NY Times editorial: "Universities Like Yale Need a Reckoning"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did a conservative write the article? He sounds scared that a university can do what they want and think how they want.

A university is a business. They get to control their profit. If you want to look at “endowment hoarding,” look at billionaires like Bezos or Musk and not an Ivy.

Those two are among the true hoarders of money.

and churches

What happen to capitalism? Do we now tell people how to spend their money?

Yes we absolutely do tell people how to spend their money, every day in countless different ways.

So republicans want to tell people how to spend their money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did a conservative write the article? He sounds scared that a university can do what they want and think how they want.

A university is a business. They get to control their profit. If you want to look at “endowment hoarding,” look at billionaires like Bezos or Musk and not an Ivy.

Those two are among the true hoarders of money.

Universities are not just “businesses”. They get significant direct and indirect support from the taxpayers. They are not allowed to “do whatever they want” when it comes to how they treat minorities or women, so the argument that they can and should just do whatever they want is simply dishonest and false.

Same for churches?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did a conservative write the article? He sounds scared that a university can do what they want and think how they want.

A university is a business. They get to control their profit. If you want to look at “endowment hoarding,” look at billionaires like Bezos or Musk and not an Ivy.

Those two are among the true hoarders of money.

and churches

What happen to capitalism? Do we now tell people how to spend their money?

Yes we absolutely do tell people how to spend their money, every day in countless different ways.

So republicans want to tell people how to spend their money.

And how businesses should be run.


I’m old enough to remember when Rs pretended they were capitalists who wanted small government/little regulation for free enterprise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As hopeful helpful information about Harvard costs, the following is from the school's web site:


Harvard costs what your family can afford. We make sure of that.

If your family's income is less than $85,000, you'll pay nothing.

For families who earn between $85,000 and $150,000, the expected contribution is between zero and ten percent of your annual income.

Families who earn more than $150,000 may still qualify for financial aid.

Families at all income levels who have significant assets are asked to pay more than those without assets.

For more than ninety percent of American families, Harvard costs less than a public university.

All students receive the same aid regardless of nationality or citizenship.

To learn more, check out our financial aid fact sheet or see the breakdown of the full cost of attendance. You can also compare Harvard's cost to that of other schools with the MyinTuition Quick College Cost Estimator.

But there's always fine print and for these colleges it's "with typical assets". so family who earn 85-150k, "with typical assets". for Harvard, that's 200k. so for most UMC families who have been saving for our working life, even those of us making 140k, financial aid is limited. certainly not lower than public. but more generous than say a BC or some other private with pockets not quite as deep..

I'm a progressive liberal, but the idea of making these colleges need blind to international students rubs me the wrong way. American tax payers support these schools by NOT taxing their endowments and paving the highways that lead to them. (etc). I think they could be more generous to US kids.

Understood that there are exceptions and families for whom it is not reasonably workable. I have not seen, though, any basis to dispute the university's statement that "For more than ninety percent of American families, Harvard costs less than a public university". And I am personally aware of families with well over $200,000 in savings, making over $200,000 per year, who receive substantial financial assistance from the school. I realize this thread is a wider conversation, but as I'm assuming a lot of people reading this are trying to figure out how to pay for college, I thought it would be of practical help to provide this information so that families are encouraged to reach out to the school to learn more if it may be helpful for them and their kids if they have Harvard in mind but are dissuaded by assumptions about affordability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand how most Americans don't go to college. I really don't. This country has so much opportunity if you are someone who values education and strives for a better life. I think of the fact that public schools encourage reading, that may sound trivial but public schools in the Arab world absolutely do not. And libraries are not commonly used. Just by reading a low income or low middle class child can develop skills to have a better understanding of the world. And through scholarships can get into good schools. Again with the Arab world comparison because that is what I know best--do you think a bright low income kid over there can get into a good school? Very very hard.

Americans don't realize how good they have it. And the American culture of contempt toward educated elites is part of the reason someone like Trump was able to win. I remember reading a Vance interview where he said McDonald's should hire young American men through better wages and I just rolled my eyes. Yeah sure, these hordes of young unemployed white men are dying to work at McDonald's if only they could get 15 bucks an hour. No, they want high-paying jobs being a foreman at a factory or something. And they are angry at their lawyer cousin who was smart to get out of Oklahoma or whatever and make a good life for themselves in DC or NY.

Because they are not getting low paying McDonald's jobs. They are making $100K+/year without college.

Also, even a state school will run you $120K for 4 years and most poeple can't afford that, actually most can't afford to not work for 4 years.

Student loans are available. That is not something easily accessible to young people in other parts of the world. If they are making that kind of money without college then why are they so angry?

They are angry because people like you think they only job they can get is McDonalds and if you look at them your body language shows them you assume they are trash and racist.

No, I don't think they are racist. I think what's contemptible about them is that they are anti-education, and that's what makes them trash. I think they have opportunities unfathomable to most young men around the world and are angry because high paying blue collar jobs are harder to come by than 30 years ago.

Again the assumptions you make about people that go to college is elitist and incorrect.

They are not "anti-education" but they have decided they would rather be educated in a different way. Someone who is a farmer can teach you more about the economy, climate change, pesticides in food, supply chain, etc than any college graduate.

You actually don't understand why they are mad.

That's not right. If they aren't educated, they only have one perspective--the farming perspective. You don't need to have gone to a top-10 university, but the point of higher education is to broader your perspective, to learn how other people do things, to learn how things have been done historically, how they have changed, and why, to learn how different forces (political, religious, historical, cultural, natural) have brought us to where we are today. It's hard to get that perspective if you stay in one place, with the same group of people, doing the same kinds of things your whole life. Even harder if you even refuse to consider certain points of view or examine your own assumptions and biases.

[Anonymous]

that's all true, but most kids in america dont go to college at all. so comparing it the US population - or even world population - is self serving,

half the kids at Harvard get aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did a conservative write the article? He sounds scared that a university can do what they want and think how they want.

A university is a business. They get to control their profit. If you want to look at “endowment hoarding,” look at billionaires like Bezos or Musk and not an Ivy.

Those two are among the true hoarders of money.

and churches

What happen to capitalism? Do we now tell people how to spend their money?

Yes we absolutely do tell people how to spend their money, every day in countless different ways.

So republicans want to tell people how to spend their money.

And how businesses should be run.


I’m old enough to remember when Rs pretended they were capitalists who wanted small government/little regulation for free enterprise.

^^^^ all of this

The new republican party is not the conservative, big business, small govt party

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand how most Americans don't go to college. I really don't. This country has so much opportunity if you are someone who values education and strives for a better life. I think of the fact that public schools encourage reading, that may sound trivial but public schools in the Arab world absolutely do not. And libraries are not commonly used. Just by reading a low income or low middle class child can develop skills to have a better understanding of the world. And through scholarships can get into good schools. Again with the Arab world comparison because that is what I know best--do you think a bright low income kid over there can get into a good school? Very very hard.

Americans don't realize how good they have it. And the American culture of contempt toward educated elites is part of the reason someone like Trump was able to win. I remember reading a Vance interview where he said McDonald's should hire young American men through better wages and I just rolled my eyes. Yeah sure, these hordes of young unemployed white men are dying to work at McDonald's if only they could get 15 bucks an hour. No, they want high-paying jobs being a foreman at a factory or something. And they are angry at their lawyer cousin who was smart to get out of Oklahoma or whatever and make a good life for themselves in DC or NY.

Because they are not getting low paying McDonald's jobs. They are making $100K+/year without college.

Also, even a state school will run you $120K for 4 years and most poeple can't afford that, actually most can't afford to not work for 4 years.

Student loans are available. That is not something easily accessible to young people in other parts of the world. If they are making that kind of money without college then why are they so angry?

They are angry because people like you think they only job they can get is McDonalds and if you look at them your body language shows them you assume they are trash and racist.

No, I don't think they are racist. I think what's contemptible about them is that they are anti-education, and that's what makes them trash. I think they have opportunities unfathomable to most young men around the world and are angry because high paying blue collar jobs are harder to come by than 30 years ago.

Again the assumptions you make about people that go to college is elitist and incorrect.

They are not "anti-education" but they have decided they would rather be educated in a different way. Someone who is a farmer can teach you more about the economy, climate change, pesticides in food, supply chain, etc than any college graduate.

You actually don't understand why they are mad.

That's not right. If they aren't educated, they only have one perspective--the farming perspective. You don't need to have gone to a top-10 university, but the point of higher education is to broader your perspective, to learn how other people do things, to learn how things have been done historically, how they have changed, and why, to learn how different forces (political, religious, historical, cultural, natural) have brought us to where we are today. It's hard to get that perspective if you stay in one place, with the same group of people, doing the same kinds of things your whole life. Even harder if you even refuse to consider certain points of view or examine your own assumptions and biases.

You think college kids these days are spending a lot of time examining their assumptions and biases? What a joke. It’s a nice dream but not reality at all. They shout down and refuse to listen to other points of view that may challenge them in any way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand how most Americans don't go to college. I really don't. This country has so much opportunity if you are someone who values education and strives for a better life. I think of the fact that public schools encourage reading, that may sound trivial but public schools in the Arab world absolutely do not. And libraries are not commonly used. Just by reading a low income or low middle class child can develop skills to have a better understanding of the world. And through scholarships can get into good schools. Again with the Arab world comparison because that is what I know best--do you think a bright low income kid over there can get into a good school? Very very hard.

Americans don't realize how good they have it. And the American culture of contempt toward educated elites is part of the reason someone like Trump was able to win. I remember reading a Vance interview where he said McDonald's should hire young American men through better wages and I just rolled my eyes. Yeah sure, these hordes of young unemployed white men are dying to work at McDonald's if only they could get 15 bucks an hour. No, they want high-paying jobs being a foreman at a factory or something. And they are angry at their lawyer cousin who was smart to get out of Oklahoma or whatever and make a good life for themselves in DC or NY.

Because they are not getting low paying McDonald's jobs. They are making $100K+/year without college.

Also, even a state school will run you $120K for 4 years and most poeple can't afford that, actually most can't afford to not work for 4 years.

Student loans are available. That is not something easily accessible to young people in other parts of the world. If they are making that kind of money without college then why are they so angry?

They are angry because people like you think they only job they can get is McDonalds and if you look at them your body language shows them you assume they are trash and racist.

No, I don't think they are racist. I think what's contemptible about them is that they are anti-education, and that's what makes them trash. I think they have opportunities unfathomable to most young men around the world and are angry because high paying blue collar jobs are harder to come by than 30 years ago.

Again the assumptions you make about people that go to college is elitist and incorrect.

They are not "anti-education" but they have decided they would rather be educated in a different way. Someone who is a farmer can teach you more about the economy, climate change, pesticides in food, supply chain, etc than any college graduate.

You actually don't understand why they are mad.

That's not right. If they aren't educated, they only have one perspective--the farming perspective. You don't need to have gone to a top-10 university, but the point of higher education is to broader your perspective, to learn how other people do things, to learn how things have been done historically, how they have changed, and why, to learn how different forces (political, religious, historical, cultural, natural) have brought us to where we are today. It's hard to get that perspective if you stay in one place, with the same group of people, doing the same kinds of things your whole life. Even harder if you even refuse to consider certain points of view or examine your own assumptions and biases.

You think farmers sit on their little farm and never read books, use the internet, go to training, get USDA grants, attend USDA education sessions, talk to experienced farmers, go to conferences, connect with Cooperative Extension, attend non-profit events?

Their education is broader than most college educated people.

There isn't anything more political than farming... grants from USDA, paid to not farm, incentive to grow certain crops, tax breaks and incentives.

You have got to sit back and listen instead of talk on this subject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did a conservative write the article? He sounds scared that a university can do what they want and think how they want.

A university is a business. They get to control their profit. If you want to look at “endowment hoarding,” look at billionaires like Bezos or Musk and not an Ivy.

Those two are among the true hoarders of money.

and churches

What happen to capitalism? Do we now tell people how to spend their money?

Yes we absolutely do tell people how to spend their money, every day in countless different ways.

So republicans want to tell people how to spend their money.

And how businesses should be run.


I’m old enough to remember when Rs pretended they were capitalists who wanted small government/little regulation for free enterprise.

Republicans have never thought that academia was "free enterprise". As indeed it is not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did a conservative write the article? He sounds scared that a university can do what they want and think how they want.

A university is a business. They get to control their profit. If you want to look at “endowment hoarding,” look at billionaires like Bezos or Musk and not an Ivy.

Those two are among the true hoarders of money.

Universities are not just “businesses”. They get significant direct and indirect support from the taxpayers. They are not allowed to “do whatever they want” when it comes to how they treat minorities or women, so the argument that they can and should just do whatever they want is simply dishonest and false.

Same for churches?

Churches are not allowed to "do whatever they want" either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand how most Americans don't go to college. I really don't. This country has so much opportunity if you are someone who values education and strives for a better life. I think of the fact that public schools encourage reading, that may sound trivial but public schools in the Arab world absolutely do not. And libraries are not commonly used. Just by reading a low income or low middle class child can develop skills to have a better understanding of the world. And through scholarships can get into good schools. Again with the Arab world comparison because that is what I know best--do you think a bright low income kid over there can get into a good school? Very very hard.

Americans don't realize how good they have it. And the American culture of contempt toward educated elites is part of the reason someone like Trump was able to win. I remember reading a Vance interview where he said McDonald's should hire young American men through better wages and I just rolled my eyes. Yeah sure, these hordes of young unemployed white men are dying to work at McDonald's if only they could get 15 bucks an hour. No, they want high-paying jobs being a foreman at a factory or something. And they are angry at their lawyer cousin who was smart to get out of Oklahoma or whatever and make a good life for themselves in DC or NY.

Because they are not getting low paying McDonald's jobs. They are making $100K+/year without college.

Also, even a state school will run you $120K for 4 years and most poeple can't afford that, actually most can't afford to not work for 4 years.

Student loans are available. That is not something easily accessible to young people in other parts of the world. If they are making that kind of money without college then why are they so angry?

They are angry because people like you think they only job they can get is McDonalds and if you look at them your body language shows them you assume they are trash and racist.

No, I don't think they are racist. I think what's contemptible about them is that they are anti-education, and that's what makes them trash. I think they have opportunities unfathomable to most young men around the world and are angry because high paying blue collar jobs are harder to come by than 30 years ago.

Again the assumptions you make about people that go to college is elitist and incorrect.

They are not "anti-education" but they have decided they would rather be educated in a different way. Someone who is a farmer can teach you more about the economy, climate change, pesticides in food, supply chain, etc than any college graduate.

You actually don't understand why they are mad.

That's not right. If they aren't educated, they only have one perspective--the farming perspective. You don't need to have gone to a top-10 university, but the point of higher education is to broader your perspective, to learn how other people do things, to learn how things have been done historically, how they have changed, and why, to learn how different forces (political, religious, historical, cultural, natural) have brought us to where we are today. It's hard to get that perspective if you stay in one place, with the same group of people, doing the same kinds of things your whole life. Even harder if you even refuse to consider certain points of view or examine your own assumptions and biases.

You think college kids these days are spending a lot of time examining their assumptions and biases? What a joke. It’s a nice dream but not reality at all. They shout down and refuse to listen to other points of view that may challenge them in any way.

^^^ this

Every single person in the world is biased... you, me and PP.

You understand the plight of the Gullah Geechee people? Nope, nor do I. Bubbles everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did a conservative write the article? He sounds scared that a university can do what they want and think how they want.

A university is a business. They get to control their profit. If you want to look at “endowment hoarding,” look at billionaires like Bezos or Musk and not an Ivy.

Those two are among the true hoarders of money.

Universities are not just “businesses”. They get significant direct and indirect support from the taxpayers. They are not allowed to “do whatever they want” when it comes to how they treat minorities or women, so the argument that they can and should just do whatever they want is simply dishonest and false.

Same for churches?

Churches are not allowed to "do whatever they want" either.

Really, what are they not allowed to do because they are allowed to buy big houses, yachts and spend their money on hookers and extravagant vacations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did a conservative write the article? He sounds scared that a university can do what they want and think how they want.

A university is a business. They get to control their profit. If you want to look at “endowment hoarding,” look at billionaires like Bezos or Musk and not an Ivy.

Those two are among the true hoarders of money.

and churches

What happen to capitalism? Do we now tell people how to spend their money?

Yes we absolutely do tell people how to spend their money, every day in countless different ways.

So republicans want to tell people how to spend their money.

Republicans recognize the reality that we live in an administrative state that, every day, constrains people from spending their money how they want, and there is no point in pretending that academia is (or should be) exempt from this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I had ChatGPT rewrite it and condense it since it rambled too much...

To move forward, liberals should stop dwelling on why some Americans vote against their perceived interests or reject "our" values. We often come across as out of touch with working-class realities and make ourselves easy targets with jargon and self-righteousness. Economic signs—high inflation, wage gaps, and low presidential approval—signaled the recent Democratic defeat. While our ideals of unity and harmony appeal to us, they don’t win elections in a divided society.

We must defend what matters: public schools under threat, a true national celebration of 2026, and policies that genuinely reach working Americans. We’re losing trust and relevance, especially among young men and non-college-educated voters who increasingly feel alienated. Universities need a reset, as confidence in them has plummeted due to soaring costs, elitism, and left-leaning ideology.

Our challenge is to make our work accessible beyond the academic world. Universities, like public schools, are vital for social mobility and democracy. We need to convey the broader value of history, science, and the arts in everyday life and address the anxieties of those disconnected from academic culture. Trumpism endangers everything we stand for, but democracy is weakened from within if we fail to reconnect and re-educate.

So the individuals at private schools who voted to increase public school funding should sacrifice their institutional endowments for the sake of individuals at public schools who voted against the best interests of their public institutions?!?! Wow, how delusional.