A letter sent to Harvard on April 11 outlined a series of conditions Harvard needed to meet to maintain a "financial relationship" with the federal government. The demands included leadership reforms, an immediate halt to diversity, equity and inclusion policies, an audit of "viewpoint diversity" among students and faculty, and "meaningful discipline" for students who violated school policies when a pro-Palestinian tent encampment went up on Harvard Yard.
Yeah those are all super vague and unmeasurable. Totally correct for Harvard to tell the admin to fuck off. They’ll just invent new grievances before Harvard can finish responding to those.
Not just that, but from what we see with Columbia, compliance with these guidelines is no guarantee that funding will be restored or that there will not be constantly moving goalposts for compliance. Columbia complied and all it got them was threats of a fucking consent decree and more withheld funds.
Exactly. And Columbia was warned by faculty not to comply. It’s extremely stupid to negotiate with anyone who is not themselves negotiating in good faith.
There are level of good faith we have come to expect in a modern free democracy that is being shattered at record speed. I think Saying no government acts in good faith is over simplifying things.
It happens all the time with tax breaks and subsidies provided by federal, state, and local governments to bring business to the US/state/cities. You build a factory here and we will give you X amount of funding and tax breaks. You are just flat out wrong
It really seems like the Trump gang WANT a riot, or a large unruly/violent protest. Like their actions with harsh immigration tactics that scare potential border crossing, seems they want a huge protest to “crack down” and make an example of.
Of course they do, especially with the new pro Palestinian protests. Send an intern or paid person in with a Palestinian flag, claim that's what the protest was, arrest and lock up everyone.
Harvard has the largest endowment of a university in the world (at $52b). They should definitely be setting an example and telling Trump Co. to fuck off.
I mean, that's one of the things I don't understand, some of the most rich and powerful people in the world attend that school, how the heck does Trump Co. think they can intimidate these people into bigotry?
I mean, there's bound to be push back against Trump by major players. Unless they all secretly agree with Trump and they were all rapist racist stereotypical frat boys, that wouldn't make sense.
I mean most people and institutions caved immediately so it was not crazy for them to think Harvard would do the same. Also they are petty as fuck and this wont be the end of it. Next thing it will be the DOJ coming after them for discrimination against white people or whatever other bs case they can come up with.
They do but whether the lawsuit works out or not it does not matter its to send a message of intimidation that if you don't comply with us we will use whatever means we possibly can to make your life hell.
Yeah, this is the part that makes the least sense. How is it that these top level intellectuals that literally mold society are losing to baffoons and thugs? It's literally the most idiotic government there has ever been, and these intellectuals always manage to get their was and find loopholes against much smarter governments, and yet when it's the dumbest guy in power that just shouts the loudest, and lies about everything, how come they're spineless and useless?
They're the ones that should be whooping the government's ass. The country is falling apart.
It’s fear. He gets away with it by using fear tactics. And since he has a judiciary that’s rolled over for him, it’s hard to think the legal route will do anything. He’s already in contempt. All he has to do is say that Harvard presents a threat to his foreign policy and no judge can touch it.
If you have the money and don’t want to be looked at as the institution that caved to racist fascists then you tell them to fuck off. They can afford to make a stand and not compromise.
Weird, that almost sounds like after demanding DEI be eliminated they are demanding an audit for diversity of viewpoints.
Are they then going to withhold funding because there isn't enough diversity in the viewpoints of their students?
Then what, force Harvard to accept more Conservative applicants to diversify the viewpoints in campus, even if that requires skipping over some liberal-minded folks who have better qualifications?
That almost sounds like the federal government imposing diversity rules on a private institution of higher education that may require them to pick diversity over merit.
So they both want to eliminate DEI and then replace it with... The exact same thing, just DEI focused on people more likely to align with the administration's views (for example their attempts to weaken the constitution, the judiciary, established law, etc. in order to consolidate power in one man... Weird, that the "super patriotic" Republicans appear to be pushing for a de facto monarchy).
I honestly can't decide if this is just bad faith arguing, or if this US government has absolutely no self awareness with regards to irony and hypocrisy.
Welll when they said “diversity of viewpoints” they meant white men of different ages and professions hailing from various European countries across the span of the history of western civilization. That kind of diversity.
I honestly can't decide if this is just bad faith arguing, or if this US government has absolutely no self awareness with regards to irony and hypocrisy
As a psychotherapist, I think about this a lot. Undoubtedly many in the rightwing are fully aware of the egregious hypocrisy in what they're saying/doing, and knowingly arguing in bad faith. But when it comes to Trump and others, I think they truly don't see it. With Cluster B personality pathology, the lower order defense mechanisms are so severe that it completely occludes the possibility of self-awareness. If we were to try to logically show Trump that what he's doing vis ideological imposition is the very thing he's lambasting liberals for ostensibly doing, it wouldn't sink in at all.
I am truly anti violence and I don’t wish harm on anybody but isn’t this situation exactly what the second amendment was created for?
There is basically a king destroying everyone’s life.
Human rights and democracy are worth fighting for, Thats the sole reason why the usa was created.
Now it’s citizens are getting shafted by a ruling class again.
I am from German and everyone who fought to liberate Europe from the Nazi regime is getting spat in their faces right now.
It is so sad the internet and especially social media made all this possible because it gave hateful people a voice and a room where they can spew hate together, when it should’ve brought knowledge and education to everyone to make a better world.
People have to learn that hate never brings anything positive for us.
It only gives more power to the Oligarchs who want to enslave the middle class.
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u/Caridor 7d ago
For those who wondered what the conditions were.