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Dustin Avent-Holt

@daventholt.bsky.social
632 followers 361 following 40 posts

Professor of Sociology at Augusta University. Opinions are my own, not my employer.

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Reposted by Dustin Avent-Holt
SASE | The Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics @sasemeeting.bsky.social · 21/10/2025
💼 Why do some CEOs earn way more than others? Henriksen, Poulsen & Avent-Holt find: – Elite network ties boost CEO pay – Weak boards enable pay premiums – Worker wages drop after CEO windfalls Status drives inequality—from the top down. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/ser/... #SER @daventholt.bsky.social
doi.org
Elite corporate networks and CEO compensation: the causes and consequences of CEO pay premiums
Abstract. CEO compensation has expanded dramatically over the past half-century, with network processes playing a pivotal role. We advance research on thes
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Dustin Avent-Holt @daventholt.bsky.social · 24/05/2025
Funding awards are down in nearly every division, and total new awards approximate levels of new awards in the early 1990s. 🧪 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...
nytimes.com
Trump Has Cut Science Funding to Its Lowest Level in Decades
The lag in funding extends far beyond D.E.I. initiatives, affecting almost every area of science: chemistry, computing, engineering, materials and more.
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Reposted by Dustin Avent-Holt
Sociology papers (journals + SocArXiv) @socpaperbot.bsky.social · 15/05/2025
The four-day, thirty-two-hour week: analysing organisational success and failure osf.io/5mvcq The four-day week signals a shift in how work is organised, but what determines whether that shift takes hold across workplaces? While there is considerable evidence that a four-day week #sociology
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Reposted by Dustin Avent-Holt
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
As a reminder here: this is not Trump's money! He is impounding funds illegally based on the most obvious fig leafs to settle grievances. It is an extraordinary abuse of his public office. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/14/u...
As he finished lunch in the private dining room outside the Oval Office on April 1, President Trump floated an astounding proposal: What if the government simply canceled every dollar of the nearly $9 billion promised to Harvard University?

The administration’s campaign to expunge “woke” ideology from college campuses had already forced Columbia University to strike a deal. Now, the White House was eyeing the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university.

“What if we never pay them?” Mr. Trump casually asked, according to a person familiar with the conversation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the private discussion. “Wouldn’t that be cool?”
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Dustin Avent-Holt @daventholt.bsky.social · 10/04/2025
Trump administration canceling National Endowment for the Humanities' grants www.npr.org/2025/04/10/n...
npr.org
Where did U.S. humanities grants go? To projects from a baseball film to AI research
From AI research to historical preservation, programs funded by grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities reach every corner of the U.S. Now the government has terminated those grants.
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Reposted by Dustin Avent-Holt
Andrew Whitehead @andrew-whitehead.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
"those who credit manufacturing jobs f/ a glorious past America mistake correlation f/ causation. . .In reality, their parents & grandparents had that life b/c of unions, pensions, high marginal tax rates & strong social policies" 🎯 @jessicacalarco.bsky.social www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnb...
msnbc.com
Opinion | The manufactured nostalgia of Trump’s tariffs
Those who credit manufacturing jobs for a glorious past America mistake correlation for causation.
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Jameel Jaffer @jameeljaffer.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Universities’ current strategy—cower and capitulate—is failing spectacularly. They should go to court. www.thenation.com/article/soci...
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John Holbein @johnholbein1.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
Wow! Three scholars at Columbia, Michigan, & Maryland just introduced a measure of the partisan leanings of employers in the U.S. The data is constructed by linking voter registrations to online worker profiles. VRscores capture the political affiliations of 21.8M workers across 2.6M employers.
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Dan Hirschman @asociologist.bsky.social · 06/04/2025
“At a time when the world is down to a single drug that can reliably cure gonorrhea, the U.S. government has shuttered the country’s premier sexually transmitted diseases laboratory, leaving experts aghast and fearful about what lies ahead.” www.statnews.com/2025/04/05/c...
statnews.com
CDC’s top laboratory on sexually transmitted diseases is shut by Trump administration
The Trump administration fired everyone in a CDC lab that is crucial to tracking drug-resistant gonorrhea and other sexually transmitted diseases. "We are blind," an expert says.
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Reposted by Dustin Avent-Holt
McSweeney's @mcsweeneys.net · 05/04/2025
"I get my news from a broad variety of sources. I follow not only Elon Musk directly but also outlets that screenshot his posts without analysis."
mcsweeneys.net
I’m a Free-Thinking Centrist with Only Right-Wing Ideas
You’ve probably wondered about me, the independent thinker in your social network. I’m one part libertarian, one part populist, and one part common...
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Dustin Avent-Holt @daventholt.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
The administration is hobbling the #NEH. State humanities councils are gutted. www.nytimes.com/2025/04/03/a...
nytimes.com
Groups Are Told That Federal Humanities Grants Are Canceled
Letters informed grant recipients that funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities would be redirected to furthering “the president’s agenda.”
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 04/04/2025
This is politics by extortion. K-12 schools are being forced to choose between getting the federal funding they need and throwing their students under the bus. www.chalkbeat.org/2025/04/03/t...
The U.S. Department of Education is giving state education agencies 10 days to certify that their schools do not engage in any practices that the administration believes illegally promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Those that do not sign a certification that they are in compliance with the administration’s controversial interpretations of civil rights law will not receive any federal funding, officials said. Federal funding represents about 10% of all K-12 funding nationwide but makes up a larger share of local budgets in high-poverty districts.
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Kevin Gannon (now a Moo Deng fan account) @thetattooedprof.bsky.social · 04/04/2025
The Tumblr meme factory has kicked into gear
A man on his knees wearing a maga hat and the caption says "thank you president trump for defeating my WOKE retirement savings"
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Dustin Avent-Holt @daventholt.bsky.social · 23/03/2025
If this is how universities reapond to a survey from the Chronicle of Higher Education… #highered www.chronicle.com/article/we-a...
chronicle.com
We Asked Colleges How They Would React to Demands From Trump. They Wouldn’t Say.
The possibility became more real on Friday, when Columbia University agreed to make changes in response to a letter from the Trump administration.
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Reposted by Dustin Avent-Holt
PEN America @penamerica.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
“Columbia’s concessions today strike at core principles of academic freedom and self-governance in the higher education sector,” says Kristen Shahverdian, PEN America's program director for Campus Free Speech. Full statement: pen.org/press-releas...
pen.org
Columbia University’s Concessions Strike at Core Principles of Academic Freedom and Self-Governance - PEN America
Columbia University capitulates to federal government setting dangerous precedents striking at core academic freedoms
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Dustin Avent-Holt @daventholt.bsky.social · 16/03/2025
“What is really happening here is an attack on the American faith in knowledge as a value and a public good that has served us well.” www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | The View Inside Trump’s Assault on Universities (Gift Article)
The Trump administration’s attacks on universities will lead to the permanent diminishment of vital American institutions.
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Dustin Avent-Holt @daventholt.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
A lot of comments on the attempt to dismantle an academic department. Equally alarming is the demand to centralize power into the university president.
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Reposted by Dustin Avent-Holt
David Rothkopf @djrothkopf.bsky.social · 14/03/2025
"Why Welcoming the Nazis is Better for the People of France" by Marshal Philippe Petain.
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Dustin Avent-Holt @daventholt.bsky.social · 13/03/2025
Trump targeting the NEH. www.nytimes.com/2025/03/12/a...
nytimes.com
Chair of National Endowment for the Humanities Leaves at Trump’s ‘Direction’
Shelly C. Lowe, a scholar of higher education and the first Native American to lead the agency, was appointed by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
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Reposted by Dustin Avent-Holt
The Wall Street Journal @wsj.com · 11/03/2025
The Trump administration has terminated $800 million in grants to Johns Hopkins University, spurring the nation’s top spender on research and development to plan layoffs and cancel health projects
wsj.com
Johns Hopkins Plans Staff Layoffs After $800 Million Grant Cuts
Local and international health research efforts are already winding down as the university braces for even more potential cuts.
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Dan Hirschman @asociologist.bsky.social · 12/03/2025
Information produced by the state is a public good. This administration seems dead set on destroying basically all public goods, from public health to education to weather forecasting. It’s breathtaking in its simplicity and its harm.
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Dustin Avent-Holt @daventholt.bsky.social · 11/03/2025
Because the military is not a social institution I guess… 🧪
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Richard M. Carpiano, PhD, MPH @rmcarpiano.medsky.social · 10/03/2025
“It is the policy of NIH not to prioritize research activities that focuses gaining scientific knowledge on why individuals are hesitant to be vaccinated and/or explore ways to improve vaccine interest and commitment...Therefore, the award is terminated.”
washingtonpost.com
NIH to terminate or limit grants related to vaccine hesitancy and uptake
The order covers more than 40 awards to researchers around the country seeking to understand why vaccine acceptance has declined.
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Barbara J Risman @drbjrisman.bsky.social · 09/03/2025
Pure scientific censorship. Welcome to the American Soviet Society …https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00703-1 @academicsky
nature.com
Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants
Studies that touch on LGBT+ health, gender identity and DEI in the biomedical workforce could be terminated, according to documents obtained by Nature.
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Mariana Mazzucato @mazzucatom.bsky.social · 07/03/2025
School meals are more than just food—they're an investment in our future. My article for @newstatesman.com explains how a mission-oriented approach can tackle food insecurity while catalysing innovation across sectors for sustainable food systems and economic growth. Read more ➡️ buff.ly/igLY61e
buff.ly
A mission for a better country and economy
Universal school meals are not just good social policy. They can help shape dynamic markets that are green and inclusive
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 06/03/2025
Cutting the Department of Education to save money is like cutting your fingernails to lose weight.
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Beth Popp Berman @epopppp.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
The constant illegality is exhausting. And the extended nature of all this is going wear people down, as what was initially shocking becomes par for the course.
nature.com
Exclusive: NIH to terminate hundreds of active research grants
Studies that touch on LGBT+ health, gender identity and DEI in the biomedical workforce could be terminated, according to documents obtained by Nature.
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Elizabeth Wrigley-Field @wrigleyfield.bsky.social · 06/03/2025
New escalation of direct censorship of fully vetted research that is well underway, at significant cost, & employing many highly-skilled people who will face immediate layoffs without warning When you stop a research project in the middle, you don't get half of the information. You may waste it all
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Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 05/03/2025
Let's just be clear about this--Reagan was not in any way a good president. And without him, we wouldn't be in this whole mess right now. 🧵1/
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Cas Mudde @casmudde.bsky.social · 02/03/2025
Last December I did a podcast interview with @prospectmagazine.co.uk about "Super Election Year 2024," looking back and forward. You can listen to it here. 👇
youtube.com
Why the far right keeps winning | Cas Mudde on the Prospect Podcast
YouTube video by Prospect Magazine
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Ken Kolb @kenkolb.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
Got motivated to write an op-ed after reading Citizen Scholar by @philipncohen.com. Print version of this piece ran statewide in South Carolina in Post and Courier on Friday. Non-paywalled version here. Please help spread the word. We need to push back open.substack.com/pub/kenkolb/...
open.substack.com
Sunlight, not Censorship
When the government restricts what can be learned from the facts, we all suffer.
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Dustin Avent-Holt @daventholt.bsky.social · 28/02/2025
“People will die,” said Dr. Catherine Kyobutungi, executive director of the African Population and Health Research Center, “but we will never know, because even the programs to count the dead are cut.” www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/h...
nytimes.com
U.S. Terminates Funding for Polio, H.I.V., Malaria and Nutrition Programs Around the World
Here are some of the 5,800 contracts the Trump administration formally canceled this week in a wave of terse emails.
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Beth Popp Berman @epopppp.bsky.social · 26/02/2025
It is really hard to watch people willfully tear down an infrastructure that allowed us to double lifespans, drastically reduce poverty, and become one of the richest countries in the world.
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Dustin Avent-Holt @daventholt.bsky.social · 27/02/2025
“Undermining the NSF is not just a threat to universities and researchers — it is a threat to the well-being of every American.” 🧪 www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
chronicle.com
The Rise (and Fall?) of the National Science Foundation
In the ’50s, America declared science an “endless frontier.” We may be reaching the end of it.
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Beth Popp Berman @epopppp.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
The American Sociological Association joins the American Federation of Teachers in filing suit over the Dear Colleague letter. democracyforward.org/wp-content/u...
Text: 59. For example, it is not clear which of the following activities OCR would consider
a violation of the Letter:
○ Teaching a college course on the history of the U.S. South and Jim Crow, urban
policy and planning, modern American history, or the history of housing and
segregation.
○ Leading a class discussion on the history of slavery in America or Japanese
internment during World War II.
○ Maintaining Departments of African American Studies, Arab American Studies,
Asian American Studies, or Jewish Studies.
○ Hosting a celebration for Black History Month, Holi, Eid, or Lunar New Year.
○ Hosting a Latin American culture club or a Japanese film club.
○ Counseling a student who was called a racial or ethnic slur and is upset about that
experience.
○ Maintaining a school mission built around advancing excellence and equity.
○ Telling students they cannot use a racial slur and explaining why other students
might find the slur hurtful.
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Dustin Avent-Holt @daventholt.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
Excellent piece by @ebharrington.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/o...
nytimes.com
Opinion | Trust Was Once an American Superpower
Undermining one of our country’s greatest and least-appreciated assets.
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Yourqueerprof @drcompton.bsky.social · 25/02/2025
“We’ve gone dark,”
motherjones.com
LGBTQ federal workers brace for a McCarthyist purge
"They’re not asking people, ‘Are you gay? Are you lesbian?’ They’re asking, ‘Who is participating in DEI?'"
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Tom VanHeuvelen @tvanheuvelen.bsky.social · 24/02/2025
Let's say that one wanted to go from 0 to computational social science. With the end goal being to write a real research paper using this approach. What are the texts and resources that you would suggest to achieve this goal?
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Branko Milanovic @brankomilan.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
My today's Substack: Poison for the soul Review of David Lay Williams’s “The Greatest of All Plagues” branko2f7.substack.com/p/poison-for...
branko2f7.substack.com
Poison for the soul
Review of David Lay Williams’s “The Greatest of All Plagues”
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Dustin Avent-Holt @daventholt.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
Do not obey in advance. 🧪
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Kristian Bernt Karlson @kbkarlson.bsky.social · 21/02/2025
We're hiring a fully funded PhD student in #sociology here in wonderful Copenhagen! Please share! Learn more 👇 employment.ku.dk/phd/?show=16...
employment.ku.dk
PhD scholarship at the Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen (UCPH)
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Tim Clancy @viewfromarchstreet.com · 20/02/2025
Thousands of workers and subject matter experts fired across multiple science and regulatory agencies cen.acs.org/careers/empl...
cen.acs.org
Thousands of federal employees fired from US regulatory and science funding agencies
Impacts expected to be wide reaching
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Jesse Rothstein @jrothst.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
It seems almost unavoidable at this point that we are headed for a deep, deep recession. Just based on 200K+ federal firings & pullback of contracts, the March employment report (to be released April 4) seems certain to show bigger job losses than any month ever outside of a few in 2008-9 and 2020.
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Katie Hinde @mammalssuck.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
The current administration has launched an assault on everything that has made America safer, stronger, and smarter, so that the country can be stripped down and corruptly sold for spare parts. #StopTheSwindle
Vintage poster that shows a sleeping Lady Justice with the banner "Wake Up, America!"
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Katie Hinde @mammalssuck.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
I escaped poverty because I am a scientist. And I am a scientist because of the National Science Foundation. A 🧵:
A Lady Professor with brown hair and glasses, wearing a scarf in red, green, yellow, & black, a gift from an incredible lactation  consultant, sitting in in front of cactus.
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Dannagal Goldthwaite Young @dannagal.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
Over 650 political scientists who have dedicated our lives to the study of democracy & government, have signed this letter enumerating our deep concerns about this administration’s actions that undermine the Constitution and the rule of law. Please share. urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=htt...
urldefense.proofpoint.com
Political science statement.pdf
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Dustin Avent-Holt @daventholt.bsky.social · 19/02/2025
As the new administration attacks the Arts, artistists are pushing back. A world without science and the arts makes us all worse off. www.nytimes.com/2025/02/18/a...
nytimes.com
Hundreds of Artists Call on N.E.A. to Roll Back Trump’s Restrictions
A letter signed by 463 playwrights, poets, dancers, visual artists and others pushes back against new grant requirements that bar the promotion of diversity or “gender ideology.”
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Dustin Avent-Holt @daventholt.bsky.social · 18/02/2025
This is a great thread highlighting what this administration’s actions are doing to higher ed. And remember that this is what they want, to break universities in the US.
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The Conversation U.S. @us.theconversation.com · 17/02/2025
Evolving intelligent life took billions of years − but it may not have been as unlikely as many scientists predicted
buff.ly
Evolving intelligent life took billions of years − but it may not have been as unlikely as many scientists predicted
Humans evolved late in Earth history. While this timing inspired the conclusion that humanlike life is a cosmic improbability, a new study pushes back.
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DrArchivalGenomics @ehekkala.bsky.social · 17/02/2025
🧪👇🔥😡
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