Alex Usher

@alexusherhesa.bsky.social

Posts

Higher Education. All of it. All around the world. Also: snark, sumo and significant amounts of bitching about Toronto FC.

I blog here: https://higheredstrategy.com/blog/
I podcast here: https://worlded.transistor.fm/

Posts Replies Media

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Alex Usher

Also worth noting: by the time most colleges close, a ton of deferred maintenance has piled up and there may even be major remediation needed. Throw in rural locations and there isn't a line of people interested in the real estate of most campuses.

Why It’s So Hard to Figure Out What to Do With a College Campus When It Closeswww.chronicle.com Leaders face a host of challenges navigating what’s next for the acres of green space, ready-to-use facilities, and historic architecture that will soon have no occupants.

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Always read @cantb.bsky.social on higher ed. (This one's on shared governance.)

Process Versus Outputsbrendancantwell.substack.com Different views on the how to assess higher education.

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I heard a cybertruck referred to as an incel-camino and I'm never not calling it that again

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Alex Usher

I am old enough to remember that the leader of the historically anti-semitic Greater Romania Party went to Auschwitz to prove his philo-semitic credentials. And, yes, anyone trying to proclaim being philo-semitic is telling on themselves. saideman.blogspot.com/2019/08/trum...

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I may be biased, but I think if Biden let a “fuck Duke” loose at a rally, he’d go up like 5 points

Hating Duke is like the only thing that binds the nation

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Just know that some political party is going to run on bringing back bag milk and be elected to a massive majority government.

Milk in bags, long a symbol of Canadian oddballism, may be on its way out. But who would we be if our milk came in cartons? Without milk in bags, would Ontario just be upstate New York? — by Corey Mintz

What is Ontario without bagged milk? | TVO Todayamp.tvo.org OPINION: Not to be overly dramatic, but if bagged milk disappears then so does a part of our provincial heritage.

Still completely traumatized by this dream I had last night in which shadowy forces were insisting - forcing - me to write a novel about hospital budgeting in the magical realist style. All the excel spreadsheets were open, but no prose was flowing.

My top ten higher education links for the week: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

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It's Tim Berners-Lee i feel sorry for. It's like inventing the library only to find corporations have replaced all the books with finger traps that steal your identity and somehow use all the water in Arizona.

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What a marvellous metaphor for what Elon has done to Twitter.

The Boring Company’s one dumb tunnel under Vegas that shuttles tourists back and forth in Teslas at 40 mph is full of toxic sludge that burns and permanently scars anyone who touches it.

Elon Musk’s Tunnel Reportedly Oozing With Skin-Burning Chemical Sludgefuturism.com Elon Musk's Boring Company has only built a few miles of tunnel underneath Vegas — but those tunnels have taken a toxic toll.

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Daughter has asked me to take her to a Vampire Weekend concert. Can't tell if she is making fun of me or not.

Either Love and Death or Broadcast News.

Recite 80% of a movie and you get 500k. What movie are you picking?

My blog on trends in the student labour market. The news is surprisingly positive. higheredstrategy.com/students-and...

higheredstrategy.com

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Alex Usher

Some of you will never see Heaven and that is a fact

Barefoot Oreo Wine (2021-2022): A limited edition collaboration, this red wine, while not made with Oreos, is made to evoke Oreos, with the addition of "flavors of chocolate and cookies and creme along with notes of oak." Shipped with a pack of Oreo thins for pairing.

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Time for my favourite internet find of all time

American HE tweeps. I'm obsessed with this new Jacob Light paper on supply & demand of college courses (drive.google.com/file/d/1Y1c8...) but I'm deeply puzzled by one aspect of his dataset: is it normal for US public colleges to list course enrolment in a public space available for scraping?

Take a step back from the immediate carnage of the intl student mess and you can see how we might be on the cusp of a truly new era in PSE financing. New financial models are needed, fast, and we need to work together to make them a reality. higheredstrategy.com/the-dawn-of-...

higheredstrategy.com

On the podcast today, a quick trip to New Zealand to look at the wreckage of Labour's first-year fees free program, which improved access by almost exactly nil, and survey the even weirder new Last year fees free program. Have a listen. worlded.transistor.fm/episodes/2-1...

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Alex Usher

#SorryNotSorry

Morning. Today I try to work out what provinces will do in reaction to the announced federal changes in student aid. Policy challenge varies widely, from "business as usual" in Quebec to "utter shitshow" in Ontario. higheredstrategy.com/what-comes-n...

All the details on what;s changed with respect to international students, visas and post-graduate work permits in one place. higheredstrategy.com/the-new-inte...

On the blog today, I delve into the question of whether Queen's is actually running out of money. If by that you mean "is Queen's the next Laurentian?" the answer is no, but the situation is neverthless pretty ugly. higheredstrategy.com/is-queens-ru...

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“Come on Eileen” - Dexys Midnight Runners (1982)

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This is really quite beautiful. www.theplayerstribune.com/posts/pascal...

Toronto Forever | By Pascal Siakamwww.theplayerstribune.com Toronto made me feel like I belonged from day one.

Cumulative Source of Surplus, Queen’s University, 2013-14 to 2022-23, in Millions.

First podcast of 2024 on what I think might be *the* global higher education story of 2024: what will be the fate of Argentina's universities under its new anarcho-libertarian (with a pronounced authoritarian streak) President, Javier Milei? worlded.transistor.fm/episodes/2-1...

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That's it, wrap it up: Bill Ackman retweeting Elon Musk quote-tweeting James Lindsay to blame Boeing's safety issues on DEI is peak entitled rich white guy self-affirmation session, we're never topping this.

A Federal Court ruling last month has created massive uncertainty about the ability of Canadian institutions to recruit foreign graduate students. Fedgov needs to come up with some more exact rules - fast. higheredstrategy.com/a-deeply-unh...

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In Wisconsin, even higher ed events end up being commemorated with specialty beers.

La Crosse brewery releasing 'Hot For Chancellor' beer after UW-La Crosse chancellor was fired for ap...www.jsonline.com The beer's can features a cartoon chancellor running — cap and gown flying off — while carrying a bowl of fruit.