12-4: cancelling spring break

✅ French Academics Fear Becoming Scapegoats in War on Terrorism 

The education minister says “left-wing Islamism” is “wreaking havoc” in French universities. 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     French academics fear being targeted by politicians from across the political spectrum in the run-up to the 2022 presidential election after the country’s education minister accused universities of creating an intellectual breeding ground for Islamic terrorism. 

     Following the beheading in mid-October of a teacher who showed pupils cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, researchers who focus on areas such as racism, Islamophobia and French colonialism have come in for unprecedented attack from parts of Emmanuel Macron’s government -- which was initially seen as a bastion against right-wing populism -- and from fellow academics. 

     “Linking all this to terrorism is what’s new,” said Simon Dawes, a media lecturer at the Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. 

     Academics have been accused of having “blood on your hands” for conducting certain types of research, argued Dawes, who has warned that academic freedom of speech could be under threat. 

     In the aftermath of the murder of the teacher, Samuel Paty, Jean-Michel Blanquer, the education minister, claimed that “left-wing Islamism” was “wreaking havoc” in French universities....

✅ U of Vermont to Cut 12 Majors, 11 Minors 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     The University of Vermont’s College of Arts and Sciences told faculty and staff members this week that an ongoing decline in enrollments, coupled with the pandemic, make necessary the termination of 12 “low-enrollment” majors, 11 minors and 4 master’s programs. Some departments may also be eliminated or combined. Programs pegged for elimination include classical civilization, geology, German, Greek, Asian studies, Latin American and Caribbean studies, Italian studies, Latin and religion....

✅ National Academies Release Guidance on Altering Student Behavior, COVID Testing 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     The National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine released guidance Tuesday on altering student behavior as it relates to COVID-19, as well as testing for the virus. 

     The first report from the National Academies makes recommendations for campus leaders looking to alter student behavior, using existing research in developmental psychology. 

     “Making a behavior easy to start and rewarding to repeat, tying a behavior to existing habits, providing alternatives to unwanted behaviors, and providing specific descriptions of desired behaviors are strategies that campus leaders can employ to make it more likely that protective behaviors will become habitual for students,” the National Academies said in a press release about the report. “Many adolescents and young adults are socially driven, with a strong desire for reward and acceptance. Identity, agency, and autonomy are centrally important during the college years.”…. 

✅ The Latest College Scorecard Is Out. Here’s What It Says About How Much Parents Borrow for Higher Ed. 

—CHE 

✅ CSU leaders urged to take aggressive action to limit spread of COVID-19 amid surge -- Presidents of the 23 campuses of the California State University system are being urged to delay the resumption of any face-to-face instruction— even for classes that have only a limited in-person component — and reassess plans for the end of fall term and beginning of spring term amid the dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases in California. Nina Agrawal in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 12/4/20 

✅ SDSU students in uproar after faculty cancels spring break -- But SDSU apparently went too far this week when its University Senate voted to cancel spring break to help minimize the spread of the virus at a school that has reported more student infections than any other college or university in California. Gary Robbins in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 12/4/20

Today's OC Covid numbers

Working on a piece about Williams and our attempt to tag him on junket abuse

 

12-3: Another mysterious monolith pops up; Salmon death mystery solved; Doubts about going to college; Don't be a 'pandejo' about the pandemic!

✅ Silverado residents say this fire is different: ‘This one is the real McCoy’ 

—OC Reg 

✅ Gavin Newsom announces new California stay-at-home order, determined by regional ICU capacity -- On Thursday, Newsom announced a new, regional stay-at-home order, which will force additional restrictions in any of the five regions of the state where fewer than 15% of intensive care units remain available. None of the regions — defined as Northern California, the Bay Area, Greater Sacramento, the San Joaquin Valley and Southern California — currently meet the threshold but some could “in the next day or two,” Newsom said. Evan Webeck in the San Jose Mercury$ Adam Beam Associated Press John Myers, Rong-Gong Lin II in the Los Angeles Times$ Alexei Koseff in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Victoria Colliver and Jeremy B. White Politico -- 12/3/20 

✅ Arellano: Don’t be a ‘pandejo.’ Take the pandemic seriously -- Never heard of the term? It’s of recent coinage, a portmanteau of “pandemic” and “pendejo,” the Mexican Spanish term for a blockhead. Pandejo is an uncharitable — but sadly accurate — word to describe Latino covidiots who proudly flout coronavirus protocols. Gustavo Arellano in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 12/3/20

✅ Scientists solve mystery of mass coho salmon deaths. The killer? A chemical from car tires -- These mysterious die-offs — an alarming phenomenon that has been reported from Northern California to British Columbia — have stumped biologists and toxicologists for decades. Numerous tests ruled out pesticides, disease and other possible causes, such as hot temperatures and low dissolved oxygen. Rosanna Xia in the Los Angeles Times$ Kurtis Alexander in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 12/3/20 

✅ Mysterious monolith pops up in SLO County — the first to appear in California -- A giant mystery awaits at the top of the Pine Mountain loop in Atascadero’s Stadium Park. The first glimpse of something unusual is the glint of sunlight off metal as you round a curve on one of the many trails hugging the hillside above the city. Kaytlyn Leslie in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 12/3/20

✅ Doubts About Going to College 

More than a third of prospective college students are reconsidering higher education. And 43 percent of prospective students for one- and two-year programs are looking to delay enrollment, survey finds. 

—Inside Higher Ed 

✅ Federal Judge Strikes Down Trump Visa Rules 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     A federal judge on Tuesday set aside two Trump administration rules that narrowed eligibility for H-1B skilled worker visas and substantially increased wages for many H-1B holders. Colleges joined with businesses in suing to roll back the rules, which the Trump administration promulgated without normal notice-and-comment procedures, citing emergency circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey S. White ruled that the government failed to demonstrate that the rise in domestic unemployment caused by the COVID pandemic justified skipping normal rule-making processes, concluding that the administration “failed to show there was good cause to dispense with the rational and thoughtful discourse that is provided by the APA's [Administrative Procedures Act's] notice and comment requirements.”

✅ College Scorecard Now Includes Wage Data Based on Field 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     In a move they said will help students get a better idea of how much they can borrow and afford to pay back, Education Department officials are expanding the College Scorecard to show how much graduates at institutions make based on their areas of study. 

    The scorecard now provides new median income data for students two years out from their date of graduation. At Princeton University, for example, graduates with a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering made $103,078 two years after graduation. Those who graduated with a bachelor’s in English language and literature, however, made $47,260. 

    “This is not to tell students not to pursue their jobs and passions,” but to give them the information they need to “borrow responsibly,” the department’s principal deputy under secretary, Diane Auer Jones said at the Federal Student Aid Training Conference Wednesday. 

✅ The 5 Biggest Lessons We’ve Learned About How Coronavirus Spreads on Campus 

The fall semester was chaotic, but a few revelations about controlling Covid-19 shone through. They could inform a safe spring semester. 

—CHE

Canyons burn in heavy wind; Wide area of evacuation

     Winds got started, late Monday, but not too strong at first. Hours later, my sister drove up (about 1:00 a.m.) to tell of a "big, fast-moving fire" headed our way. The winds were pretty strong by then. It didn't look good. (The fire came close enough to see and feel, back in 2007; we had to run.)

     Got a call from the Reb: the scariest fire yet, she said; everything on fire in this hellish wind. Their power had been cut; in darkness, they were informed by neighbors about the evacuation order. They were already evacuated, by the time they called, standing in a Mission Viejo parking lot worrying, with friends.

     Woke up to better news: the winds were dying down. No direct threat (to us, in Live Oak Cyn) for now, given the winds (moving to the Southwest, towards Loma Ridge). Under voluntary evacuation orders since last night. Still today. No appreciable winds, though; not here.

     In late afternoon, we were informed that our power would be cut some time in the next 24 hours. So I'll be out of commission as a blogger at that point. In communicado (lack of cell coverage) and nervous. Thank God for car radios and candles.

     All is well here, so far, however. The Reb and fam got to their cabin a hundred miles to the north. Their Modjeska home is likely OK for now. We're waiting for the dust to settle, find out what's happened exactly. Still don't know.

     It's been quite a year. And the craziness promises to continue. (5:00 p.m., 12-3-20)

Silverado Canyon Burns Again As Bond Fire Erupts Under High Winds 

—Voice of OC 

Article last updated at 11:31 a.m. 

     Evacuation zones for the rapidly-growing Bond Fire are being expanded to thousands of residents in communities near Orange County’s inland canyons, as the county’s third major wildfire of the season burns south from Silverado. 

     Officials announced mandatory evacuations mid-Thursday morning in the north Lake Forest communities of Portola Hills and Barrego Canyon, and evacuation warnings in nearby communities, including Trabuco Canyon. 

     Voluntary evacuation warnings also were issued for the North Tustin communities of Lemon Heights and Cowan Heights, as well as the northern Irvine neighborhood of Orchard Hills. That’s in addition to existing evacuation orders in the canyon communities of Silverado and Modjeska Canyon. 

     The fire spread rapidly overnight amid high winds, with 7,200 acres burned and 0% containment as of noon as hundreds of firefighters continued to battle the blaze. Multiple buildings are reported to have burned in the fire, which reportedly started as a structure fire. 

     “We have received reports that there may be multiple structures damaged from the fire. We are in the process of verifying the number involved and the extent of damage,” Orange County Fire Authority officials said via Twitter Thursday morning…. 

     It’s the second time in two months that a wildfire in Orange County’s residents are being urged to evacuate the inland canyons and nearby communities as a quickly-growing wildfire rages in the canyons....

Areas of evacuation

Actual fire area; see dot, bottom right; that's us

12-2: Student Loan Crisis Looms; S.F. bans tobacco smoking inside apartment buildings, allows cannabis smoking

✅ OC Continues to Grapple With Skyrocketing Coronavirus Cases and Hospitalizations 

State public health officials estimate 12 to 13% of new cases will end up in hospitals a few weeks down the road. 

—Voice of OC 

✅ Student Loan Crisis Looms 

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos didn't offer any reassurances as student loan borrowers near having to make payments again. 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     ….In less than a month, on Dec. 31, a moratorium President Trump had put in place excusing most borrowers from making payments on their loans will expire…. 

✅ The Number of International Students Is Shrinking. Here’s How That’s Affecting the Economy. 

—CHE 

     The economic fortunes of college towns have long been tightly linked to the students who learn and live there. But with fewer students attending college in the wake of the global pandemic — and with many who are enrolled learning from home — economic activity in some college communities has plummeted.

✅ The Moral Contortions of the New University 

Intellectual curiosity has been replaced by pro forma attention to representation. 

—CHE 

     You might recall the strange case of Matthew J. Mayhew, a professor of educational administration at Ohio State University. In late September he co-wrote an opinion piece in Inside Higher Ed enumerating the many supposed virtues of college football. A week later he issued, in the same venue, an abject apology for the piece, which, he now confessed, had not recognized the various ways his support of collegiate athletics perpetuated white supremacy, and had failed to center the voices of people of color. “I am just beginning to understand,” he wrote, “how I have harmed communities of color with my words. I am learning that my words — my uninformed, careless words — often express an ideology wrought in whiteness and privilege.”

✅ S.F. bans tobacco smoking inside apartment buildings, allows cannabis smoking -- San Francisco residents who live in apartment buildings with three or more units will no longer be allowed to smoke tobacco inside their homes — but they can still smoke cannabis, under a new ordinance the Board of Supervisors passed on Tuesday. Trisha Thadani in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 12/2/20

Please take note

 ✅ Justice Dept. investigated potential ‘bribery-for-pardon’ operation involving White House 

Court records show that U.S. prosecutors this summer and fall looked into a scheme in which a large political contribution would be offered in exchange for a presidential pardon.

—WashPo

12-1: November coronavirus surge a ‘train wreck in slow motion’; Anti-Black discrimination at Southwestern College?

✅ Many OC Businesses Might Be Shut Down by Gov. Gavin Newsom Because of Rapid Coronavirus Spread 

State public health officials project Southern California intensive care units could be maxed out before Christmas. 

—Voice of OC

     ….OC and all of Southern California counties are in the Purple Tier, the most restrictive tier, on the state’s reopening system because of rising case rates. That means no indoor operations restaurants, gyms, places of worship and movie theaters, while further limiting indoor operations at retailers. 

     State public health officials are ringing alarm bells, warning hospitals could be nearly maxed out with patients by Christmas time, unless additional measures are taken like more business restrictions and a stay-home order…. 

     Orange County saw its coronavirus hospitalizations increase threefold in less than a month — a rate never before seen locally in the pandemic. 

     The daily case increases and hospitalization trends are causing concern for local public health experts. 

     “It’s like we’re working our way backward to a new peak. And that’s not good. We want to keep going in the down direction and not in the up direction,” said UC Irvine epidemiologist and public health expert Andrew Noymer….. 

     “I’m worried about Thanksgiving. It won’t show up in the data until about a week after today. So watch out,” Noymer said in a Friday phone interview. “Absolutely brace for impact.”… 

✅ November coronavirus surge a ‘train wreck in slow motion’ -- Andrew Noymer, an epidemiologist at UC Irvine, said he is truly worried about how much the virus spread over Thanksgiving and what’s to come this winter. “We’re not going to just hit the July peak again, we’re going to exceed it,” he said. Nikie Johnson in the Los Angeles Daily News$ -- 12/1/20 

✅ California considers strict stay-at-home orders as COVID-19 cases projected to exceed ICU capacity -- Coronavirus cases are rising so rapidly that Gov. Gavin Newsom says if trends continue he may reimpose strict stay-at-home orders like he issued in March to prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. Sophia Bollag in the Sacramento Bee$ Don Thompson Associated Press Alexei Koseff in the San Francisco Chronicle$ Maggie Angst in the San Jose Mercury$ Luke Money, Rong-Gong Lin II in the Los Angeles Times$ Ian Wheeler in the Orange County Register -- 12/1/20 

✅ Early data on learning loss show big drop in math, but not reading skills -- Anational testing organization that predicted school closures last spring would leave students far behind where they should be academically as they entered schools this fall released data Tuesday showing the reality, while worrisome, was less dire. John Fensterwald EdSource -- 12/1/20 

✅ New lawsuit alleges years of anti-Black discrimination at Southwestern College -- It has been 18 months since researchers from the University of Southern California exposed “a palpable climate of anti-Blackness at Southwestern College” that included Black employees being called racial slurs and being overlooked for promotions. Gustavo Solis in the San Diego Union-Tribune$ -- 11/30/20 

✅ Scholar Faces Possible Death Sentence in Iran 

—Inside Higher Ed 

     A group of 153 Nobel laureates has signed a letter expressing concern for an imprisoned Swedish-Iranian disaster medicine scholar, Ahmadreza Djalali, who is reportedly facing possible imminent execution in Iran. As Politico reported, Djalali was sentenced to death in 2017 on charges of spying for Israel, charges he denies. Human rights groups have condemned his conviction as unfair, saying a confession was extracted under torture…. 

✅ Colleges Grapple With Grim Financial Realities; Net-tuition losses and steep discount rates augur a precarious spring. 

—CHE

✅ Justice Dept. investigated potential ‘bribery-for-pardon’ operation involving White House 

Court records show that U.S. prosecutors this summer and fall looked into a scheme in which a large political contribution would be offered in exchange for a presidential pardon.

—WashPo