5 ms·

Alaska’s scientists despair over plan to shrink state universities

657df026-caa 7y ago
It is a little buried in there, but it is worth noting that the cut in funding is going to have a major impact on some important climate change research groups and facilities. It should not be a surprise that the governor who scrapped the funding is a Republican. This isn't just a part of an anti-government or even anti-education strategy, it is a part of the war on science (specifically regarding climate change).
- aaronbrethorst 7y ago
  I found this link via https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/carnage https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/carnage, which includes another link to a bomb-shell of a piece on the 'consultant' who's spearheading this effort: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/meet-the-right-wing-consultant-who-goes-from-state-to-state-slashing-budgets https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/meet-the-right-wing-consu...
  - 657df026-caa 7y ago
    For those who did not click, this consultant is "the itinerant grim reaper of state budgets who has for more than twenty years been going from state to state when a new Republican governor comes into power cutting state spending down to the bone and making way for tax cuts for the wealthy." For some of these people, I honestly have a hard time telling just how much they actually believe in these policies, and how much it happens to serve their other ideological interests by proxy even though they know full well that their economic policies of choice are a load of malarkey. I mean, history has shown a trail of bodies from these kinds of moves.
    - quibbler 7y ago
      "Making way tax cuts for the wealthy" - yeah, that article is totally not biased.
- kartan 7y ago
  > This isn't just a part of an anti-government or even anti-education strategy Big corporations should be paying way more taxes. It would be a good way to avoid creating such undemocratic centers of power. Education is a human right: Article 26. (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. * https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/ https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/
  - atmosx 7y ago
    Uneducated population doesn’t understand the repercussions of their choices and can be easily controlled through FUD. There have been regimes (e.g. Portugal’s military dictatorship) who made lack of education an official policy.
    - mistermann 7y ago
      This implies educated people can't also be easily controlled. It may require different specific tactics, but I see little evidence that they can't also be controlled, generally speaking.
    - molmalo 7y ago
      Your post sparked curiosity in me, and I googled it... but according to Wikipedia, the Portuguese dictatorship expanded literacy to cover most of the population, and also made a: > strong investment in secondary and university education, which experienced in this period one of the fastest growth rates of Portuguese education history to date. [1] So, it seems like Wikipedia contradicts your statement... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estado_Novo_(Portugal)#Education https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estado_Novo_(Portugal)#Educati...
      - 657df026-caa 7y ago
        While that is true in this specific instance, history is pretty rife with dictators slaughtering entire classes of educated people. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge are the first example I have off the top of my head.
- mattkrause 7y ago
  The UA system does a lot of unique research. Similar cuts hit (say) UNC or Berkely would be a tragedy too, but a lot of the people and projects could move to Duke or Stanford pretty easily. Not many places have icebreaker research vessels like the RV Sikuliaq, herds of reindeer and muskoxen (UAF's large animal research station), or giant RF transmitters for studying the ionosphere (HAARP--and no, it doesn't control the weather).
  - ksaj 7y ago
    > (HAARP--and no, it doesn't control the weather) Or your mind. The first time I ever heard of HAARP was a wonky conspiracy theory that it was being used for mind control, purposely dumbing down the masses, no less. Once I discovered what it actually is, I found it quite interesting.
tibbydudeza 7y ago
All to increase the yearly state handout to Alaskans and yet folks decry socialism ... how ironic.
- Sojuwa 7y ago
  Universities are increasingly becoming worthless high school extensions, and right-wing indoctrination centers. Hardly worth keeping -- with state funds. Let them pay for that themselves.
foota 7y ago
I would imagine the universities contribute quite significantly to their local economies, this could harm them quite a bit.
- NegativeLatency 7y ago
  Not as much as oil sadly
rconti 7y ago
I've been to UAF and stayed in the dorms -- it's gorgeous. Ted Stevens channeled tons of federal funds into his state over the years. [1] I can't pretend to understand Alaska's budget situation, but, in my opinion, it's a goddamned shame to cut off your state's future. [1] https://www.dermotcole.com/reportingfromalaska/2018/9/1/mccain-targeting-pork-barrel-spending-in-alaska-like-no-one-else https://www.dermotcole.com/reportingfromalaska/2018/9/1/mcca...
- NegativeLatency 7y ago
  There’s an NPR podcast called Midnight Oil that goes into detail about a lot of Alaska’s modern history revolving around oil extraction and the associated wealth fund that generates the PFDs (dividends that get handed out every year) https://www.npr.org/podcasts/532251021/midnight-oil-the-big-thaw https://www.npr.org/podcasts/532251021/midnight-oil-the-big-...
Bud 7y ago
Just a side note: this was #1, as it should be, and a few right-wingers very very obviously flagged it for political reasons and knocked it entirely off the front page. Which should be actionable.
- burfog 7y ago
  It might not be exactly political. We seem to get about a dozen articles per day on climate change and that just gets tiresome. Dedicated climate change blogs are elsewhere. When I look at the new articles just now, 3 out of 30 are obviously about climate change. That's 10%, which is absurd. I probably missed several, because I just looked at headlines. Of course people are going to play whack-a-mole with that. Flipping your judgement around, did you like the article for political reasons? We could equally well say this: "a few left-wingers very very obviously upvoted it for political reasons and spammed it on to the front page. Which should be actionable." We're not supposed to be doing political battle on Hacker News. There were other articles that could have been used, without beating a dead horse. Here is one, with an insightful comment section, that doesn't needlessly push the climate guilt trip: https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/07/16/university-of-alaska-faces-major-budget-cuts-could-drop-40-degree-programs/ https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/07/16/university-of-alas... Even better would be an article that actually lists the degree programs being kept and cut. There should be some concern about the loss of research that would help with petroleum extraction and mining, or a confirmation that those important programs are safe. There could be some mention of HAARP.
- dang 7y ago
  I'm afraid that's not accurate. (Isn't it fascinating how something that didn't happen can be "very very obvious"?) Rather, a moderator downweighted it because this story has had several major discussions on HN recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20383708 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20383708 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20479471 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20479471 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20548701 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20548701 No important story ever feels like it gets enough discussion on HN, because frontpage space is the scarcest resource here: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=true&page=0&query=by:dang%20scarce https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme.... It's important to avoid repetition because the goal of the site is to gratify curiosity. When there's an ongoing story, one test we apply is whether there is significant new information in a new submission: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0&query=by:dang%20%22significant%20new%20information%22 https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme.... In this case I don't think the bar was met.

It is a little buried in there, but it is worth noting that the cut in funding is going to have a major impact on some important climate change research groups and facilities. It should not be a surprise that the governor who scrapped the funding is a Republican. This isn't just a part of an anti-government or even anti-education strategy, it is a part of the war on science (specifically regarding climate change).

aaronbrethorst 7y ago
I found this link via https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/carnage https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/carnage, which includes another link to a bomb-shell of a piece on the 'consultant' who's spearheading this effort: https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/meet-the-right-wing-consultant-who-goes-from-state-to-state-slashing-budgets https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/meet-the-right-wing-consu...
- 657df026-caa 7y ago
  For those who did not click, this consultant is "the itinerant grim reaper of state budgets who has for more than twenty years been going from state to state when a new Republican governor comes into power cutting state spending down to the bone and making way for tax cuts for the wealthy." For some of these people, I honestly have a hard time telling just how much they actually believe in these policies, and how much it happens to serve their other ideological interests by proxy even though they know full well that their economic policies of choice are a load of malarkey. I mean, history has shown a trail of bodies from these kinds of moves.
  - quibbler 7y ago
    "Making way tax cuts for the wealthy" - yeah, that article is totally not biased.
kartan 7y ago
> This isn't just a part of an anti-government or even anti-education strategy Big corporations should be paying way more taxes. It would be a good way to avoid creating such undemocratic centers of power. Education is a human right: Article 26. (1) Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages. Elementary education shall be compulsory. Technical and professional education shall be made generally available and higher education shall be equally accessible to all on the basis of merit. * https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/ https://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/
- atmosx 7y ago
  Uneducated population doesn’t understand the repercussions of their choices and can be easily controlled through FUD. There have been regimes (e.g. Portugal’s military dictatorship) who made lack of education an official policy.
  - mistermann 7y ago
    This implies educated people can't also be easily controlled. It may require different specific tactics, but I see little evidence that they can't also be controlled, generally speaking.
  - molmalo 7y ago
    Your post sparked curiosity in me, and I googled it... but according to Wikipedia, the Portuguese dictatorship expanded literacy to cover most of the population, and also made a: > strong investment in secondary and university education, which experienced in this period one of the fastest growth rates of Portuguese education history to date. [1] So, it seems like Wikipedia contradicts your statement... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estado_Novo_(Portugal)#Education https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estado_Novo_(Portugal)#Educati...
    - 657df026-caa 7y ago
      While that is true in this specific instance, history is pretty rife with dictators slaughtering entire classes of educated people. Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge are the first example I have off the top of my head.
mattkrause 7y ago
The UA system does a lot of unique research. Similar cuts hit (say) UNC or Berkely would be a tragedy too, but a lot of the people and projects could move to Duke or Stanford pretty easily. Not many places have icebreaker research vessels like the RV Sikuliaq, herds of reindeer and muskoxen (UAF's large animal research station), or giant RF transmitters for studying the ionosphere (HAARP--and no, it doesn't control the weather).
- ksaj 7y ago
  > (HAARP--and no, it doesn't control the weather) Or your mind. The first time I ever heard of HAARP was a wonky conspiracy theory that it was being used for mind control, purposely dumbing down the masses, no less. Once I discovered what it actually is, I found it quite interesting.

tibbydudeza 7y ago

All to increase the yearly state handout to Alaskans and yet folks decry socialism ... how ironic.

Sojuwa 7y ago
Universities are increasingly becoming worthless high school extensions, and right-wing indoctrination centers. Hardly worth keeping -- with state funds. Let them pay for that themselves.

foota 7y ago

I would imagine the universities contribute quite significantly to their local economies, this could harm them quite a bit.

NegativeLatency 7y ago
Not as much as oil sadly

rconti 7y ago

I've been to UAF and stayed in the dorms -- it's gorgeous. Ted Stevens channeled tons of federal funds into his state over the years. [1] I can't pretend to understand Alaska's budget situation, but, in my opinion, it's a goddamned shame to cut off your state's future. [1] https://www.dermotcole.com/reportingfromalaska/2018/9/1/mccain-targeting-pork-barrel-spending-in-alaska-like-no-one-else https://www.dermotcole.com/reportingfromalaska/2018/9/1/mcca...

NegativeLatency 7y ago
There’s an NPR podcast called Midnight Oil that goes into detail about a lot of Alaska’s modern history revolving around oil extraction and the associated wealth fund that generates the PFDs (dividends that get handed out every year) https://www.npr.org/podcasts/532251021/midnight-oil-the-big-thaw https://www.npr.org/podcasts/532251021/midnight-oil-the-big-...

Bud 7y ago

Just a side note: this was #1, as it should be, and a few right-wingers very very obviously flagged it for political reasons and knocked it entirely off the front page. Which should be actionable.

burfog 7y ago
It might not be exactly political. We seem to get about a dozen articles per day on climate change and that just gets tiresome. Dedicated climate change blogs are elsewhere. When I look at the new articles just now, 3 out of 30 are obviously about climate change. That's 10%, which is absurd. I probably missed several, because I just looked at headlines. Of course people are going to play whack-a-mole with that. Flipping your judgement around, did you like the article for political reasons? We could equally well say this: "a few left-wingers very very obviously upvoted it for political reasons and spammed it on to the front page. Which should be actionable." We're not supposed to be doing political battle on Hacker News. There were other articles that could have been used, without beating a dead horse. Here is one, with an insightful comment section, that doesn't needlessly push the climate guilt trip: https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/07/16/university-of-alaska-faces-major-budget-cuts-could-drop-40-degree-programs/ https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2019/07/16/university-of-alas... Even better would be an article that actually lists the degree programs being kept and cut. There should be some concern about the loss of research that would help with petroleum extraction and mining, or a confirmation that those important programs are safe. There could be some mention of HAARP.
dang 7y ago
I'm afraid that's not accurate. (Isn't it fascinating how something that didn't happen can be "very very obvious"?) Rather, a moderator downweighted it because this story has had several major discussions on HN recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20383708 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20383708 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20479471 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20479471 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20548701 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20548701 No important story ever feels like it gets enough discussion on HN, because frontpage space is the scarcest resource here: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=true&page=0&query=by:dang%20scarce https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme.... It's important to avoid repetition because the goal of the site is to gratify curiosity. When there's an ongoing story, one test we apply is whether there is significant new information in a new submission: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=false&page=0&query=by:dang%20%22significant%20new%20information%22 https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme.... In this case I don't think the bar was met.