Sasha Gusev

I wrote about the recent symposium on Greg Clark's forthcoming book on genetics and social mobility. Clark uses large-scale lineage data to argue that social status in England can be entirely explained by genetic transmission. 🧵

I call this "vibe heritability", where the researcher is already convinced of a genetic model and then simply eyeballs various correlations to argue that it holds up. Clark and his advocates in the symposium repeatedly employ it as a rhetorical strategy.

I wrote about the recent symposium on Greg Clark's forthcoming book on genetics and social mobility. Clark uses large-scale lineage data to argue that social status in England can be entirely explained by genetic transmission. 🧵

In his response, Clark goes back to his database and re-evaluates the status correlations among twins. He concludes that all is fine and the data is perfectly consistent with his additive model. But his calculations are erroneous.

I wrote about the recent symposium on Greg Clark's forthcoming book on genetics and social mobility. Clark uses large-scale lineage data to argue that social status in England can be entirely explained by genetic transmission. 🧵

I and others (e.g. Benning et al - biorxiv.org/content/10.1...) have argued that this model is unable to distinguish genetic from non-genetic heritable processes, and that the parameters the model finds are nonsensical.

I wrote about the recent symposium on Greg Clark's forthcoming book on genetics and social mobility. Clark uses large-scale lineage data to argue that social status in England can be entirely explained by genetic transmission. 🧵

It is good to keep in mind that Trump & co's attacks on these disciplines have faced their biggest challenge in courts, typically on 1st amendment, academic freedom, and labor law grounds (see examples below). So I would like to see the left move towards, not away, from defending such principles.

A Tennessee professor who was fired over comments in the wake of Charlie Kirk's shooting won a $2M settlement from her university on first amendment grounds.

It is good to keep in mind that Trump & co's attacks on these disciplines have faced their biggest challenge in courts, typically on 1st amendment, academic freedom, and labor law grounds (see examples below). So I would like to see the left move towards, not away, from defending such principles.

A bill on Oklahoma that would prevent teachers and professors from teaching about race, sex, and implicit bias faced a temporary injunction that prevented its implementation (litigation is ongoing).

It is good to keep in mind that Trump & co's attacks on these disciplines have faced their biggest challenge in courts, typically on 1st amendment, academic freedom, and labor law grounds (see examples below). So I would like to see the left move towards, not away, from defending such principles.

The "STOP Woke" Act in Florida, which prohibited university professors from discussing race and sexism, was struck down by the courts on academic freedom and 1A grounds.

Seeing some arguments for firing Cofnas like this one, that (scare quotes) academic freedom should not apply to pseudo-scholarship and taxpayers shouldn't fund scholar-activism. I think this is wrong. /1

Academic freedom is both a core principle and, ultimately, leads to better science -- it must be defended. /x

Seeing some arguments for firing Cofnas like this one, that (scare quotes) academic freedom should not apply to pseudo-scholarship and taxpayers shouldn't fund scholar-activism. I think this is wrong. /1

It is not the role of university administrators to evaluate the merit of a topic being studied; silly or wrong-headed research questions can produce useful answers when evaluated with rigor. Whereas a culture of research fear leads to lower quality science.

Seeing some arguments for firing Cofnas like this one, that (scare quotes) academic freedom should not apply to pseudo-scholarship and taxpayers shouldn't fund scholar-activism. I think this is wrong. /1

Academia is a unique space where people can pursue controversial questions wherever they lead. If the work is pseudoscience (and, in my view, Cofnas' race science clearly is), academia has effective channels for response: public criticism and peer-review.

I wrote a little bit about the data on recent DEI efforts in academic hiring (inspired by some recent articles). A few interesting charts and hot takes below. 🧵

And a neutral academic pipeline *together* with accelerated senior faculty retirement dwarfs any of other policies being considered (purple).

I wrote a little bit about the data on recent DEI efforts in academic hiring (inspired by some recent articles). A few interesting charts and hot takes below. 🧵

I simulated alternative hiring policies over the past 25 years. First, the total number of minority faculty today still lags behind the counterfactual where hiring from the PhD pool was completely race neutral.

I wrote a little bit about the data on recent DEI efforts in academic hiring (inspired by some recent articles). A few interesting charts and hot takes below. 🧵

If we focus on new faculty hires in the "DEI era", a trend emerges: general hiring dropped due to pandemic hiring freezes, but minority hiring remained stable or slightly increased. The outcome: ~160 minority faculty/year over the counterfactual. So about 1 person per campus.

I wrote a little bit about the data on recent DEI efforts in academic hiring (inspired by some recent articles). A few interesting charts and hot takes below. 🧵

First, the proportion of faculty at major research institutions remains overwhelmingly white, with the largest recent growth coming from Asian faculty. The apparent demise of the white professor has been greatly exaggerated.