Public space is a negotiation of rights and privileges; of claimed public and private space that extend not only to humans but to all species.
As a people, what we think, what we do and what we believe represent our public space.
If we are to get along we need to own and use our public space to clear the air through mindfulness, activism, and compromise. To achieve that goal we need civility, fairness, and empathy.
It starts with people in diverse communities who are willing explore and share. In this way public space becomes stronger and more courageous.
How we honor this ownership of public space with mindfulness and action will determine our survival.
Escaping idiocracy
It’s been evolving for some time. It cumulated in a guy with a megaphone who said on January 6 - do not think.
This same guy, now president of the US, has some kind of twisted emotional intelligence about intelligence.
On one hand, he singles out people, with a veneer of hero worship, saying “very smart…, he/she is very, very smart.”
While on the other hand he is compelled to evoke the hounds of hell on universities. He attacks people who disagree with his sweeping and nonsensical words and he kicks people out of his country who might be smarter than he is.
He has attacked science across the board, libraries, higher education, k-12 public education, archives, governmental organizations, many created before he was born, museums, the arts, countries, and the list goes on.
So, the counter to the reigning idiocracy is either to fight back or leave the country.
When it comes to the institutions of higher learning it is understandable that leaving or not coming to this country in the first place is a good idea for a number of reasons; whether this is a matter of ideology, opportunities, funding or a desire to complete unfinished or unrealized research.
A culture of fear and repression as universities become an enemy of free speech is another reason for leaving.
Because this isn’t just about one guy with some sort of pathological fear of intelligence. It is nothing short of a collusion on the part of universities that were created to produce innovation and foster intelligence and protect freedom of thought and speech.
Who would want to be part of such a betrayal?
Seeking Asylum
America was historically a magnet for brain drains from other countries. Now the US is experiencing its own brain drain as a consequence of Trump’s actions.
In The Guardian -March 24 universities across the country have reduced their intake of PhD students, medical students and other graduate students. They have implemented hiring freezes and even rescinded offers of admission.
In response to this plight in the US, France’s research minister recently sent a letter to French universities seeking “concrete proposals” on how to lure researchers from the US, according to Agence France-Presse.
In University World -News Aix Marseille University launched an initiative earlier this month called a Safe Place for Science, which will invest between €10 million (US$10.8 million) and €15 million to support about 15 researchers. The offer has so far attracted more than 50 applicants.
In Gizmo In a press release about its “Safe Space for Science” initiative, the University announced that the 40 U.S. scientists included people from Stanford, Yale, NASA, the National Institute for Health, and George Washington University.
There was an interest in research topics were related to “health (LGBT+ medicine, epidemiology, infectious diseases, inequalities, immunology, etc.), the environment and climate change…as well as the humanities and social sciences…and astrophysics….
“Yi Rao, a neurobiologist at Peking University, former president of Capital Medical University, and prominent Trump critic, contacted researchers at the institution to offer his help. “I was shocked to learn of the vast cancellation of grants and contracts,” he wrote in an email reported in Science.
Rao added “if any good scientist … wants to have a stable position for conducting scientific research, please do not hesitate to contact me.”
At the University of Lausanne, oncologist Johanna Joyce, president-elect of the European Association for Cancer Research, says unsolicited applications to her lab from U.S.-based scientists have risen fivefold since January.
Danielle Cave, director of Executive, Strategy, and Research at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, has pushed for fast-track visas or permits to top U.S. scientists, an idea that has also been under discussion in Norway and other countries in recent weeks.
Not capitalizing on the situation “would be wasting a unique opportunity,” she said.
Dutch scientists and institutions have had discussions with American colleagues about possible relocations, and some Dutch institutions are considering joining the effort to attract talent. The Netherlands has been described as a "brain exchange" country, with a high circulation of scientists and international collaboration.
Flemish Education Minister Zuhal Demir (N-VA) is preparing an appeal to all universities, encouraging them to welcome American scientists. "Many research projects currently underway have not yet been completed," he explained.
Spokesperson Lorenzo Terrière said "Researchers from the United States could help us carry them out."
Many countries see a unique opportunity. On the other hand, many of those countries face funding problems. Consequently, the fear is that many of the best and brightest will simply leave their professions.
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