Harvard Rejects Trump Admin’s Demands, Going to Court

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FFS the American people should be mad at the administration, not universities,

It’s such distraction and misinterpretation in order for the fascist regime to takeover. Let them eat cake!!! He’s got you looking one way while every freedom you know is disappearing and the economy gets worse for everyone but the oligarchs.

We've been mad at woke universities a long time. The administration is only a couple months old and his popularity is dropping fast. If we're lucky maybe we can get rid of both of them

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s extortion. No previous White House has ever tried to use the power of the state to steer the nation’s preeminent institutions of higher learning in an ideological direction favored by the president.

“U.S. research universities, and the federal funding that supports them, are one major reason Americans have collected more Nobel Prizes than citizens of any other country. They also help make the United States the world’s innovation engine and the top destination for foreign students. No other country is as adept at converting raw human talent and ideas into cutting-edge products. Research universities anchor innovation clusters such as Silicon Valley, which in turn fuel the country’s economic growth.”

Nearly a month ago, for example, Columbia University agreed to most of the White House’s demands in the hopes that Trump and his team would restore $400 million in federal funding. Not only were those hopes soon dashed — Columbia didn’t get its money back — but the administration soon after proposed installing oversight personnel to help run the school in ways that would make the president happy.

In effect, the White House responded to Columbia’s appeasement by trying in part to take over Columbia.

+100

People cheering for this are puppets. It’s the beginning of a fascist regime. They want to control all of the elite universities so there are no alternative ideas or push back. Much like firing all the IGs.

Obama sent letters threatening universities to install DEI or lose funding. Full compliance.

It is the government's responsibility to uphold civil rights and non-discrimination laws. Call it "control" if you want - but it's controlling fairness.
The Trump administration's demands work against civil rights and are controlling ideology they agree with and eliminating opposing views. That is not appropriate government "control."
It isn't federal regulations or government policies that are to blame if students with more conservative views don't feel comfortable expressing those views on their campus, or similarly employees in a company. That's the result of the school and the company's chosen practices.
Is Trump going after Liberty University for being too conservative or too Christian?

Trump administration is demanding as one of several conditions that Harvard stop discriminating against Asians and Harvard said no. Very simple.

Half the country thinks it’s just swell to discriminate against those uppity Asian Americans. How dare they quote the plain English of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

You know that Trump and MAGA do not like the Asian infiltration of the tech industry, right? And that many cannot even distinguish between foreign Asians and Asian-Americans? For crying out loud, open your eyes and turn on your brain.

So just ignore the anti Asian racial discrimination?

One racist at a time. If Harvard is ever in the position to deal a blow to white supremacy, we will support it. But right now Trump is in a position to attach real consequences to racially discriminating against Asians. Sure the academic disruption is unfortunate but how important would you think the disruption was of it was attaching consequences to anti black discrimination or anti Hispanic discrimination?

It's NOT racial discrimination. Having a perfect GPA, and a perfect SAT doesn't EARN you a spot at Harvard, which you are then being denied. This isn't Beijing University. This isn't Moscow State University. We don't have a national university or a national placement test where there might be such specific admissions standards. Each university is allowed to set whatever admissions criteria they like and they are allowed to decide that extracurriculars or whatever are part of that package. You don't get to decide as the parent of a child what criteria you think they should emphasize. Find another school where your child fits the profile and where the profile emphasizes what you think it should emphasize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So dumb. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue”’

The government isn’t saying that. No one is forcing Harvard to do anything. They have a billion dollar endowment and can do as they please.

What they can’t do is foster an educational atmosphere of harassment and expect the taxpayers to finance it.

Sounds like you skipped the letter with the Trump admin’s demands. In the second link.

I literally quoted from the article.

No one is forcing Harvard to do anything.

Harvard is throwing a hissy fit because it wants to do certain things AND get taxpayer funds.

Doesn’t work like that.

You truly do not get it. There's a lot more at stake than Harvard. Colleges like Hillsdale are fine because they don't do cutting edge research that costs millions of dollars year in and year out. You are supporting the tactics of an authoritarian regime that is telling scholars and students what and how they should think, and allowing the mobs to take out people with whom you disagree. If you are in favor of these cuts because you are fearful of antisemitism or you think that Harvard is full of antisemites, you are foolish. Putin and Orban, and Mao all used these oppressive tactics. You're siding with the Devil, who will have no scruples turning on Jews when convenient.

Exactly this. Jews have just become a convenient excuse for repression and censorship by budding fascists and their right-wing toadies.

I want to see more Jews (I am Jewish) speak out about this. Stop using the historic hatred of Jews as a tool in fascism! I want nothing to do with this.

Also the way these people conflate anti-semitism with opposition to the current Israeli government does not in any way make me, a Jew, feel safer. I also oppose the actions of the current Israeli government. If I speak out about that, am I an anti-Semite?

We need to stop this.

I can't tell you how many Jewish people I know who believe this. You aren't allowed to saying ANYTHING negative about Israel ever.

+1. I am horrified by my otherwise progressive, liberal Jewish friends (even those who went to law school!) who would rather squelch free speech and academic freedom than have to tolerate criticism of Israel, or have their children be exposed to this on college campuses. They cannot comprehend intellectually the distinction between criticism of Israel's actions and antisemitism, even though there are tens of thousands of Israeli Jews who are publicly protesting against Netanyahu and the ongoing war in Gaza. It's short-sighted at best. The problem, of course, is that accepting the immediate relief offered by Trump's strong-arming of colleges comes with a very, very high price tag. Trump is not out to protect the Jews; he's courting the favor of White evangelical Christians who believe that they need to support Jews to hasten the second coming of Christ. When that happens, Jews who have not accepted Christ as their savior will be annihilated, which should strike terror in every Jew.

Because it comes from the same will spring as antisemitism. No other country has been held to the impossible standard that Israel has been held to. That comes from antisemitism.

Israel has declared war on Hamas. Their conduct of this war is no worse than our prosecution of the war in Afghanistan or Iraq. No worse than any number of other wars.

The Japanese killed 2000 at Pearl harbor. We proceeded to kill 2 million Japanese including civilian casualties in two atomic explosions. This war ends the moment Hamas unconditionally surrender.

Do not compare what the US did to what Israel is doing. Israel had kill over 200 Palestinians before Oct 7. Israel commits an Oct 7 every year. Now Israel is suppressing American in the US. In your comparison Israel is Japan not the US.

Meh. That's your opinion. This is war. A war that Hamas started. FAFO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So dumb. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue”’

The government isn’t saying that. No one is forcing Harvard to do anything. They have a billion dollar endowment and can do as they please.

What they can’t do is foster an educational atmosphere of harassment and expect the taxpayers to finance it.

Sounds like you skipped the letter with the Trump admin’s demands. In the second link.

I literally quoted from the article.

No one is forcing Harvard to do anything.

Harvard is throwing a hissy fit because it wants to do certain things AND get taxpayer funds.

Doesn’t work like that.

All taxpayers will never agree on anything. If the standard for receipt taxpayer funds is agreement from all taxpayers, then nothing would ever be funded from public coffers.

Right. That's why we have elections. Trump won the last election. In no small part because people were turned off to the liberal elite messaging, the racial discrimination against white and asians, the never ending stream of woke ideology coming out of places like Harvard.

If I have learned one thing in the past couple of years is all the same people who say they can't stand racism against Asians had no problem with COVID epithets and violence against Asians and hate meritocracy when Asians actually thrive.

The same people who cry about anti semitism at universities embrace salutes and white supremacists like Stephen miller.

So no...no one is taking you any seriously any more. You've rung a false tune on that bell too many times.

We all who were attacking Asians during Covid, and it wasn’t Trump supporters.

Same with antisemitism. We’ve all seen outright hate and violence the last 1.5 years and it wasn’t coming from MAGA.

We're not supposed to say it was black people but the violence was disproportionately black people attacking elderly Asians or Asian women.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So dumb. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue”’

The government isn’t saying that. No one is forcing Harvard to do anything. They have a billion dollar endowment and can do as they please.

What they can’t do is foster an educational atmosphere of harassment and expect the taxpayers to finance it.

Sounds like you skipped the letter with the Trump admin’s demands. In the second link.

I literally quoted from the article.

No one is forcing Harvard to do anything.

Harvard is throwing a hissy fit because it wants to do certain things AND get taxpayer funds.

Doesn’t work like that.

All taxpayers will never agree on anything. If the standard for receipt taxpayer funds is agreement from all taxpayers, then nothing would ever be funded from public coffers.

What nonsense.

Imagine thinking we would continue to fund the “valuable scientific research” at a university that allowed student protestors to shout at black students that they should go back to Africa. It would never happen. Yet Jews were told at Princeton to “go back to Europe” and called “inbred swine.”

Perhaps punish the kids who said that and not the entire university and critical medical research.

EXACTLY EXACTLY EXACTLY EXACTLY

Anyone who cites a single or small group of students' bad behavior as justification for the autocratic overreach and lawlessness of the current administration is a moron. Or evil.

They were complicit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s extortion. No previous White House has ever tried to use the power of the state to steer the nation’s preeminent institutions of higher learning in an ideological direction favored by the president.

“U.S. research universities, and the federal funding that supports them, are one major reason Americans have collected more Nobel Prizes than citizens of any other country. They also help make the United States the world’s innovation engine and the top destination for foreign students. No other country is as adept at converting raw human talent and ideas into cutting-edge products. Research universities anchor innovation clusters such as Silicon Valley, which in turn fuel the country’s economic growth.”

Nearly a month ago, for example, Columbia University agreed to most of the White House’s demands in the hopes that Trump and his team would restore $400 million in federal funding. Not only were those hopes soon dashed — Columbia didn’t get its money back — but the administration soon after proposed installing oversight personnel to help run the school in ways that would make the president happy.

In effect, the White House responded to Columbia’s appeasement by trying in part to take over Columbia.

+100

People cheering for this are puppets. It’s the beginning of a fascist regime. They want to control all of the elite universities so there are no alternative ideas or push back. Much like firing all the IGs.

Obama sent letters threatening universities to install DEI or lose funding. Full compliance.

It is the government's responsibility to uphold civil rights and non-discrimination laws. Call it "control" if you want - but it's controlling fairness.
The Trump administration's demands work against civil rights and are controlling ideology they agree with and eliminating opposing views. That is not appropriate government "control."
It isn't federal regulations or government policies that are to blame if students with more conservative views don't feel comfortable expressing those views on their campus, or similarly employees in a company. That's the result of the school and the company's chosen practices.
Is Trump going after Liberty University for being too conservative or too Christian?

Trump administration is demanding as one of several conditions that Harvard stop discriminating against Asians and Harvard said no. Very simple.

No, the letter is saying a bunch more. If that’s all the letter said it would be a normal case of “no we didn’t” vs “yes you did” settled in court. The letter wants a bunch of crazy stuff, the most outrageous being the idea the gov gets to oversee hiring and admissions to comply with ideological diversity as they see fit.

The problem isn’t the idea of ideological diversity, which is wonderful. The problem is the gov shouldn’t police thought in academia.

Neither should academia police it.

No, they shouldn’t, but that’s not what they have tried to do. It might seem like it happens occasionally when we read about something silly like a prof getting canceled by peers, but that’s not an institutional intention, and that’s what lawsuits are intended to remedy. The letter to Harvard is talking about the gov literally overseeing future hires and admits based on ideology. The scale and institutional intent are different here.

Academia isn’t perfect, but blowing up their autonomy is out of proportion to its problems. It also ignores a central tenet of conservatism: don’t assume all change is good, esp for systems that are mostly working. Our universities are (were?) the envy of the world and fueled generations of innovation and global economic leadership. This is high risk/low reward behavior.

This is FAFO

Do you really think having deloitte or whomever come in and do an 'ideological audit' of the faculty and then appoint people who meet these ideological diversity criteria is doing to be the best solution? What makes you think that these 'consultants' are even gong to understand what goes into a hiring decision? They're going to appoint their friends and then half of your faculty is going to consist of grifters and really old retirees who have 'always wanted to teach at Harvard' and probably Dr. Oz and the head of the Worldwide Wrestling Federation and someone who once played a professor on a TV show. Things that other people worked really hard to earn handed out like candy to friends of Trump. People with no publications swanning around and calling themselves Professor. Good luck with that. Let me know how it works out for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So dumb. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue”’

The government isn’t saying that. No one is forcing Harvard to do anything. They have a billion dollar endowment and can do as they please.

What they can’t do is foster an educational atmosphere of harassment and expect the taxpayers to finance it.

Sounds like you skipped the letter with the Trump admin’s demands. In the second link.

I literally quoted from the article.

No one is forcing Harvard to do anything.

Harvard is throwing a hissy fit because it wants to do certain things AND get taxpayer funds.

Doesn’t work like that.

You truly do not get it. There's a lot more at stake than Harvard. Colleges like Hillsdale are fine because they don't do cutting edge research that costs millions of dollars year in and year out. You are supporting the tactics of an authoritarian regime that is telling scholars and students what and how they should think, and allowing the mobs to take out people with whom you disagree. If you are in favor of these cuts because you are fearful of antisemitism or you think that Harvard is full of antisemites, you are foolish. Putin and Orban, and Mao all used these oppressive tactics. You're siding with the Devil, who will have no scruples turning on Jews when convenient.

Exactly this. Jews have just become a convenient excuse for repression and censorship by budding fascists and their right-wing toadies.

I want to see more Jews (I am Jewish) speak out about this. Stop using the historic hatred of Jews as a tool in fascism! I want nothing to do with this.

Also the way these people conflate anti-semitism with opposition to the current Israeli government does not in any way make me, a Jew, feel safer. I also oppose the actions of the current Israeli government. If I speak out about that, am I an anti-Semite?

We need to stop this.

I can't tell you how many Jewish people I know who believe this. You aren't allowed to saying ANYTHING negative about Israel ever.

+1. I am horrified by my otherwise progressive, liberal Jewish friends (even those who went to law school!) who would rather squelch free speech and academic freedom than have to tolerate criticism of Israel, or have their children be exposed to this on college campuses. They cannot comprehend intellectually the distinction between criticism of Israel's actions and antisemitism, even though there are tens of thousands of Israeli Jews who are publicly protesting against Netanyahu and the ongoing war in Gaza. It's short-sighted at best. The problem, of course, is that accepting the immediate relief offered by Trump's strong-arming of colleges comes with a very, very high price tag. Trump is not out to protect the Jews; he's courting the favor of White evangelical Christians who believe that they need to support Jews to hasten the second coming of Christ. When that happens, Jews who have not accepted Christ as their savior will be annihilated, which should strike terror in every Jew.

Because it comes from the same will spring as antisemitism. No other country has been held to the impossible standard that Israel has been held to. That comes from antisemitism.

Israel has declared war on Hamas. Their conduct of this war is no worse than our prosecution of the war in Afghanistan or Iraq. No worse than any number of other wars.

The Japanese killed 2000 at Pearl harbor. We proceeded to kill 2 million Japanese including civilian casualties in two atomic explosions. This war ends the moment Hamas unconditionally surrender.

So many differences… where to start?

90% of the homes in Gaza are destroyed. 100% of the population now lives in poverty. These are multiples worse than Japan after WW2.

The UN’s view was that Israel has been occupying Gaza and controlling its borders and flow of resources and commerce for decades. This led to a poverty level of 80% and a food insecurity level of 64% by 2022, per the UN.

We embargoed and sanctioned Japan around a year before Pearl Harbor because of its military aggression on allies in Asia, but it was still one of the continent’s wealthiest nations at the outset of their attack.

We helped Japan rebuild. Last I heard Trump wants to seize control of Gaza and develop it, and wants the Palestinians to be forcefully migrated.

They had at least 3 opportunities for their own state. They first time, they invaded a newly formed Israel, the second time they walked away from a deal brokered by Clinton and the third time they walked away from talks with Israel and elected Hamas. So now it's war and they deserve whatever date they had in store for the Jews. They were going to drive the Jews out, why is it so bad that he's would return the favor? At least the Palestinians have someplace nearby to go. Where would Jews go?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So dumb. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue”’

The government isn’t saying that. No one is forcing Harvard to do anything. They have a billion dollar endowment and can do as they please.

What they can’t do is foster an educational atmosphere of harassment and expect the taxpayers to finance it.

Trump wants to limit free speech that he doesn't like. Does anyone remember, "there were very fine people on both sides?" He had no problem with the Proud boys and their vile "free speech".

You're propagandized and don't even know it. Don't quote things you hear on CNN. Listen to the full uncut speech and you'll see that's not what he was talking about.

Fact: In a news conference after the rally protesting the planned removal of a Confederate statue, Trump did say there were "very fine people on both sides," referring to the protesters and the counterprotesters. He said in the same statement he wasn't talking about neo-Nazis and white nationalists, who he said should be "condemned totally." <--- from the full uncut speech

Given that virtually every source that covered the Unite the Right rally concluded that it was conceived of, led by and attended by white supremacists, Trump's statement did in fact amount to him saying that neo Nazis and white nationalists are "very fine people."

The anti-semitism angle is just bizarre for this administration, and reminds me of the exact propaganda Putin used. Putin claimed that he was invading Ukraine to liberate them from their Nazi oppressors. Despite the fact that Zelensky is Jewish. Trump seems to be following the same dictator playbook and borrowing similar propaganda tactics.

Trump is using Jews as a scapegoat, as an excuse. This will not end well for Jews. Support for Israel is already significantly down according to a recent Pew research poll. I am beyond frustrated by the various Jewish mom/parent social media groups that work members up in a frenzy with cherry-picked data on antisemitism on college campuses.

Support for Israel vastly exceeds support of the other side among everyone except liberal Dems. Poll after poll is consistent on this. And 2/3 Americans support deporting terrorist radicals. Trump isn’t losing support on this issue.

Define "other side"? Do you mean Palestinians or do you mean Hamas?

The war is between Israel and Hamas.

The Palestinians are to Hamas what the Germans were to the Nazis. We still bombed the fck out of Dresden

Many military experts consider the bombing of Dresden a war crime, just FYI. But I assume that in the godless company that you keep, cruelty is valued.

Many military experts are wrong. I've been to Dresden, I've seen the scorched stones of the opera house, I've seen the boundaries of the bombed areas and it was horrible but it was war, a was the Germans started and Dresden was part of the supply chain in the German war machine. The civilian casualties are unfortunate but not a way crime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the people against Harvard - if you get cancer will you be seeking the latest treatments and research? I don’t understand why you’d want to disrupt our nation’s most amazing asset (or research industry).

Perhaps there is an ideological cancer they are more urgently concerned about

I have no doubt that those funds can go to another university which isn’t stuffed with a 97% leftist faculty.

Cal tech faculty has one God, science and engineering. They do not worship at the altar of woke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So dumb. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue”’

The government isn’t saying that. No one is forcing Harvard to do anything. They have a billion dollar endowment and can do as they please.

What they can’t do is foster an educational atmosphere of harassment and expect the taxpayers to finance it.

Sounds like you skipped the letter with the Trump admin’s demands. In the second link.

I literally quoted from the article.

No one is forcing Harvard to do anything.

Harvard is throwing a hissy fit because it wants to do certain things AND get taxpayer funds.

Doesn’t work like that.

You truly do not get it. There's a lot more at stake than Harvard. Colleges like Hillsdale are fine because they don't do cutting edge research that costs millions of dollars year in and year out. You are supporting the tactics of an authoritarian regime that is telling scholars and students what and how they should think, and allowing the mobs to take out people with whom you disagree. If you are in favor of these cuts because you are fearful of antisemitism or you think that Harvard is full of antisemites, you are foolish. Putin and Orban, and Mao all used these oppressive tactics. You're siding with the Devil, who will have no scruples turning on Jews when convenient.

Exactly this. Jews have just become a convenient excuse for repression and censorship by budding fascists and their right-wing toadies.

I want to see more Jews (I am Jewish) speak out about this. Stop using the historic hatred of Jews as a tool in fascism! I want nothing to do with this.

Also the way these people conflate anti-semitism with opposition to the current Israeli government does not in any way make me, a Jew, feel safer. I also oppose the actions of the current Israeli government. If I speak out about that, am I an anti-Semite?

We need to stop this.

I can't tell you how many Jewish people I know who believe this. You aren't allowed to saying ANYTHING negative about Israel ever.

+1. I am horrified by my otherwise progressive, liberal Jewish friends (even those who went to law school!) who would rather squelch free speech and academic freedom than have to tolerate criticism of Israel, or have their children be exposed to this on college campuses. They cannot comprehend intellectually the distinction between criticism of Israel's actions and antisemitism, even though there are tens of thousands of Israeli Jews who are publicly protesting against Netanyahu and the ongoing war in Gaza. It's short-sighted at best. The problem, of course, is that accepting the immediate relief offered by Trump's strong-arming of colleges comes with a very, very high price tag. Trump is not out to protect the Jews; he's courting the favor of White evangelical Christians who believe that they need to support Jews to hasten the second coming of Christ. When that happens, Jews who have not accepted Christ as their savior will be annihilated, which should strike terror in every Jew.

Because it comes from the same will spring as antisemitism. No other country has been held to the impossible standard that Israel has been held to. That comes from antisemitism.

Israel has declared war on Hamas. Their conduct of this war is no worse than our prosecution of the war in Afghanistan or Iraq. No worse than any number of other wars.

The Japanese killed 2000 at Pearl harbor. We proceeded to kill 2 million Japanese including civilian casualties in two atomic explosions. This war ends the moment Hamas unconditionally surrender.

Do not compare what the US did to what Israel is doing. Israel had kill over 200 Palestinians before Oct 7. Israel commits an Oct 7 every year. Now Israel is suppressing American in the US. In your comparison Israel is Japan not the US.

Meh. That's your opinion. This is war. A war that Hamas started. FAFO.

Hamas did not start this. Israel was created using violence in 1948.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s extortion. No previous White House has ever tried to use the power of the state to steer the nation’s preeminent institutions of higher learning in an ideological direction favored by the president.

“U.S. research universities, and the federal funding that supports them, are one major reason Americans have collected more Nobel Prizes than citizens of any other country. They also help make the United States the world’s innovation engine and the top destination for foreign students. No other country is as adept at converting raw human talent and ideas into cutting-edge products. Research universities anchor innovation clusters such as Silicon Valley, which in turn fuel the country’s economic growth.”

Nearly a month ago, for example, Columbia University agreed to most of the White House’s demands in the hopes that Trump and his team would restore $400 million in federal funding. Not only were those hopes soon dashed — Columbia didn’t get its money back — but the administration soon after proposed installing oversight personnel to help run the school in ways that would make the president happy.

In effect, the White House responded to Columbia’s appeasement by trying in part to take over Columbia.

+100

People cheering for this are puppets. It’s the beginning of a fascist regime. They want to control all of the elite universities so there are no alternative ideas or push back. Much like firing all the IGs.

Obama sent letters threatening universities to install DEI or lose funding. Full compliance.

Obama did not tell schools their federal funding depended on creating entire DEI programs, much less demand to pick students and faculty who shared his party’s “viewpoints.” If you mean trans kids getting to use the restroom that matched their identity, you can’t possibly think that was as consequential as reshaping the ideology of any entire university’s population, as the Harvard letter lays out. I’m all for diversity of thought, but the gov should not be in the business of evaluating what that looks like when it itself swings so dramatically from one election to the other.

Republicans are supposed to favor small gov!

Forcing trans ideology on everyone is not really great either.

And Republicans never favored small government, they favor low taxes and no entitlements or social safety nets. Bootstraps and all that.

LOL. Bigots are so dumb.

Republicans have been whining about “small government” for decades.

yeah they whine about but they never wanted small government. They wanted to control your goddam uterus. They were never about small government.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So dumb. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue”’

The government isn’t saying that. No one is forcing Harvard to do anything. They have a billion dollar endowment and can do as they please.

What they can’t do is foster an educational atmosphere of harassment and expect the taxpayers to finance it.

Sounds like you skipped the letter with the Trump admin’s demands. In the second link.

I literally quoted from the article.

No one is forcing Harvard to do anything.

Harvard is throwing a hissy fit because it wants to do certain things AND get taxpayer funds.

Doesn’t work like that.

There are many concerns with the demands, but here are three:

-Harvard is being told they have to end recognition of student orgs merely accused of things, not proven to have done those things. Many of the allegations have been disputed.

-Affirmative action and DEI aren’t the same. DEI can still play a role in ensuring no discrimination, but they are being told even that is not allowed.

- Most seriously, Harvard employees and students would be immediately evaluated for “viewpoint diversity. ” If not satisfying the gov, future hires and admits would need to reach whatever level of parity the gov sees fit. Viewpoint diversity is a subjective assessment, and easily corrupted to disallow academic criticism of public policy. That would remove yet another “check,” as the politicians studied by academics would now control the hiring of those asking the questions, not unlike what just happened with the WH press corps.

Can the gov withhold Harvard funding if their demands aren’t met? Possibly, but that doesn’t make it right, as the courts exist to determine compliance with the law, not to tell us what laws we should have. Much of this hasn’t been attempted before in this country, so at least some of the relevant laws are vague. If they do pull it off, why would the top researchers and students in the world stay when they are in high demand by countries not policing thought?

So the anti Asian discrimination revealed by the sffa case doesn't disturb you?

We have a court system to handle SFFA and discrimination issues. That is how it is supposed to work.

BTW, if you think what Trump is doing is to help Asian students, I have a bridge to sell you. It may help them marginally, but that is not the purpose.

Why is government jumping through hoops to make sure other forms of discrimination don't happen but this one is left up to the court system?

This indifferent attitude towards any Asian discrimination (and more recently antisemitic discrimination) is disturbing. It is a consequence of woke ideology that is only concerned with discrimination against some groups but not others

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No you are looking at different things. Viewpoint diversity is about making sure all viewpoints are welcomed. DEI has morphed into putting one group over another based on past wrong etc.

I understand the sales pitch, but the mechanism is spelled out in the letter. Each paragraph starts off with what sound like good intentions, but then when you read how it will be implemented the risks and dangers become clear. The gov should not be involved in picking the faculty or students of a private school just because the gov is a large customer of a university (paying for and receiving the benefits of research).

Nor should the gov be dictating which student orgs get kicked off campus just based on allegations. There’s a need for due process.

DEI was not about putting one group over another. It was about giving (previously wronged) groups help to reach the level enjoyed by others. I don’t agree with all the tools it used to do that, like affirmative action, but having a place to go when there is a complaint or a need for training isn’t crazy. It could be rolled into HR at some places since it’s the same kind of compliance function, but calling a student facing org HR is confusing. (Ultimately there will be a rebrand just so Trump can say he won.)

DEI brought this down on everyone. Maybe next time don't let the lunatic left FA and the world won't have to FO

The pendulum swings both ways, except the next president will be eligible for 2 terms. Moderation is usually the wise move if wanting durable policies. It won’t be long before the middle third of the country who actually decide elections tire of blaming everything on DEI. It’s already getting old. Most people were not as adversely affected by it as they will be the looming financial crisis. Autocrats have a legacy of stirring up anger, overpromising salvation, but actually making things worse by disregarding democracy.

Sure, but neither party is offering middle ground. So we swing wildly from left to right until once pay realizes that they can win a lasting majority by taking a more moderate stance.

The economy is already screwed, it's like global warming, the catastrophe is already baked in.

DEI is dead, even most blacks and Latino don't really want it. Not the craziest bits of it. They are trying to get the good parts without the crazy parts

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:So dumb. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue”’

The government isn’t saying that. No one is forcing Harvard to do anything. They have a billion dollar endowment and can do as they please.

What they can’t do is foster an educational atmosphere of harassment and expect the taxpayers to finance it.

Sounds like you skipped the letter with the Trump admin’s demands. In the second link.

I literally quoted from the article.

No one is forcing Harvard to do anything.

Harvard is throwing a hissy fit because it wants to do certain things AND get taxpayer funds.

Doesn’t work like that.

All taxpayers will never agree on anything. If the standard for receipt taxpayer funds is agreement from all taxpayers, then nothing would ever be funded from public coffers.

Right. That's why we have elections. Trump won the last election. In no small part because people were turned off to the liberal elite messaging, the racial discrimination against white and asians, the never ending stream of woke ideology coming out of places like Harvard.

If I have learned one thing in the past couple of years is all the same people who say they can't stand racism against Asians had no problem with COVID epithets and violence against Asians and hate meritocracy when Asians actually thrive.

The same people who cry about anti semitism at universities embrace salutes and white supremacists like Stephen miller.

So no...no one is taking you any seriously any more. You've rung a false tune on that bell too many times.

We all who were attacking Asians during Covid, and it wasn’t Trump supporters.

Same with antisemitism. We’ve all seen outright hate and violence the last 1.5 years and it wasn’t coming from MAGA.

We're not supposed to say it was black people but the violence was disproportionately black people attacking elderly Asians or Asian women.

And legacy media refused to cover so only the local stations and papers covered the incidents.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:So dumb. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue”’

The government isn’t saying that. No one is forcing Harvard to do anything. They have a billion dollar endowment and can do as they please.

What they can’t do is foster an educational atmosphere of harassment and expect the taxpayers to finance it.

Sounds like you skipped the letter with the Trump admin’s demands. In the second link.

I literally quoted from the article.

No one is forcing Harvard to do anything.

Harvard is throwing a hissy fit because it wants to do certain things AND get taxpayer funds.

Doesn’t work like that.

You truly do not get it. There's a lot more at stake than Harvard. Colleges like Hillsdale are fine because they don't do cutting edge research that costs millions of dollars year in and year out. You are supporting the tactics of an authoritarian regime that is telling scholars and students what and how they should think, and allowing the mobs to take out people with whom you disagree. If you are in favor of these cuts because you are fearful of antisemitism or you think that Harvard is full of antisemites, you are foolish. Putin and Orban, and Mao all used these oppressive tactics. You're siding with the Devil, who will have no scruples turning on Jews when convenient.

Exactly this. Jews have just become a convenient excuse for repression and censorship by budding fascists and their right-wing toadies.

I want to see more Jews (I am Jewish) speak out about this. Stop using the historic hatred of Jews as a tool in fascism! I want nothing to do with this.

Also the way these people conflate anti-semitism with opposition to the current Israeli government does not in any way make me, a Jew, feel safer. I also oppose the actions of the current Israeli government. If I speak out about that, am I an anti-Semite?

We need to stop this.

I can't tell you how many Jewish people I know who believe this. You aren't allowed to saying ANYTHING negative about Israel ever.

+1. I am horrified by my otherwise progressive, liberal Jewish friends (even those who went to law school!) who would rather squelch free speech and academic freedom than have to tolerate criticism of Israel, or have their children be exposed to this on college campuses. They cannot comprehend intellectually the distinction between criticism of Israel's actions and antisemitism, even though there are tens of thousands of Israeli Jews who are publicly protesting against Netanyahu and the ongoing war in Gaza. It's short-sighted at best. The problem, of course, is that accepting the immediate relief offered by Trump's strong-arming of colleges comes with a very, very high price tag. Trump is not out to protect the Jews; he's courting the favor of White evangelical Christians who believe that they need to support Jews to hasten the second coming of Christ. When that happens, Jews who have not accepted Christ as their savior will be annihilated, which should strike terror in every Jew.

Because it comes from the same will spring as antisemitism. No other country has been held to the impossible standard that Israel has been held to. That comes from antisemitism.

Israel has declared war on Hamas. Their conduct of this war is no worse than our prosecution of the war in Afghanistan or Iraq. No worse than any number of other wars.

The Japanese killed 2000 at Pearl harbor. We proceeded to kill 2 million Japanese including civilian casualties in two atomic explosions. This war ends the moment Hamas unconditionally surrender.

So many differences… where to start?

90% of the homes in Gaza are destroyed. 100% of the population now lives in poverty. These are multiples worse than Japan after WW2.

The UN’s view was that Israel has been occupying Gaza and controlling its borders and flow of resources and commerce for decades. This led to a poverty level of 80% and a food insecurity level of 64% by 2022, per the UN.

We embargoed and sanctioned Japan around a year before Pearl Harbor because of its military aggression on allies in Asia, but it was still one of the continent’s wealthiest nations at the outset of their attack.

We helped Japan rebuild. Last I heard Trump wants to seize control of Gaza and develop it, and wants the Palestinians to be forcefully migrated.

They had at least 3 opportunities for their own state. They first time, they invaded a newly formed Israel, the second time they walked away from a deal brokered by Clinton and the third time they walked away from talks with Israel and elected Hamas. So now it's war and they deserve whatever date they had in store for the Jews. They were going to drive the Jews out, why is it so bad that he's would return the favor? At least the Palestinians have someplace nearby to go. Where would Jews go?

That’s a false choice. The Israelis of course have a home that they have real control over. The Palestinians in Gaza do not, and have not for over a generation. The history is complex and both sides have legitimate complaints of the other (not to mention other involved parties), but destroying all the homes of a civilian population violates the Geneva Convention. So does a forced migration. Removing the ruling party (Hamas) is of course appropriate but destroying what’s left of a civilization’s ties to a region that goes back 5000 years is a different matter.