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Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes

harvard.edu

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Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes

#401

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you're fine with them arresting dissenters as long as you disagree with the dissenters? That's fairly antithetical to the ideas expressed in the US constitution.

I'm fine with stopping the flow of federal money to people who hate me in particular and who take a salary to convince others to do so too. Those who defend the conduct of universities need to pause and consider that the public has noticed the radicalization of academia, despises it, and will support state action to reverse it.

Well you claimed they are violating "the fourteenth amendment" which hardly makes sense. How could they be doing that? Is Harvard a Government agency? A state unto itself?

Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes

#402
post #22

No 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.

These "values" are not sincerely held, but tactical. Once they got the SCOTUS win and affirmative action was toast, they quickly moved on from fighting anti-Asian hate to a new fig-leaf/tool to useful for fighting the next ideological battle, which was prominent protests against government policy, which happened to be pro-Palestine, so this is the best tool for the job. The messaging is very similar too, conflating p…

> "These "values" are not sincerely held, but tactical."

By MAGA, yes. Asians themselves haven't forgotten about it nor will they forgive anytime soon.

Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes

#403

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I did; it explicitly demanding an audit of employees and students political views, the forced hiring of more professors who are sympathetic to the current administration's politics. That doesn't sound authoritarian to you? Can you imagine if Obama had demanded that any university do an ideological purge of its conservative staff and students?

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Well yes.. an attempt by pseudo-fascists to takeover universities and other public institutions is indeed a matter of national security.

Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes

#404
post #169

So first they demand "Merit-Based Hiring Reform" and "Merit-Based Admissions Reform", and then it continues to demand "Viewpoint Diversity in Admissions and Hiring". I can't even engage with these levels of cognitive dissonance. Or bad faith. Or whatever it is.

Harvard admitted it needs to "...broaden the intellectual and viewpoint diversity within our community..." This is a no-brainer considering only 2.3% of their faculty identifies as conservative. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2023/5/22/faculty-survey-...

Yeah what Harvard definitely needs is more faculty who will defend sending people to Salvadoran prisons without due process. /s

Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes

#405

So, many of these universities were taken over in positions of power by people promoting intersectionality which also promotes systematic discrimination (eg DEI) against specific groups. That's a highly-divisive philosophy with no proven benefits that's similar to Marxism which killed 50 million people and wrecked countries. They did this while describing themselves as open-minded institutions commited to everyone's…

> people promoting intersectionality which also promotes systematic discrimination (eg DEI) against specific groups. That's a highly-divisive philosophy with no proven benefits that's similar to Marxism which killed 50 million people and wrecked countries

Just like all people connecting to "Kevin Bacon", and all Wikipedia pages first links connecting to "Philosophy", every idea can be connected to mass murder if you're willing to manufacture enough links.

"Intersectionality" is a descriptive, rather than prescriptive, idea. It promotes nothing.

Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes

#406
post #275

If 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…

> the more they will accelerate down a path where there is no coming back from. Why do you say this? At practically every point in history where a government or dictator goes too far, we've come back from it.

There are many points in history where a dictator made their country permanently worse. Argentina was once among the wealthiest democracies in the world, until a dictator seized power in 1930 - it took 53 years to restore democratic governance and their economy still isn't back on track.

Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes

#407
post #22

No 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.

> MAGA boarded that train too

More like they found some useful idiots

Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes

#408

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do we really believe there is a rooted undercurrent of antisemitism at Harvard of all places? Or is this just anti-zionist expansion straw manning? I'm sorry but the continuously faithless positioning of the Trump administration right now makes me believe the antisemitic accusations are a pretext.

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Depends on what you mean by anti-Zionism. It's not a natural congregation point -- even those that don't think Israel should exist don't generally call themselves anti-Zionist. As a label from the outside, it's thus very flexible. A lot of mere criticisms of Israeli actions gets labeled anti-Zionist.

Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes

#409
Or, you know, they could follow the bullet points in the government's letter:

- foster scholarship over activism

- hire based on merit, and review potential employees for plagiarism issues

- admit students based on the merit of the candidate

- not admit foreign students hostile to values in the U.S. Constitution, openly espousing anti-semitism, or supporting terrorism

- abolish ideological litmus tests for faculty, provide a diversity of viewpoints to students

- adopt policies for student discipline that disrupt scholarship and normal campus activities including allowing campus police to enforce these rules

- implement whistleblower protections

- disclose foreign funding

Taxpayer money comes with strings attached. Be good enough to deserve it.

Not sure about the mask ban... Is that about mask wearing during protests?

https://www.harvard.edu/research-funding/wp-content/uploads/...

Re: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes

#410

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

What organised group of leftists has attacked a group of people based on their ethnicity? Do you have a link you could share?

SJP for example. That's why Khalil and others are deported.
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