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Beth Lowder
Beth Lowder
@bethlowder.bsky.social
Social work + public health in higher ed. Elder millennial. Here for the commentary, humor, and book recommendations. Opinions expressed here are my own. 🏳️🌈📚🎓
476 followers529 following82 posts
Beth Lowder reposted
Beth Lowder reposted
Medicare will cover GLP-1 drugs for weight loss for the first time beginning Wednesday. But the coverage is temporary, set to expire at the end of 2027. It is not known whether, or how, Medicare will continue coverage after its 18-month pilot.
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This week, the Department of Education announced that the Department of Justice would handle civil rights. But the Department of Justice announced a legal opinion saying that states do not need to provide community-based care for people with disabilities. www.cbsnews.com/news/doj-dis...
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Sen. Andy Kim said he had trouble breathing from the cloud of pepper spray ICE deployed as a growing crowd of protesters responding to an inmate hunger strike demonstrated outside. www.nj.com/news/2026/05...
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I took this video right before ICE pepper sprayed the crowd at Delaney Hall, including Senator Andy Kim. ICE was dressed like they're going to war, with weapons and an armored vehicle. That's because we are the enemy to them. We just keep standing up to this repression. @north.dsanj.org
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ICE agents pepper-sprayed Senator Andy Kim of New Jersey.
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UNC-Chapel Hill Trustees Reject Hiring of Tenured Women’s Studies Professor (by @koriedean.bsky.social) www.theassemblync.com/news/educati...
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This year, @americanrivers.bsky.social placed the Lumbee River on its list of Most Endangered Rivers due to contamination from PFAS & other “forever chemicals.” See their write-up here 👇🏽. I’m also dropping links below to some of my research on river’s environment, history, & cultural significance.
#DYK? 🤔 The Lumber River's dark, tea-colored waters wind through wetlands and forested floodplains, providing wildlife habitat, natural flood protection, and drinking water for thousands of people. www.americanrivers.org/river/lumber...
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Replying to @rmcunliffe.bsky.social
Who knew men attracted to a "lifestyle" where women have no economic independence and are confined to the home where they are cut off from support networks and sold the myth that their only value is as baby-making machines and sexual objects might exhibit "hostile sexism"! Who could have predicted!
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NYC friends—we have an exciting piece of news to add to your day: Registration for our anti-criminalization Communiversity is officially LIVE! 🎊 Workshops and classes will take place this August to November, and are for NYC-based folks. Learn more: www.interruptingcriminalization.com/communiversity
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Oh gosh. This is LITERALLY 95% of all Central Asian and Caucasus language education in the US and Canada (and like 75% of US+Canada+Western Europe) happens. This is an actual national security issue, beyond the academic loss. All of us that study former USSR went through their programs.
This is very, very bad. A new state law will likely force the closure of hundreds of low-enrollment programs at Indiana University. The cutoff is 15 graduates/year for undergrad majors, 7 for Masters programs, and 3 for PhD programs, averaged over 3 years. wfiunews.wordpress.com/2025/06/24/h...
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The 2025 Summer Institute presents a crucial opportunity for AAUP & AFT members to learn how to fight back against attacks on higher ed while continuing to advance our shared vision for the future. Attendance is FREE for AAUP & AFT members! Join us! Register Here! ⬇️ www.aaup.org/event/2025-a...
Beth Lowder reposted
This is very, very bad. A new state law will likely force the closure of hundreds of low-enrollment programs at Indiana University. The cutoff is 15 graduates/year for undergrad majors, 7 for Masters programs, and 3 for PhD programs, averaged over 3 years. wfiunews.wordpress.com/2025/06/24/h...
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The dismantling of the research apparatus that made America the science and tech giant it's been over the past century is the greatest own-goal in history. We haven't even begun to calculate or feel the losses
NEW: NSF will be kicked out of their building. Announcement will be made tomorrow by HUD Sec. and Governor of VA. HUD will take over the NSF building over the next two years. NSF staffer: "There is no planning for NSF, no identified future location, appropriation for a new building or a move."
Can’t let effective state governance get in the way of your summer vacations.
#ncga lawmakers plan to wrap up their session this week without a full budget agreement. That impasse prompted the state Senate and House to propose scaled-back spending bills — but so far they can't even agree on the details of that: www.wunc.org/politics/202... #ncpol
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The mood at our university is widespread uncertainty and fear. First we faced huge funding cuts as federal agencies and research programs were dismantled by Trump. Now we are at the mercy of our state legislature and university leadership who are taking the opportunity to cut funding even further.
UNC-CH initiated an administrative restructuring plan that has prompted concerns among staff about possible layoffs amid growing financial pressure on colleges around the country. @theassemblync.bsky.social www.theassemblync.com/education/hi...
Poor staff morale because of widespread layoff fears isn’t great for “operational effectiveness” or cost savings.
“While cost-savings is one of the drivers of this initiative, operational effectiveness is the primary goal,” a UNC-CH spokesperson told me. “We know this process may cause concern for people around campus, but it is too soon to say which positions will be impacted.”
UNC staff are an integral part of our campus communities and are vital to the successful function of our programs. “Centralization” in the name of efficiency has been tried before and failed. UNC leadership should find other ways to cut costs that won’t result in mass job losses.
UNC-CH initiated an administrative restructuring plan that has prompted concerns among staff about possible layoffs amid growing financial pressure on colleges around the country. @theassemblync.bsky.social www.theassemblync.com/education/hi...
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I still can't get past the idea that people in America are now supposed to accept that this is a valid form of law enforcement and just assume it's fine when random dudes in groups with face-coverings, no ID, no warrant, & no uniform grab people off the street and force them into unmarked vehicles
Not an original point but worth saying again - there is not a single element in this picture that identifies any of these folks as law enforcement agents. No badges, no uniforms, no vests. Out of context it just looks like a bunch of random guys are kidnapping a mayoral candidate.
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After ruling the NIH grant cuts were illegal yesterday, Judge Young, a Reagan appointee on the bench since 1985, ended the hearing with a blistering 15-minute speech. I've cleaned up my notes — here are his remarks in full. 🧵
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I am excited to share that @standupforscience.bsky.social is growing! We are looking to hire several positions including: - Event and volunteer coordination - Copywriting (press releases, emails, website, blogs, some social media) - Data analytics and research (marketing, not science 😉) 🧵
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The Department of Defense has confirmed that U.S. Marines detained a civilian—reportedly an Army veteran who crossed a yellow tape boundary on his way to an office of the Department of Veterans Affairs. This is an apparent violation of the Posse Comitatus Act. 1/16 www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...