Charlie Eaton
@charlieeaton.bsky.social
Economic sociologist. University of California, Merced professor. Author Bankers in the Ivory Tower. Subscribe: https://charlieeatonphd.substack.com
Pinned
Bankers in the Ivory Tower: The Troubling Rise of Financiers in US Higher Education
Buy Bankers in the Ivory Tower: The Troubling Rise of Financiers in US Higher Education: Read Kindle Store Reviews - Amazon.com
www.amazon.com
To my surprise, my book is on sale for just $3.99 on Kindle!
With big endowments under fire and elite universities fighting for their lives, the book tells part of the story for how we got here.
With big endowments under fire and elite universities fighting for their lives, the book tells part of the story for how we got here.
Vitamin i seems pretty effective to me.
JD Vance calls ibuprofen "useless medication" and implies it's not "necessary, safe and effective."
November 13, 2025 at 9:59 PM
Vitamin i seems pretty effective to me.
Reposted by Charlie Eaton
always on point from @charlieeaton.bsky.social
Elite universities should forge a new social contract with disenchanted Americans, not with the oligarchs behind Trump's "Compact."
open.substack.com/pub/charliee...
Elite universities should forge a new social contract with disenchanted Americans, not with the oligarchs behind Trump's "Compact."
open.substack.com/pub/charliee...
An Academic Social Contract
Elite universities should forge a new social contract with disenchanted Americans, not with the oligarchs behind Trump's "Compact."
open.substack.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:14 PM
always on point from @charlieeaton.bsky.social
Elite universities should forge a new social contract with disenchanted Americans, not with the oligarchs behind Trump's "Compact."
open.substack.com/pub/charliee...
Elite universities should forge a new social contract with disenchanted Americans, not with the oligarchs behind Trump's "Compact."
open.substack.com/pub/charliee...
Reposted by Charlie Eaton
Hiked premiums haven't even gone into effect yet
October 29, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Hiked premiums haven't even gone into effect yet
"Shadow student debts" is a much better term for what we've normally called institutional student debts or sundry debts. Nice contribution. @debtcollective.bsky.social @dalie.bsky.social ir.library.louisville.edu/cgi/viewcont...
ir.library.louisville.edu
October 20, 2025 at 10:33 PM
"Shadow student debts" is a much better term for what we've normally called institutional student debts or sundry debts. Nice contribution. @debtcollective.bsky.social @dalie.bsky.social ir.library.louisville.edu/cgi/viewcont...
President Trump just eliminated federal funding for Hispanic Serving Institutions in higher ed. Our new paper "White Flight in Higher Education?" has insights on the politics of racial avoidance behind Trump's assault on these schools.
Open access in: @soceducation.bsky.social.
Open access in: @soceducation.bsky.social.
White Flight in Public Higher Education? Racial Avoidance of Hispanic-Serving Institutions - Laura T. Hamilton, Charlie Eaton, Simon Cheng, 2025
Latine college students in the United States face increasing isolation in universities designated as Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs). We contend that this ...
journals.sagepub.com
August 28, 2025 at 11:25 PM
President Trump just eliminated federal funding for Hispanic Serving Institutions in higher ed. Our new paper "White Flight in Higher Education?" has insights on the politics of racial avoidance behind Trump's assault on these schools.
Open access in: @soceducation.bsky.social.
Open access in: @soceducation.bsky.social.
This intra-elite power struggle has implications for efforts to save freedom and democracy in the US. I'm looking forward to thinking with this piece.
Silicon Valley Godzilla vs. Wall Street Mothra
The only two sectors thriving in Trump’s economy are increasingly sparring with each other.
prospect.org
August 7, 2025 at 3:21 PM
This intra-elite power struggle has implications for efforts to save freedom and democracy in the US. I'm looking forward to thinking with this piece.
"The size of the Supreme Court... has been changed in the past through ordinary legislation. Between 1863 and 1869, Republicans changed the Court’s size three times: first adding a tenth seat to give Abraham Lincoln an extra appointment." 1 /3
The Premature Guide to Post-Trump Reform
American history offers three general strategies of repair and renewal.
prospect.org
August 4, 2025 at 6:59 PM
"The size of the Supreme Court... has been changed in the past through ordinary legislation. Between 1863 and 1869, Republicans changed the Court’s size three times: first adding a tenth seat to give Abraham Lincoln an extra appointment." 1 /3
I don't see how democracy survives if the next Democratic president does not unpack the court.
let's take stock here:
(Democratic) Presidents, via the Dept of Education, can't cancel student debt because statutes don't clearly authorize it.
Republican Presidents can cancel/shut down the Dept of Education because, even though only Congress can shut down departments ..., ... 🤷♀️ YOLO?
(Democratic) Presidents, via the Dept of Education, can't cancel student debt because statutes don't clearly authorize it.
Republican Presidents can cancel/shut down the Dept of Education because, even though only Congress can shut down departments ..., ... 🤷♀️ YOLO?
BREAKING: The Supreme Court allows the Trump administration to move forward with the abolition of the Department of Education. It gives no explanation for its order. All three liberals dissent. www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
From Sotomayor's dissent:
From Sotomayor's dissent:
July 15, 2025 at 1:23 AM
I don't see how democracy survives if the next Democratic president does not unpack the court.
What could possibly go wrong?
President Donald Trump demanded that energy producers keep down oil prices following US military strikes on Iran, which drove prices higher amid fears of a wider conflict in the Middle East
Trump Warns Against Rising Oil Prices Following Iran Attack
President Donald Trump demanded that energy producers push down crude prices following US military strikes on Iran, amid fears that an escalating Middle East conflict and supply disruptions could extend the recent surge on oil markets.
bloom.bg
June 23, 2025 at 7:37 PM
What could possibly go wrong?
So a president who has military parades for his birthday is anti war?
June 20, 2025 at 4:27 AM
So a president who has military parades for his birthday is anti war?
I was Ruben Gallegos curious until he voted for this bill.
Trump Administration Live Updates: Senate Passes Cryptocurrency Bill, a Win for Industry
www.nytimes.com
June 17, 2025 at 11:37 PM
I was Ruben Gallegos curious until he voted for this bill.
My latest: Trump's war on universities is not a bottom-up assault responding to working class resentment. It is driven by tensions between techno-financial elites, their professional workforce, and the elite universities that embedded the rise of both groups.
The Elite War on Universities
Video and notes from my University of Chicago lecture.
www.charlieeaton.net
June 17, 2025 at 9:05 PM
My latest: Trump's war on universities is not a bottom-up assault responding to working class resentment. It is driven by tensions between techno-financial elites, their professional workforce, and the elite universities that embedded the rise of both groups.
Down is up. War is peace. Dictatorship is democracy.
Kristi Noem: "We are not going away. We are staying here to liberate the city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that this governor and that this mayor have placed on this country and what they have tried to insert into the city."
Sen. Alex Padilla is then forcibly removed!
Sen. Alex Padilla is then forcibly removed!
June 12, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Down is up. War is peace. Dictatorship is democracy.
I hope they televise this show trial.
Another prominent Democrat Pam Bondi arrested w/o presenting to a GJ.
Especially egregious here given that complaint just guesses what David Huerta is communicating on his phone.
This is literally, "he was texting on his phone so entered into a conspiracy."
www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
Especially egregious here given that complaint just guesses what David Huerta is communicating on his phone.
This is literally, "he was texting on his phone so entered into a conspiracy."
www.documentcloud.org/documents/25...
June 10, 2025 at 2:50 AM
I hope they televise this show trial.
This is truly something to behold.
June 6, 2025 at 4:08 AM
This is truly something to behold.
Reposted by Charlie Eaton
Social scientists have called this out for a while. From my own work to Latrica Best, Aaron Panofsky, Evelyn Hammonds, Reanne Frank, Alondra Nelson, Jonathan Kahn, Oliver Rollins, Rina Bliss, Ruha Benjamin, Troy Duster, & many more. Race as proxy fails because racial groups are not a genetic reality
June 6, 2025 at 1:17 AM
Social scientists have called this out for a while. From my own work to Latrica Best, Aaron Panofsky, Evelyn Hammonds, Reanne Frank, Alondra Nelson, Jonathan Kahn, Oliver Rollins, Rina Bliss, Ruha Benjamin, Troy Duster, & many more. Race as proxy fails because racial groups are not a genetic reality
To my surprise, my book is on sale for just $3.99 on Kindle!
With big endowments under fire and elite universities fighting for their lives, the book tells part of the story for how we got here.
With big endowments under fire and elite universities fighting for their lives, the book tells part of the story for how we got here.
Bankers in the Ivory Tower: The Troubling Rise of Financiers in US Higher Education
Buy Bankers in the Ivory Tower: The Troubling Rise of Financiers in US Higher Education: Read Kindle Store Reviews - Amazon.com
www.amazon.com
June 3, 2025 at 11:28 PM
To my surprise, my book is on sale for just $3.99 on Kindle!
With big endowments under fire and elite universities fighting for their lives, the book tells part of the story for how we got here.
With big endowments under fire and elite universities fighting for their lives, the book tells part of the story for how we got here.
I did an interview on Elite Embeddedness & why financiers like to be university trustees. @Chronicle.com also spoke to financier & Penn trustee Scott Bok who said we got it right: “[It's] a networking business. It’s useful... to be on a board that has people from all kinds of different industries.”
Does it feel like private-equity guys are suddenly everywhere talking about higher ed? Perhaps because they are: A paper out earlier this year found a big rise in the percentage of top-ranked university trustees who are private-equity and hedge-fund managers: www.chronicle.com/article/priv...
Private-Equity Wealth Is Growing on the Most Prestigious University Boards, Study Finds
“That’s become a political vulnerability,” one researcher said.
www.chronicle.com
June 2, 2025 at 8:47 PM
I did an interview on Elite Embeddedness & why financiers like to be university trustees. @Chronicle.com also spoke to financier & Penn trustee Scott Bok who said we got it right: “[It's] a networking business. It’s useful... to be on a board that has people from all kinds of different industries.”
Reposted by Charlie Eaton
Coverage of the important work by @charlieeaton.bsky.social & colleagues about private equity in higher ed 👇
Does it feel like private-equity guys are suddenly everywhere talking about higher ed? Perhaps because they are: A paper out earlier this year found a big rise in the percentage of top-ranked university trustees who are private-equity and hedge-fund managers: www.chronicle.com/article/priv...
Private-Equity Wealth Is Growing on the Most Prestigious University Boards, Study Finds
“That’s become a political vulnerability,” one researcher said.
www.chronicle.com
June 2, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Coverage of the important work by @charlieeaton.bsky.social & colleagues about private equity in higher ed 👇
Reposted by Charlie Eaton
From a different angle, it gives you a peek at the dynamics @charlieeaton.bsky.social and Albina Gibadullina discuss in their recent paper on the rise of financiers on university boards.
With billionaires on the march, we just published a paper about how the financiers among them are socially embedded through top university trustee positions. We find that these trustee ties to other elites help private equity firms to increase returns. academic.oup.com/ser/advance-...
Elite embeddedness: the rise of financiers on university boards as parallel social organizations
Abstract. We develop a theory of elite embeddedness in which social organizations parallel to the economy can provide advantages via private information an
academic.oup.com
June 1, 2025 at 5:44 PM
From a different angle, it gives you a peek at the dynamics @charlieeaton.bsky.social and Albina Gibadullina discuss in their recent paper on the rise of financiers on university boards.
Reposted by Charlie Eaton
From an Odd Lots episode last month, here's the head of hedge funds at Blackstone discussing tapping the Brown alumni network when he was the CIO of the endowment there.
omny.fm/shows/odd-lo...
omny.fm/shows/odd-lo...
June 1, 2025 at 5:44 PM
From an Odd Lots episode last month, here's the head of hedge funds at Blackstone discussing tapping the Brown alumni network when he was the CIO of the endowment there.
omny.fm/shows/odd-lo...
omny.fm/shows/odd-lo...
Just say no.
A lot of people are replying on the assumption that this is the Trump administration. This is an initiative of Governor Gavin Newsom. A $2K limit on assets in a state where that would not cover monthly rent for most.
May 30, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Just say no.
I guess I should have seen this coming
May 30, 2025 at 2:31 AM
I guess I should have seen this coming
I increasingly struggle to imagine any way out the US authoritarian turn that doesn't involve the next Democratic President unpacking the Supreme Court.
May 23, 2025 at 11:45 PM
I increasingly struggle to imagine any way out the US authoritarian turn that doesn't involve the next Democratic President unpacking the Supreme Court.
So much winning.
May 23, 2025 at 11:17 PM
So much winning.