Oil and gas companies have used donations to universities to shape coursework and research and gain credibility for the increased production of planet-warming fossil fuels. That’s the conclusion of a new research paper published Thursday in the peer-reviewed journal WIREs Climate Change. Floodlight’s Miranda Green explains how colleges can become ‘vehicles of climate obstruction.’
Such influence at universities has gone on for decades, the researchers note. They pointed to a 1978 manual for industries that advised “co-opting” academics and “identifying the leading experts in each relevant field and hiring them as consultants or advisors, or giving them research grants and the like … it must not be too blatant, for the experts themselves must not recognize that they have lost their objectivity.” There are dozens of programs and even entire schools across the country funded by the fossil fuel industry. They include Louisiana State University, which has a simulated oil well on its Baton Rouge campus; its Institute for Innovation in Energy is sponsored by Shell.
LSU isn’t the only state school to be influenced by donations from the fossil-fuel industry. The Lens’ Sara Sneath recently reported how ExxonMobil, after donating $500,000 to UL Lafayette’s energy institute and public policy center for “outreach efforts,” asked a high-ranking school official to help bring credibility to their expansion of controversial carbon capture projects.
The link between corporate profits and inflation
Many factors, such as labor shortages and supply chain disruptions, led to rising prices over the last few years. But new analysis from the Economic Policy Institute explains how an increase in corporate profit margins were a main driver of inflation:
A spike in profit margins contributed significantly to inflation in the early part of the pandemic recovery, and likely contributed to even more persistent inflationary pressure by helping spur a countervailing rise in nominal wage growth. For example, rising profits explained well over 40% of the rise in the price level between the end of 2019 and mid-2022, compared with profits normally accounting for about 11-12% of prices.
Louisiana school report card receives an ‘F’
Students are still recovering from the massive learning loss suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic. But comparing Louisiana students’ current academic performance to pre-pandemic levels is very difficult because the state fails to provide crucial data. That’s according to a new report by the Center on Reinventing Public Education. The Times-Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Elyse Carmosino explains why the nonpartisan education group gave Louisiana an ‘F’ for its online school report card:
On Louisiana’s school report card website, [Morgan] Polikoff said that researchers could not find any data for student achievement growth in math and English, chronic absenteeism or English learner proficiency and growth. The report cards did include pre-COVID data on other indicators — graduation rates and math, English, science and social studies test scores — but it was hard to find, the researchers said. Polikoff also said the state’s report card website is confusing and difficult to navigate. “It’s not very easy to toggle from year to year, which makes comparisons across years much harder,” he said.
Summer unemployment benefits for K-12 support staff
K-12 education support staff, such as cafeteria workers, bus drivers and custodians, are an integral part of a well-functioning school. But these workers are not paid very well, with no support staff position paying near the U.S. median wage of $23.93 per hour. They also are barred from collecting state unemployment benefits while school is out during the summer months. A new report from the Economic Policy Institute explains why states should follow Minnesota’s example of providing support staff with unemployment benefits while school is out.
Expanding UI access to school support staff in the summer will increase compensation for workers who already receive low pay and would relieve the hardships they face in the summer when they may not have any income. This will positively impact both recruitment and retention for these jobs, as well as raising pay for a workforce that is disproportionately composed of Black, brown, and women workers. States should enact this policy for their own good, as well as the good of their workers and students.
Number of the Day
21 – Number of states that have joined IRS Direct File, the agency’s free tax-filing service. Louisiana has not joined the program and state Attorney General Liz Murrill co-signed a letter last February urging the U.S. Treasury Department to stop the implementation of the Direct File pilot program. (Source: Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy)