Maya Sen | Lightnews

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 12d

I think it depends on who in the Trump administration you ask

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 12d

There are no good guys here. Not Harvard. Not the Trump admin. Not the leakers. And probably not these reporters.

a woman in a yellow sweater is making a funny face and giving the middle finger .

ALT: a woman in a yellow sweater is making a funny face and giving the middle finger .

media.tenor.com

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 12d

The narrative of Harvard’s leadership courageously fighting this battle on principled moral grounds is just not true

It’s more that they wanted this wrapped up a while ago but the Trump admin has been too erratic & incompetent and asking too much

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 12d

“Harvard officials, already anxious about the prospect of backlash to any settlement with a president many on campus see as autocratic, are sensitive to the details of any agreement.”

What most people don’t realize is that Harvard’s admin wanted to settle months ago

www.nytimes.com/2025/12/24/u...

In Private Letters, Harvard and Trump Administration Escalate Duel

www.nytimes.com

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 14d

What could go wrong?

President Trump signals that the new ships with be designed with artificial intelligence capabilities, saying A.I. will be a “big factor” when it comes to these ships.

Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 14d

BREAKING: The Trump administration is suing D.C. over its ban on semi-automatic (AR-15) weapons.

DOJ's Civil Rights Division under Harmeet Dhillon is seeking a court ruling that D.C.'s law "prohibiting registration of the AR-15 by law-abiding citizens violates the Second Amendment."

4. Specifically, the District denies law-abiding citizens the ability to register a wide variety of commonly used semi-automatic firearms, such as the Colt AR-15 series rifles, which is among the most popular of firearms in America, and a variety of other semi-automatic rifles and pistols that are in common use. See D.C. Code § 7-2501.01.
Indeed, D.C's current semi-automatic firearms prohibition that bans many
commonly used pistols, rifles or shotguns is based on little more than cosmetics, appearance, or the ability to attach accessories, and fails to take into account whether the
2
Case 1:25-cv-04458
Document 1
Filed 12/22/25
Page 3 of 9
prohibited weapon is "in common use today" or that law-abiding citizens may use these weapons for lawful purposes protected by the Second Amendment. See Heller, 554 U.S. at 47. Therefore, the District's restrictions lack legal basis.

PRAYER FOR RELIEF
19
43. WHEREFORE, the United States hereby prays that the Court grant the 20
following relief:
21
a.
A declaration that DC Defendants are engaged in a pattern or practice of
22
conduct by law enforcement officers that deprives persons of rights, privileges, or
23
immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States in
24
violation of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, 34 U.S.C. §
25
12601(b), including, but not limited to:
26
i. A declaration that the pattern and practice by DC Defendants of
27
prohibiting registration of the AR-15 by law-abiding citizens violates the Second
28
Amendment; and

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 17d

It usually works out that way

Hiring BS is usually correlated with bigger culture problems!

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 17d

I had a dean at a fancy school lean over the desk to look at my hands to see if I was wearing a wedding ring

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 17d

Yes. It’s so widespread that often pointing it out makes * you * the problem

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 17d

#2 is particularly toxic

That, plus the scarcity of academic jobs, can lead to exploitative and possibly illegal behavior in academia that simply would not be tolerated in the much more liquid private sector hiring market

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 17d

Academia sucks at this particularly hard because:

1) faculty aren’t trained in basic HR protocol. Searches are decentralized with little oversight on legal issues

2) candidates who witness or experience illegal conduct are told to ignore it by advisors, lest they develop a “difficult” reputation

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 17d

My contribution to the discourse is that I’m not sure we want to open up the Pandora’s box of “illegal things people said to me when I was on the job market”

Because boy, there are some STORIES

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 18d

“Investigators believe the man is responsible for both the shooting at Brown and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor who was fatally shot in his Brookline home Monday”

apnews.com/article/brow...

Man suspected in shooting at Brown University has been found dead in New Hampshire, AP source says

A man who is suspected of killing two and wounding several others at Brown University has been found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility, a law enforcement official and a person familiar with the...

apnews.com

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 18d

I’d be very interested in any evidence that alerting people (newspaper readers, for example) as to the legality of something changes their minds on either the underlying issue or the actors involved

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 18d

I do indeed. Or defendants “assigned to”.

Wishing for an edit button.

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 18d

Oh my god

www.cnn.com/us/live-news...

Police are investigating potential ties between the Brown University shooting and killing of an MIT professor

The Brown University mass shooter remains at large as the manhunt enters its sixth day. Follow for live news updates.

www.cnn.com

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 18d

as always, a joy to work with @allipatter.bsky.social!

we find defendants sentenced to former public defenders are less likely to be incarcerated and, when incarcerated, are sentenced less frequently to extremely long, highly punitive sentences

Allison P. Harris @allipatter.bsky.social · 18d

Officially out with @mayasen.bsky.social! We find defendants assigned to former public defenders are less likely to be incarcerated, providing insight into the relationship between criminal legal disparities and judicial characteristics.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

How Judges’ Professional Experience Impacts Case Outcomes: An Examination of Public Defenders and Criminal Sentencing | The Journal of Politics: Vol 88, No 1

Do judges’ professional backgrounds affect their rulings? We investigate this question by looking at the impact of judges’ public defender experience on sentencing. Leveraging thousands of sentences, ...

www.journals.uchicago.edu

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 18d

The Robert F. Kennedy School of Public Health

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 18d

next up: "Harvard Announces the Trump-Kennedy School of Government, Part of Government Settlement on Antisemitism Concerns"

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 18d

congratulations!

Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 18d

The Kennedy Center name is established by federal statute, and therefore may be repealed only by federal statute. www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/...

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 18d

Meanwhile, on twitter, people are telling me that classes at private universities are “public”

Eric Michael Garcia @ericmgarcia.bsky.social · 18d

The orders would prohibit doctors and hospitals from receiving federal Medicaid reimbursement for care provided to transgender patients younger than age 18 and block all Medicaid and Medicare funding for services at hospitals that provide pediatric gender-affirming care.
www.npr.org/sections/sho...

RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz announce moves to ban gender-affirming care for young people

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is expected to announce a package of measures that would together ban gender-affirming care for minors. A press conference is set for 11 a.m. Thursday.

www.npr.org

Allison P. Harris @allipatter.bsky.social · 18d

Officially out with @mayasen.bsky.social! We find defendants assigned to former public defenders are less likely to be incarcerated, providing insight into the relationship between criminal legal disparities and judicial characteristics.
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/...

How Judges’ Professional Experience Impacts Case Outcomes: An Examination of Public Defenders and Criminal Sentencing | The Journal of Politics: Vol 88, No 1

Do judges’ professional backgrounds affect their rulings? We investigate this question by looking at the impact of judges’ public defender experience on sentencing. Leveraging thousands of sentences, ...

www.journals.uchicago.edu

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 19d

I am not a fan of Larry Summers or the Harvard administration, to be clear!

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 19d

Massachusetts is a two-party consent state, so you generally can’t secretly record your professors and fellow students (unlike other in states)

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 19d

Harvard officials are reportedly secretly investigating two students for their roles in drawing scrutiny to the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and ex-president Larry Summers

Harvard Secretly Investigates Students Over Larry Summers Video on Epstein

www.nytimes.com

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 19d

Yes. The rules are there in part to protect against harassment and doxxing

Unless the syllabus allowed for recordings, this is not allowed by the university or MA law (MA is a two party consent state)

Phil Lewis @phillewis.bsky.social · 19d

Harvard officials are reportedly secretly investigating two students for their roles in drawing scrutiny to the relationship between Jeffrey Epstein and ex-president Larry Summers

Harvard Secretly Investigates Students Over Larry Summers Video on Epstein

www.nytimes.com

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 20d

I think Levitsky is right here - don’t change the horse midstream & don’t alienate centrist allies at a time of crisis

But it would be nice to have someone in charge with a clearer and more compelling vision of the role of higher ed in today’s society - we desperately need it

Maya Sen @mayasen.bsky.social · 21d

Bingo. That’s exactly what they’re doing.

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