Stephanie M. Lee
@stephaniemlee.bsky.social
Senior writer at @chronicle.com, writing about scholarship, scholars, and society. stephanie.lee@chronicle.com / Signal: stephaniemlee.07 / stephaniemlee.com / San Francisco
Pinned
Jonathan Haidt Started a Social-Media War. Did He Win?
When a study challenged his bestselling book’s thesis — that social media harms kids — the New York University psychologist fired back. That was just the beginning.
www.chronicle.com
Hi! I'm at The Chronicle of Higher Education, where I write about debates and interesting people in the world of academic research. I used to be an investigative science reporter at BuzzFeed News.
My latest story: www.chronicle.com/article/jona...
I'm always looking for ideas — DM/email me!
My latest story: www.chronicle.com/article/jona...
I'm always looking for ideas — DM/email me!
The year is 2056, and the city of San Francisco is voting for the 30th time on whether to reopen the Great Highway to cars
Sunset Supervisor Alan Wong said he’d back a ballot measure to reopen the city’s westernmost coastal boulevard to cars, closing Sunset Dunes park.
S.F. voters closer to weighing in — again — on fate of Great Highway
Sunset Supervisor Alan Wong said he’d back a ballot measure to reopen the city’s westernmost coastal boulevard to cars, closing Sunset Dunes park.
bit.ly
December 19, 2025 at 10:13 PM
The year is 2056, and the city of San Francisco is voting for the 30th time on whether to reopen the Great Highway to cars
The UNC system just released its final policy on mandatory syllabi disclosure, stating that syllabi are university (not faculty) IP and certain course info must be posted on new, publicly searchable databases before every semester.
A thread about what's changed from the draft I reported on earlier:
A thread about what's changed from the draft I reported on earlier:
NEW: Public universities in red states, from Texas to Florida, are increasingly required to make their syllabi public. The University of North Carolina may be next. Does "syllabi transparency" help combat distrust in higher ed, or feed ill-informed suspicions of it? www.chronicle.com/article/when...
When Everyone Can See Your Syllabus
More states are requiring public colleges to make class syllabi available to the masses. Proponents say these measures boost higher ed’s credibility, while faculty fear being targeted.
www.chronicle.com
December 19, 2025 at 8:46 PM
The UNC system just released its final policy on mandatory syllabi disclosure, stating that syllabi are university (not faculty) IP and certain course info must be posted on new, publicly searchable databases before every semester.
A thread about what's changed from the draft I reported on earlier:
A thread about what's changed from the draft I reported on earlier:
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
In the wake of public-records requests from a right-wing group, the University of North Carolina system is considering creating a publicly searchable database with information from all class syllabi. Many faculty fear the information will be used to target them. www.chronicle.com/article/when...
When Everyone Can See Your Syllabus
More states are requiring public colleges to make class syllabi available to the masses. Proponents say these measures boost higher ed’s credibility, while faculty fear being targeted.
www.chronicle.com
December 18, 2025 at 1:08 AM
In the wake of public-records requests from a right-wing group, the University of North Carolina system is considering creating a publicly searchable database with information from all class syllabi. Many faculty fear the information will be used to target them. www.chronicle.com/article/when...
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
NEW: Public universities in red states, from Texas to Florida, are increasingly required to make their syllabi public. The University of North Carolina may be next. Does "syllabi transparency" help combat distrust in higher ed, or feed ill-informed suspicions of it? www.chronicle.com/article/when...
When Everyone Can See Your Syllabus
More states are requiring public colleges to make class syllabi available to the masses. Proponents say these measures boost higher ed’s credibility, while faculty fear being targeted.
www.chronicle.com
December 18, 2025 at 1:05 AM
NEW: Public universities in red states, from Texas to Florida, are increasingly required to make their syllabi public. The University of North Carolina may be next. Does "syllabi transparency" help combat distrust in higher ed, or feed ill-informed suspicions of it? www.chronicle.com/article/when...
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
Here's our reporting on the proposed dismantling of the jewel of US atmospheric science, @ncar-ucar.bsky.social.
The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪 #AGU25 #climate
The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪 #AGU25 #climate
Trump team plans to break up ‘global mothership’ of climate science
Much of the National Center for Atmospheric Research’s non-climate portfolio will be dispersed, the White House says.
www.nature.com
December 17, 2025 at 6:59 PM
Here's our reporting on the proposed dismantling of the jewel of US atmospheric science, @ncar-ucar.bsky.social.
The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪 #AGU25 #climate
The plan is to break NCAR apart and disburse some parts to other locations (like the research aircraft fleet) and eliminate others.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
🧪 #AGU25 #climate
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
"(Memoli's) actions look like those of a leader who has been given broad discretion to shrink down the agencys infectious-disease work—an area where he may have a few personal grievances. “People are afraid of him,” one official said, pausing. “I’m afraid of him.”
www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/...
www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/...
The Most Feared Person at the NIH Is a Vaccine Researcher Plucked From Obscurity
While NIH director Jay Bhattacharya focuses on podcasting, his second in command is dramatically remaking the agency.
www.theatlantic.com
December 17, 2025 at 2:16 PM
"(Memoli's) actions look like those of a leader who has been given broad discretion to shrink down the agencys infectious-disease work—an area where he may have a few personal grievances. “People are afraid of him,” one official said, pausing. “I’m afraid of him.”
www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/...
www.theatlantic.com/health/2025/...
NEW: Public universities in red states, from Texas to Florida, are increasingly required to make their syllabi public. The University of North Carolina may be next. Does "syllabi transparency" help combat distrust in higher ed, or feed ill-informed suspicions of it? www.chronicle.com/article/when...
When Everyone Can See Your Syllabus
More states are requiring public colleges to make class syllabi available to the masses. Proponents say these measures boost higher ed’s credibility, while faculty fear being targeted.
www.chronicle.com
December 18, 2025 at 1:05 AM
NEW: Public universities in red states, from Texas to Florida, are increasingly required to make their syllabi public. The University of North Carolina may be next. Does "syllabi transparency" help combat distrust in higher ed, or feed ill-informed suspicions of it? www.chronicle.com/article/when...
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
SCOOP: The Trump administration is providing the names of all travelers passing through U.S. airports to immigration officials in search of people with deportation orders, a substantial expansion of government efforts to draw on data to hunt down immigrants.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
Immigration Agents Are Using Air Passenger Data for Deportation Effort
www.nytimes.com
December 12, 2025 at 9:26 PM
SCOOP: The Trump administration is providing the names of all travelers passing through U.S. airports to immigration officials in search of people with deportation orders, a substantial expansion of government efforts to draw on data to hunt down immigrants.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/12/u...
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
Amazing reporting from @katiemangan.bsky.social and @peterelkind.bsky.social
www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
previously unreported documents and interviews... reveals the extent to which the government violated legal and procedural norms to gin up its case against the institution
www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
previously unreported documents and interviews... reveals the extent to which the government violated legal and procedural norms to gin up its case against the institution
Trump’s DOJ Pressured Lawyers to “Find” Evidence UCLA Had Illegally Tolerated Antisemitism
How the government ignored due process to gin up its attack on the University of California
www.chronicle.com
December 12, 2025 at 3:53 PM
Amazing reporting from @katiemangan.bsky.social and @peterelkind.bsky.social
www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
previously unreported documents and interviews... reveals the extent to which the government violated legal and procedural norms to gin up its case against the institution
www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
previously unreported documents and interviews... reveals the extent to which the government violated legal and procedural norms to gin up its case against the institution
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
When should a paper be corrected?
Last December, @elisabethbik.bsky.social and other sleuths began flagging papers by a prominent bioengineer, Ali Khademhosseini. They found over 80 with image issues.
Khademhosseini and his colleagues have issued over 40 corrections, but avoided retractions.
Last December, @elisabethbik.bsky.social and other sleuths began flagging papers by a prominent bioengineer, Ali Khademhosseini. They found over 80 with image issues.
Khademhosseini and his colleagues have issued over 40 corrections, but avoided retractions.
Science sleuths raise concerns about scores of bioengineering papers
Prominent bioengineer Ali Khademhosseini has so far corrected more than 40 of the papers in question, but critics say some should have been retracted.
www.nature.com
December 12, 2025 at 3:53 PM
When should a paper be corrected?
Last December, @elisabethbik.bsky.social and other sleuths began flagging papers by a prominent bioengineer, Ali Khademhosseini. They found over 80 with image issues.
Khademhosseini and his colleagues have issued over 40 corrections, but avoided retractions.
Last December, @elisabethbik.bsky.social and other sleuths began flagging papers by a prominent bioengineer, Ali Khademhosseini. They found over 80 with image issues.
Khademhosseini and his colleagues have issued over 40 corrections, but avoided retractions.
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
Researchers using AI to write papers, review papers, read papers, design projects, etc.
Pretty soon they’ll reach a closed loop where no one does anything but observes at a distance, a la Siri from Peter Watts’ Blindsight
Pretty soon they’ll reach a closed loop where no one does anything but observes at a distance, a la Siri from Peter Watts’ Blindsight
NEW: An AI conference was bombarded with complaints about peer reviews sounding AI-generated. A startup jumped in with an outside analysis, estimating that as many 1 in 5 could have been ChatGPT-written. Chaos ensued.
Now the reviews are being reviewed.
www.chronicle.com/article/the-... #ICLR2026
Now the reviews are being reviewed.
www.chronicle.com/article/the-... #ICLR2026
The Conference Where ChatGPT Wrote One in Five Reviews (Maybe)
An AI conference was bombarded with complaints about peer reviews sounding AI-generated. Now the reviews are being reviewed.
www.chronicle.com
December 10, 2025 at 4:36 AM
Researchers using AI to write papers, review papers, read papers, design projects, etc.
Pretty soon they’ll reach a closed loop where no one does anything but observes at a distance, a la Siri from Peter Watts’ Blindsight
Pretty soon they’ll reach a closed loop where no one does anything but observes at a distance, a la Siri from Peter Watts’ Blindsight
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
NEW: An AI conference was bombarded with complaints about peer reviews sounding AI-generated. A startup jumped in with an outside analysis, estimating that as many 1 in 5 could have been ChatGPT-written. Chaos ensued.
Now the reviews are being reviewed.
www.chronicle.com/article/the-... #ICLR2026
Now the reviews are being reviewed.
www.chronicle.com/article/the-... #ICLR2026
The Conference Where ChatGPT Wrote One in Five Reviews (Maybe)
An AI conference was bombarded with complaints about peer reviews sounding AI-generated. Now the reviews are being reviewed.
www.chronicle.com
December 9, 2025 at 12:32 AM
NEW: An AI conference was bombarded with complaints about peer reviews sounding AI-generated. A startup jumped in with an outside analysis, estimating that as many 1 in 5 could have been ChatGPT-written. Chaos ensued.
Now the reviews are being reviewed.
www.chronicle.com/article/the-... #ICLR2026
Now the reviews are being reviewed.
www.chronicle.com/article/the-... #ICLR2026
NEW: An AI conference was bombarded with complaints about peer reviews sounding AI-generated. A startup jumped in with an outside analysis, estimating that as many 1 in 5 could have been ChatGPT-written. Chaos ensued.
Now the reviews are being reviewed.
www.chronicle.com/article/the-... #ICLR2026
Now the reviews are being reviewed.
www.chronicle.com/article/the-... #ICLR2026
The Conference Where ChatGPT Wrote One in Five Reviews (Maybe)
An AI conference was bombarded with complaints about peer reviews sounding AI-generated. Now the reviews are being reviewed.
www.chronicle.com
December 9, 2025 at 12:32 AM
NEW: An AI conference was bombarded with complaints about peer reviews sounding AI-generated. A startup jumped in with an outside analysis, estimating that as many 1 in 5 could have been ChatGPT-written. Chaos ensued.
Now the reviews are being reviewed.
www.chronicle.com/article/the-... #ICLR2026
Now the reviews are being reviewed.
www.chronicle.com/article/the-... #ICLR2026
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
Breaking: After contentious debates and three failed attempts at a vote, a federal vaccine committee decided on Friday to end the decades-long recommendation that all newborns be immunized at birth against hepatitis B.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/h...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/h...
An End to Hepatitis B Shots for All Newborns
www.nytimes.com
December 5, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Breaking: After contentious debates and three failed attempts at a vote, a federal vaccine committee decided on Friday to end the decades-long recommendation that all newborns be immunized at birth against hepatitis B.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/h...
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/05/h...
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
This story took many months, and the expertise of many folks (thanks, @dberrett.bsky.social and @danbauman77.bsky.social). I hope you’ll give it a read and RT the first skeet in this thread. DMs/Signal are open for tips about what’s happening on your campus. (14/14) www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
The University That Couldn’t Stop Reinventing Itself
The U. of Tulsa was a commuter campus that tried — and tried again — to become a regional powerhouse. Now it’s drowning in red ink.
www.chronicle.com
December 4, 2025 at 3:33 PM
This story took many months, and the expertise of many folks (thanks, @dberrett.bsky.social and @danbauman77.bsky.social). I hope you’ll give it a read and RT the first skeet in this thread. DMs/Signal are open for tips about what’s happening on your campus. (14/14) www.chronicle.com/article/the-...
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
🧵 A dean is abruptly removed. Her account goes viral. At first, it looks like a fight over the humanities. But the more I reported on the University of Tulsa, the clearer it became: this controversy was just the entry point for a far larger institutional unraveling. (1/14)
December 4, 2025 at 3:33 PM
🧵 A dean is abruptly removed. Her account goes viral. At first, it looks like a fight over the humanities. But the more I reported on the University of Tulsa, the clearer it became: this controversy was just the entry point for a far larger institutional unraveling. (1/14)
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
"Retractions have become more common in recent years, according to Retraction Watch, an organization that tracks corrections in scientific journals. But they are still rare, amounting to about one in 500 articles published."
Top Journal Retracts Study Predicting Catastrophic Climate Toll
www.nytimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 11:15 PM
"Retractions have become more common in recent years, according to Retraction Watch, an organization that tracks corrections in scientific journals. But they are still rare, amounting to about one in 500 articles published."
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
IMLS announces "upon further review" that it is reinstating all federal grants to libraries. It leaves out that it's doing this because a federal court told them a few weeks ago that the Trump admin's decision to destroy libraries was not legal.
www.imls.gov/news/stateme...
www.imls.gov/news/stateme...
Statement of Agency’s Reinstatement of Terminated IMLS Grants
Statement of Agency’s Reinstatement of Terminated IMLS Grants Washington, DC– Upon further review, the Institute of Museum and Library Services has reinstated all federal grants. This action supersede...
www.imls.gov
December 3, 2025 at 10:25 PM
IMLS announces "upon further review" that it is reinstating all federal grants to libraries. It leaves out that it's doing this because a federal court told them a few weeks ago that the Trump admin's decision to destroy libraries was not legal.
www.imls.gov/news/stateme...
www.imls.gov/news/stateme...
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
1. Transparency is necessary for credibility
2. Transparency is hard to change
3. Require transparency*
4. Transparency is not magic
5. Journals are part of problem
6. Expect more from journals
7. Peer review is not magic
8. A crisis can look a lot like „normal“ science
9. Meta-analysis is not magic
2. Transparency is hard to change
3. Require transparency*
4. Transparency is not magic
5. Journals are part of problem
6. Expect more from journals
7. Peer review is not magic
8. A crisis can look a lot like „normal“ science
9. Meta-analysis is not magic
In case you have missed Simine Vazire's excellent webinar yesterday, here is the link to watch it online: youtu.be/_vb1CNwC3CM Thanks again @simine.com for staying up so late and thanks to the audience for the great questions!
PCI Webinar series #13 - Simine Vazire - Recognizing and responding to a replication crisis
youtu.be
December 3, 2025 at 9:40 AM
1. Transparency is necessary for credibility
2. Transparency is hard to change
3. Require transparency*
4. Transparency is not magic
5. Journals are part of problem
6. Expect more from journals
7. Peer review is not magic
8. A crisis can look a lot like „normal“ science
9. Meta-analysis is not magic
2. Transparency is hard to change
3. Require transparency*
4. Transparency is not magic
5. Journals are part of problem
6. Expect more from journals
7. Peer review is not magic
8. A crisis can look a lot like „normal“ science
9. Meta-analysis is not magic
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
12 former commissioners of the FDA came together to write a Perspectives piece for the New England Journal of Medicine; raising our concerns about recent changes to vaccine approval policy at the FDA and its implications for patients and public health.
December 3, 2025 at 10:28 PM
12 former commissioners of the FDA came together to write a Perspectives piece for the New England Journal of Medicine; raising our concerns about recent changes to vaccine approval policy at the FDA and its implications for patients and public health.
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
"As you can imagine it's a very sad day over here."
Claude the alligator, born in a Louisiana swamp, dies an SF icon
"As you can imagine it's a very sad day over here."
bit.ly
December 3, 2025 at 12:00 AM
"As you can imagine it's a very sad day over here."
A Conservative Student Got a Zero on Her Paper about Gender. Did She Deserve It? @emmajanepettit.bsky.social reports www.chronicle.com/article/a-co...
A Conservative Student Got a Zero on Her Paper about Gender. Did She Deserve It?
A University of Oklahoma student says a graduate student’s harsh grading of her assignment amounts to religious discrimination.
www.chronicle.com
December 2, 2025 at 1:20 AM
A Conservative Student Got a Zero on Her Paper about Gender. Did She Deserve It? @emmajanepettit.bsky.social reports www.chronicle.com/article/a-co...
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
During her latest clinical trial, Tatiana Schlossberg’s doctor had told her that he could keep her alive for a year, maybe. “My first thought was that my kids, whose faces live permanently on the inside of my eyelids, wouldn’t remember me,” she writes.
https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/2b77Sn
https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/2b77Sn
A Battle with My Blood
When I was diagnosed with leukemia, my first thought was that this couldn’t be happening to me, to my family.
newyorkermag.visitlink.me
November 29, 2025 at 9:00 PM
During her latest clinical trial, Tatiana Schlossberg’s doctor had told her that he could keep her alive for a year, maybe. “My first thought was that my kids, whose faces live permanently on the inside of my eyelids, wouldn’t remember me,” she writes.
https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/2b77Sn
https://newyorkermag.visitlink.me/2b77Sn
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
If you were interested in this NYT piece from a couple of days ago, read our coverage of Epstein's links with Krauss and other scientists at BuzzFeed News from 2018 and 2019:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/u...
www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pete...
www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pete...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/u...
www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pete...
www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pete...
Celebrity Atheist Lawrence Krauss Accused Of Sexual Misconduct For Over A Decade
Lawrence Krauss is a famous atheist and liberal crusader — and, in certain whisper networks, a well-known problem. With women coming forward alleging sexual harassment, will his “skeptic” fanbase beli...
www.buzzfeednews.com
November 24, 2025 at 3:40 AM
If you were interested in this NYT piece from a couple of days ago, read our coverage of Epstein's links with Krauss and other scientists at BuzzFeed News from 2018 and 2019:
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/u...
www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pete...
www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pete...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/21/u...
www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pete...
www.buzzfeednews.com/article/pete...
Reposted by Stephanie M. Lee
exclusive: Rick Pazdur, the official just tapped by Trump administration to be FDA's top drug regulator has privately warned that some of the agency's new initiatives could be illegal and dangerous.
w @rachelroubein.bsky.social
w @rachelroubein.bsky.social
Top FDA drug regulator raises alarms about expediting approvals
Richard Pazdur, who assumed his new role this month, has warned that new Trump administration initiatives could be illegal and pose a risk to public health.
www.washingtonpost.com
November 21, 2025 at 10:22 PM
exclusive: Rick Pazdur, the official just tapped by Trump administration to be FDA's top drug regulator has privately warned that some of the agency's new initiatives could be illegal and dangerous.
w @rachelroubein.bsky.social
w @rachelroubein.bsky.social