@cstross

Out of curiosity, I just checked.

The place to go on the #FediVerse for #BrownFriday plumber posts is Mastodon.Social.

Both MastodonApp.UK and Mastodon.Scot have had the hashtag since 2023, but only MastodonApp.UK has pulled the Mastodon.Social posts.

Toot.Wales, SFBA.Social, Mstdn.Social, and Mstdn.CA all have the same 1 BlueSky #BrownFriday post, from yesterday; and Mastodon.London and Glasgow.Social have not yet had any posts with that hashtag at all.

(-:

#brown #QI #FediTips

I thought it would be easier to find a non-white #transgender #translator of #Japanese to English on here, but when I asked a few weeks back I got nothing but crickets. Surely there is someone on here who fits that description? The pay is pretty good by contemporary standards of #manga #translation! Drop me a line! Connect me with your friend/acquaintance/colleague who fits this description! Anyway, please boost! #BIPOC #Black #Brown #Indigenous

I thought it would be easier to find a non-white #transgender #translator of #Japanese to English on here, but when I asked a few weeks back I got nothing but crickets. Surely there is someone on here who fits that description? The pay is pretty good by contemporary standards of #manga #translation! Drop me a line! Connect me with your friend/acquaintance/colleague who fits this description! Anyway, please boost! #BIPOC #Black #Brown #Indigenous

#BrownUniversity Rejects #Trump #Extortion Attempt

#Brown was the second #university to turn down the *deal*, which would have given a #funding preference to #universities that agreed to conform to #conservative *values* including #censorship & restrictions on #InternationalStudents.

#law #US #Constitution #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #education #democracy #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/us/brown-university-trump-compact-funding.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

The proposal, for which the #Trump admin asked #Brown & 8 other universities to submit feedback by Monday, calls for limits on #InternationalStudents, potentially “abolishing institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle & even spark violence against conservative ideas,” & policies enshrining “that #AcademicFreedom is not absolute,” among other conditions.
#extortion #law #US #Constitution #FirstAmendment #education #democracy #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny

“I am concerned that the compact by its nature & by various provisions would restrict #AcademicFreedom & undermine the #autonomy of #Brown’s governance, critically compromising our ability to fulfill our mission,” the #university’s president, Christina H. Paxson, told #Trump admin officials in a letter Wednesday.

#extortion #law #US #Constitution #FirstAmendment #education #democracy #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny

#Brown was the 2nd #university to rebuff the government’s proposal of so-called compact, after #MIT did so last week. But Brown’s decision was likely to carry extraordinary weight in #HigherEducation because it had previously reached a settlement with the #Trump admin to restore hundreds of millions in #federal #research #funding.

#extortion #law #US #Constitution #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #education #democracy #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny

#BrownUniversity Rejects #Trump #Extortion Attempt

#Brown was the second #university to turn down the *deal*, which would have given a #funding preference to #universities that agreed to conform to #conservative *values* including #censorship & restrictions on #InternationalStudents.

#law #US #Constitution #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #education #democracy #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/us/brown-university-trump-compact-funding.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

#BrownUniversity Rejects #Trump #Extortion Attempt

#Brown was the second #university to turn down the *deal*, which would have given a #funding preference to #universities that agreed to conform to #conservative *values* including #censorship & restrictions on #InternationalStudents.

#law #US #Constitution #FirstAmendment #AcademicFreedom #education #democracy #authoritarianism #autocracy #dictatorship #fascism #tyranny
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/15/us/brown-university-trump-compact-funding.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Update. #Brown just rejected the Trump compact. Here's the public letter from Brown President Christina Paxson.
https://www.brown.edu/sites/default/files/brown-response-federal-compact-10-15-2025.pdf

"Brown’s existing agreement with the federal government expressly affirms the government’s lack of authority to dictate our curriculum or the content of academic speech -- a principle that is not reflected in the Compact."

h/t #WilliamCross

#Academia #AcademicFreedom #AcademicMastodon #Censorship #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #TrumpVResearch #Universities #USPol #USPolitics

Update. " #NIH freezes funds to #Harvard and four other universities, but can’t tell them."
https://www.science.org/content/article/nih-freezes-funds-harvard-and-four-other-universities-can-t-tell-them
( #paywalled)

"After freezing all grants to #Columbia University last week, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) is now stopping grant and contract payments to Harvard University and four other universities [ #Brown, #Northwestern, #Cornell, #WeillCornell Medical School]…The move will both block new funding and halt payments to investigators currently working on NIH projects…The Department of Health and Human Services ( #HHS)…instructed NIH staff not to provide any communication to these institutions or to Columbia about whether the funds are frozen or why, according to the email."

#Academia #DefendResearch #Funding #Trump #USPol #USPolitics
@academicchatter