the irony of the evil being perpetrated around the world in the name of "antisemitism" is mind boggling
Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes
21–30 of 1001 posts
Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes
#22No mention of anti-Asian discrimination? It made big rounds in all the American media circles a few years back, and if memory serves, MAGA boarded that train too.
Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes
#23It’ll be nice if an institution finally decides to oppose some of the recent government overreach. It’s really shocking to see an institution in our country take action that is not in its immediate financial best interest (assuming this letter translates to an action)
It's not just about finances. Trump just announced (possibly accidentally) that he's going to start deporting American citizens to El Salvador gulags: https://news.sky.com/story/donald-trump-says-the-us-could-de...
and they've been painting political enemies as criminals. It's pretty much the same situation as Russia/Putin but at an earlier stage of its development, and people want to avoid being the tallest grass that gets mowed.
It's good that some institutions are standing up but I don't expect it to go well for them.
Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes
#24Harvard has a 50 billion endowment, what do they need federal funds for. If they value their intellectual independence so much, then cut the cord.
The federal funds are for doing research that the government wants to fund, not keeping the university’s lights on. This is about terminating a productive partnership, not ending a subsidy handout to schools.
Yup, people really need to learn their history. The modern federally-funded research university system came about as a direct result of the US getting caught with their pants down after Sputnik. The government decided it's in its best strategic interests to maintain long-term investments in basic and applied research. Those aren't things you can just spin up on short notice, though it's easy to kill it.
Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes
#25Harvard has a 50 billion endowment, what do they need federal funds for. If they value their intellectual independence so much, then cut the cord.
Much of that federal funding is for research, the same as any other R1 university. We all benefit from research findings. Endowments are used for other purposes. There are a few colleges that take no federal funding in order to maintain total independence (mostly for religious reasons). But their research output is virtually zero.
[deleted]
Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes
#26If you've read history, this rhymes with certain acts that have happened before under certain regimes. Under a non-authoritarian Government, this type of showboating can be dismissed, but when habeas corpus and the right to due process is suspended — such actions take on a very different cast indeed.
It's good that Harvard is fighting this. The more people accede, the more they will accelerate down a path where there is no coming back from.
Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes
#27[flagged]
Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes
#28It seems like the government has a soft Monopsony. There are many universities willing to sell research, but the government is the biggest buyer and controls the research grant market
Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes
#29the irony of the evil being perpetrated around the world in the name of "antisemitism" is mind boggling
In the name of "fighting antisemitism"?
It's true, though. It's a convenient tool. "What do you mean you don't want to cede control to us? Don't you want to fight antisemitism?!"
Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes
#30It’ll be nice if an institution finally decides to oppose some of the recent government overreach. It’s really shocking to see an institution in our country take action that is not in its immediate financial best interest (assuming this letter translates to an action)
[flagged]