campuses to walk the picket line.

Jezebel was shut down. The site was purchased by a big media company, and then they decided that it wasn’t in their interest to keep the site up [because it was covering important issues that hurt their model which involves not rocking boats for certain kinds of advertisers]. This is very sad.

An OpEd in The Washington Post by the president of the University of Montana points out that the media conversation about colleges and universities is all about the tiny number of highly prestigious institutions, and how elitist and misleading this is. Yup. I don’t really think his big talking points are on point but it’s still notable to show that when the media talks about “colleges,” they seem to be thinking about Harvard and Oberlin but nearly everybody attends places like FIU and Cal State Stanislaus.

A nice essay about that pokes a hole in the ballooning idea that university classrooms are hotbeds of leftwing extremism.

“I couldn’t move for a postdoc. Fellowship reviewers shouldn’t have penalized me for it.”

When you’re formatting a proposal or manuscript, and your definition of double-spacing doesn’t fit the guidelines, here’s a detailed writeup of a court decision on this matter that might have your back.

Here’s a preprint that quantitatively goes into the recent increase in writing labor by scientists and how this is putting a strain on the scientific publishing enterprise.

Substack has a Nazi problem. I realized when I came over to this site that they were also platforming some people and ideas that are harmful, and I have since learned that the problem is worse than I knew. I saw a lot of people who I respect with strong voices for sensibility and justice who have been here on Substack, so in that sense I have joined good company. But if they don’t get a lid on their Nazi problem, I’ll have to move again. Sigh.

“Master and Commander at 20: how a film about men fighting at sea is actually a safe harbour of positive masculinity.” (And while I think it’s a fine film, the source material is one of my favorites, by far. This link is just another opportunity for me to encourage you to delve into the Aubrey/Maturin series.)

Raising the visibility of Latin American science.

Lessons from alternative grading

How we name academic prizes matters.

The passing of trash: Sexual harasser and toxic PI David Sabatini has gotten someone to give him a position leading a lab, in Europe.

The bias against non-White scientists in the placement on editorial boards is even more stark than you might have imagined.

Here’s a very good obituary for Shane MacGowan, who left us this week.

In case you were wondering how drastic the changes are at universities in Texas because of their new anti-DEI laws. It’s a doozy.

So, Researchgate is partnering with MDPI? Yuck, they deserve one another.