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Aug 8, 2026
Artificial Intelligence can feel really scary. You might be worried about your job, or your kids’ learning, or the future of our society. Those feelings are valid and worth talking about. But the conversation has been dominated by the hype cycle of the tech industry, which is designed to make you feel like you need to use AI tools, else you are left behind.
Administrators, managers, and CEOs (i.e., folks with little understanding of the technology, but enormous power) are pushing AI as a solution to every problem under the sun, and our media amplifies that message. The result is disinformation, confusion, and fear as well as overpromised solutions and underwhelming results. In fact, employers that have been cutting jobs and stagnating wages for decades are attempting to replace human workers with AI tools, only to have to rehire those same workers when the tools fail to deliver.
Jul 14, 2026
Let’s review the last seven weeks at Michigan State.
The Board of Trustees called a Sunday-night special meeting to double President Kevin Guskiewicz’s salary and extend his contract through 2031. Ten days later, he announced he was leaving for Clemson. A developer papered our town with “We ♥ KG” signs. Our athletic director left for Kentucky in the churn. And then, last Monday, Kevin announced he is staying after all, at $1.5 million a year, funded by “non-university resources”, after reports that trustees, donors, and Tom Izzo worked the phones to bring him back. This week, voting closed on a Faculty Senate referendum asking all 4,000-plus members of our Academic Congress whether they have confidence in Kevin, and whether they have confidence in the Board. Results land Wednesday.
Jun 10, 2026
I started to see these signs on campus and near my neighborhood this week. I was confused at first because our president is leaving, and is taking an $800k pay cut to do so. I thought maybe these signs were a joke, or maybe they were meant to be ironic. But, as I saw more and more of them, I realized that they might be sincere.
The signs were organized by the Gillespie Group, a massive developer in our region. This group received a nod from MSU Trustees to develop Spartan Gateway District before it was scaled back.
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