As reported initially by The Intercept, George Mason University suspended its Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter in early November. The suspension followed a raid at the family home of two Palestinian American GMU students, sisters who had both served as SJP presidents. GMU Police Chief Carl Rowan Jr. subsequently served the sisters with criminal trespass notices barring them from campus for four years, effectively expelling them without due process. The November raid was carried out by GMU and Fairfax County police, who reportedly refused to show the family a search warrant. The FBI may also have been involved in the raid. Authorities told the family the raid was related to a spray-paint vandalism incident on the GMU campus in August. A recent Washington Post article on the incident adds more information about the raid on the family's home and the response by the family’s lawyer.

A large coalition of advocacy groups has released a statement protesting GMU's actions.

DCSS previously provided two news items (here and here) regarding an ASA member “Resolution for Justice in Palestine” that was approved in May.

The Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA) Social Science Advocacy Day will be March 24-25, 2025 in Washington, DC.

"Advocacy Day brings together social and behavioral scientists and science advocates from across the  country to engage with policymakers. The stakes for research funding have never been higher as we enter a particularly challenging political and budgetary environment. Social Science Advocacy Day is a must for all stakeholders who care about the fate of federal funding for social and behavioral science research and who believe this research should be used to inform sound public policy."

See more information on the COSSA events page.

The Spencer Foundation is committed to equitable education systems where all students, educators, families, and communities can thrive.

Spencer is launching a new initiative on AI and education. The initiative will support novel research on key, forward-leaning topics on AI, equity, and education. Ultimately, the initiative aims to offer evidence-based guidance that centers the needs of young people so that the technology solutions, systems, and policy directions we are utilizing and building contribute to the learning and thriving of all students.

In addition, Spencer has released a new set of white papers focused on what we know about culturally responsive and relevant approaches to teaching and learning. A growing body of research shows students learn best when they feel a sense of belonging and when teachers recognize and draw on cultural and community-aligned ways of thinking, doing, and learning. This research calls for new approaches to teaching and learning, centering the social and emotional needs of learners, and teaching in ways that incorporate communities and families.

The Fulbright-Hays Seminars Abroad program provides U.S. educators in the arts, social sciences and humanities with opportunities to participate in short-term seminars abroad to improve their understanding and knowledge of the peoples and cultures of other countries. In summer 2025, the seminar for postsecondary faculty members will be "Building Bridges Across the Aegean: Cultural Heritage and Sustainability Seminar in Greece and Türkiye."

Program officers will hold a virtual “office hour” Wednesday Dec. 18 from 3 to 5 p.m. (ET). Anyone thinking about applying to the program is welcome to attend for part or all of the time block and may ask questions or just listen to what others are asking. To join, click the following link: Join Office Hours on Microsoft Teams, or call in to the meeting at 202-991-0393 and dial the meeting ID 401 171 772#.

Additional questions about the program or application can be emailed to seminarsabroad@ed.gov. More information is available through the program website.

From the Social Science Research Council (SSRC):

State and local governments are responsible for delivering vital public goods and services, including health, education, safety, clean energy, and growth-oriented infrastructure. Yet these governments have little capacity to build the data and evaluation infrastructures that would enable more effective delivery of these important goods and services.

In partnership with several universities in the SSRC’s College and University Fund for the Social Sciences, SSRC recently co-authored a Day One 2025 Policy Memo for the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) calling on the newly elected Congress to establish a network of “Policy Experiment Stations” or policy innovation labs in every state. These labs, hosted by universities and supported by federal and state appropriations, would provide state and local governments with much needed capacity to build integrated data infrastructures and evaluate the efficacy of their programs and policies.

Read more on the FAS website.

The Fulbright-Hays Group Projects Abroad (GPA) program provides grants to support overseas projects in training, research, and curriculum development in modern foreign languages and area studies for teachers, students, and faculty engaged in a common endeavor. Projects may include short-term seminars, curriculum development, group research or study, or advanced intensive language programs.

There are group projects in research, training, and curriculum development. Projects must focus on the humanities, social sciences and languages, and must focus on one or more of the following areas: Africa, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, the Western Hemisphere (Central and South America, Mexico, and the Caribbean), East Central Europe and Eurasia, and the Near East. Applications that propose projects focused on Canada or Western Europe will not be funded.

The deadline to apply is Jan. 21, 2025.

See the program page on the USED website for complete information. Additionally, the GPA program officer will host a live question-and-answer session on Wednesday, Dec. 4, from 4 to 5 p.m. (Eastern Time). See "How to Apply" on the website.

The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) is offering "Teaching with AI," a series of workshops designed to prepare faculty for a new era of human learning. January 27 – February 17, 2025, Mondays from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. ET (Virtual).

"The emergence of powerful generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools is having a significant and disruptive impact on higher education today. Almost immediately after the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, students began leveraging AI to help with a variety of course-related tasks, often including the completion of writing and other types of assignments. Meanwhile, nearly all business sectors now anticipate using generative AI in the workplace, and many are already reporting challenges in filling roles that require AI skills.

"While the initial inclination may have been to limit AI’s influence in the classroom, higher education now faces the challenge of preparing students for a world where working with AI is increasingly likely to be a job expectation and a sought-after competency."

See complete information about the workshops on the AAC&U website. Note that many colleges and universities have institutional memberships that may allow faculty members to participate for a reduced price.

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NIHCD) presents the Fellowship and Career Development Information Series. These virtual Q&A sessions describe funding mechanisms that support training and career development and allow participants to get answers from NICHD experts.

For complete information, see the event website.

The IPUMS Big Microdata Network and NDIRA, a collaboration between IPUMS and the University of Minnesota Life Course Center, are currently accepting submissions for the 2025 Data-Intensive Research Conference, to be held in person in Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 6 - 7, 2025; key components of the program will also be available to virtual participants. The conference theme is Understanding Health and Population Dynamics through Big Microdata. The deadline to apply is January 31, 2025. 

There has been an explosive growth in the quantity of census microdata available for social science and health research. Researchers now have access to full-count individual-level microdata from the U.S. Census spanning 1850 to the present when combining IPUMS full count data with resources available through the Federal Statistical Research Data Center. Similar resources exist in other countries with full count census data and population registers.  Full count microdata are a powerful resource for operationalizing historical and present-day contexts; linking persons, families, or communities to examine trajectories; and elucidating experiences of small demographic groups that often cannot be studied with the available sample in other data sources.

See the complete announcement on the UM website

From the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA):

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the Census Bureau have paused plans to reduce the Current Population Survey (CPS) sample in January 2025, due to a provision in the recently passed continuing resolution that allows BLS to spend CPS funds at a faster rate.

See previous COSSA coverage of this issue here.