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Boston University Halts Admissions for Art History PhDs

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Boston University Halts Admissions for Art History PhDs


Boston University (BU) has suspended admissions for various Humanities and Social Sciences PhD tracks, including its art history program, for the 2025–2026 academic year. The news was first reported yesterday, November 19, by Inside Higher Ed.

BU did not make a public announcement, but an undated update to the PhD information page on the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences’s website indicates that admissions to its PhD programs in History of Art and Architecture, American and New England Studies, Anthropology, Classical Studies, English, History, Linguistics, Philosophy, Political Science, Religion, Romance Studies, and Sociology were temporarily suspended.

Inside Higher Ed’s report references emails between school administrators suggesting that the move was due in part to the financial implications of a recently ratified contract with the Boston University Graduate Workers Union (BUGWU). The contract, which ended a seven-month strike in October, ensured that the university’s PhD candidates are afforded a minimum yearly stipend of $45,000 with an annual 3% raise in addition to the school covering tuition throughout the agreement’s three-year lifespan. Additional contract points include expanded healthcare coverage, commuter benefits, and subsidized dental insurance among other benefits. Though the $45,ooo minimum was a significant raise, the university did not concede to BUGWU’s demands for a $17,000 increase in yearly stipends and 7% annual cost-of-living adjustments — a conflict that led to the longest strike in the university’s history.

As reported by Inside Higher Ed, emails between Stan Sclaroff, dean of BU’s College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), and Malika Jeffries-EL, associate dean of the university’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, implied that the financial requirements of the ratified contract were points of concern for meeting the needs of existing doctoral student cohorts.

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However, Colin Riley, a spokesperson for the university, told Hyperallergic that the school “initiated [its] review of PhD programs through a task force in 2022 and began implementation of the recommendations this fall.”

BU also decided to reduce doctoral cohort sizes for the 2025–2026 academic year, Riley said, citing factors including “student success; job prospects and placements; the recommendations of the 2022 PhD Task Force on PhD Education; and ensuring we can honor the five-year funding commitments we have made to our currently enrolled doctoral students.”

A spokesperson for the Service Employees International Union Local 509 in Massachusetts, under which BUGWU organizes, did not immediately respond to Hyperallergic‘s inquiry.



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Boston, MA

Stormy Saturday, slightly sunnier Sunday – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News

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Stormy Saturday, slightly sunnier Sunday – Boston News, Weather, Sports | WHDH 7News


It’s been a stormy start to the weekend, and we’re not even close to done just yet!

As a storm moves south through New England, we’ll have more rain, wind and March-like temperatures. Let’s start with the timing and the rain. Showers and some heavy rain will come in waves from north to south, and leave in the same direction. That means, the further north you live, the earlier you saw the rain this morning, but the sooner you’ll see the rain leave this afternoon.

In fact, folks in areas like Worcester County could even see some sunshine before sunset.

On the flip side, if you’re on the South Shore, South Coast, Cape & Islands, the rain takes longer to reach you, but won’t be gone until 3-5 PM or so, and the clouds will take longer to break as well. 

Now for the wind. We’ve already seen gusts in the 20s, 30s & 40s. But with the strength of this storm, we could see more up to 55 mph for most of the coast, and 65 mph for the Cape and Nantucket.

For that reason, we have a Wind Advisory and a High Wind Warning until 8 PM this evening. We could even see a few power outages because with the potential of winds blowing weak tree limbs onto power lines. 

Finally, the chill. Temperatures early this morning were largely in the low to mid 50s. Not the worst start for this time of year.

But as the cold air associated with this storm kicks in, temperatures go down instead of up. We’ll be in the 40s for most of the afternoon. 

If there’s a bright side to this forecast, it’s that the storm is gone and clouds clear in time for us to see the only blue moon of 2026! It will rise tonight, and peak illumination will be at 4:45 AM tomorrow morning! It will be a micromoon, meaning it’ll look smaller than normal, as the moon is at or near apogee, its farthest point in orbit from the earth. 

On the note of tomorrow morning… it’ll be beautiful! It’ll be a cold start with temps in the 40s. However, we’ll have some beautiful sunshine as well, and by the afternoon, temperatures will reach the mid to upper 60s and low 70s– not far from normal! That said, clouds increase in the afternoon and we’re keeping an eye out for a few spotty showers as well. 

We’ll keep a few showers around on Monday, though they’ll stay spotty. Temperatures will be cooler as a front comes through with highs in the low 60s. We’ll keep a shower around on Tuesday, with a mix of clouds and sun and a shower or two remaining. 

The weather finally takes a turn on Wednesday! We’ll be mostly to partly sunny, and the chance of a shower is incredibly slim. Highs will be in the upper 60s. Thursday is mostly sunny and even warmer, with highs in the mid to upper 70s!

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Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony suffers another injury setback

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Red Sox outfielder Roman Anthony suffers another injury setback


It’s going to be a little while longer before Roman Anthony returns to action.

The Red Sox outfielder has suffered another setback in his recovery from a sprained right hand and will be shut down from swinging for a couple of days.

Red Sox interim manager Chad Tracy told reporters in Cleveland that Anthony tried hitting off a tee Thursday for the first time since suffering his injury on May 4, but that he found doing so to be painful.



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Saturday storm will bring bursts of rain, strong winds, and… snow?

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Saturday storm will bring bursts of rain, strong winds, and… snow?


Surprise: Another weekend and there’s more rain on the way. It’s bad enough we’ve had to post a First Alert.

For now, we’ll watch as clouds thicken today. We’ll squeeze out some drops later this afternoon and evening.

A weather maker is winding up in Canada, wrapping in cold air. All of that is going to dive down to New England.

We’re in the thick of it tomorrow. Rain will be coming at us in bursts with some dry time in between. Winds will likely push past 50 mph in Boston.

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Those winds will eat away at temperatures; with wind chills barely above freezing. And no – not just in the morning – but the afternoon, too!

It’s so cold there’s the threat of snow as that rain bumps into colder air over the Berkshires, Worcester Hills and southern New Hampshire right up to Mount Washington.

The snow isn’t going to pile up but just know there could be some flakes flying over our highest hills.  

The blue on our Futurecast map marks the spots where snow could mix with rain.

Rain spins out by Saturday evening but not before dumping about half an inch over Boston.

We’ll try to salvage the rest of the weekend with temperatures in the upper 60s by Sunday. Still, there’s the threat of bits and pieces of rain.

By the way, this isn’t any weekend, it’s the last weekend of spring. Meteorological summer starts on June 1.

The first day of summer remains drab and dreary with more rain chances and temperatures in the low 60 on Monday.

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