War on Universities, Lawyers & Expertise

[donbosco]

Accreditors don’t have any independent way to determine if a college has violated antidiscrimination laws, he said, and they usually have to accept the determination of another agency, such as a federal Office for Civil Rights or the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Antoinette Flores, a higher-education policy expert at New America who worked in the Education Department under President Joe Biden, said Middle States and most other accreditors require members to uphold federal laws, but the department can’t specify what action, if any, an accreditor should take if it finds a college isn’t meeting its standards.

If the commission were to find that Columbia was out of compliance, it would issue a warning or place it on probation, typically — allowing the institution up to two years to develop new policies and procedures that are meant to correct any deficiencies. Only a handful of colleges lose accreditation each year, most often because of financial problems, and many remain under extra scrutiny from accreditors for years.

What could occur, Flores said, is that the department could seek to penalize the Middle States Commission if its findings don’t comport with the government’s conclusions, by arguing the accreditor isn’t enforcing its own standards.

https://www.chronicle.com/article/no-trump-is-not-pulling-columbias-accreditation-heres-what-you-need-to-know?utm_source=Iterable&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=campaign_13770029_nl_Academe-Today_date_20250605

 

[Kingpin]

Absolutely. I've always thought that an underrated aspect of Trumpism (there are others) is that it is in part a class war by non-college educated, working-class whites against mostly college-educated upper middle class whites and minorities (the "professional classes"). When Trumpers talk about the "elites" this is who they're often really talking about. And a lot of it is just envy and resentment - places like the Triangle have boomed and benefitted in many ways from our global economy, while all those deep red rural areas in our state have suffered, as they see it. And as an extra benefit they'll make all those librul "Marxist/Radical" colleges and universities suffer and force them to move to the right, or else.

So at bottom this is about taking blue-voting prosperous areas like the Triangle down several notches to make Trumpers in these dying and declining red areas feel better about their own miserable economic situations. Or, instead of trying to improve their own economic situation, they're just going to try and fix it so that the groups they resent are lowered to their level. IMO, it's one of the basic driving forces of Trumpism - bring "them" down to your level, and be as petty and vindictive about it as possible.

This is spot on and exactly what Trumpism/MAGA is all about. This describes some of my family members perfectly. The non-MAGA Trump voters see this and know they need these people’s votes to get their tax cuts and deregulation etc.

 

[donbosco]

Go back to Helms and his constant pounding on The University of Negroes and Communists - he tapped into that resentment a half century or more ago and built a loyal base.

I’m 66 and remember when local teachers were respected folk but once the university or college level was reached a deep disdain set in. Very few people went to school other than community college after high school and a big reason was the anti-intellectualism that Helms magnified. Those folks are mainly still down there in country festering and hating readers and learners…and voting trump.

 

[nycfan]

Trump Halts New Foreign-Student Enrollment at Harvard​

The action is the president’s latest attack on the Ivy League school​

—> https://www.wsj.com/us-news/educati...4?st=eke6HZ&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

“… The proclamation issued by the White House late Wednesday ramps up Trump’s attacks on the university, which has fought back against the administration in federal court. The proclamation seeks to prevent students from receiving visas to study for six months and perhaps longer.

The escalation comes as Harvard has declined to negotiate with Trump after the school rejected a series of demands from the administration’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism. Those demands included oversight of faculty hiring, viewpoints and student admission at Harvard. Trump has pulled billions of dollars in federal research funds, threatened Harvard’s tax-exempt statusand probed its acceptance of foreign donations.…”

 

[donbosco]

As with UNCA, so too at UNCC

 

[ZenMode]

As with UNCA, so too at UNCC

This behavior is expected. The rule of law is important.... until it conflicts with your world view, then it's just a matter of "working around" said law.

 

[superrific]

This behavior is expected. The rule of law is important.... until it conflicts with your world view, then it's just a matter of "working around" said law.

Nothing she did was remotely illegal. Rule of law is not implicated here. At most it is an employment dispute. But seeing as how she is teaching at a state school, she has First Amendment rights to say these things, and tenure protections as well.

Nothing will happen to her, because nothing should happen to her because she's done nothing wrong.

 

[ZenMode]

Nothing she did was remotely illegal. Rule of law is not implicated here. At most it is an employment dispute. But seeing as how she is teaching at a state school, she has First Amendment rights to say these things, and tenure protections as well.

Nothing will happen to her, because nothing should happen to her because she's done nothing wrong.

I didn't say anything would or should happen to her. I'm saying it's expected that many liberal universities will find ways to work around the SCOTUS ruling because the ruling conflicts with their world view.

 

[superrific]

I didn't say anything would or should happen to her. I'm saying it's expected that many liberal universities will find ways to work around the SCOTUS ruling because the ruling conflicts with their world view.

Except she's not working around anything. The Scotus ruling does not remotely apply here. Not going to play front hand, back hand with you any more.

 

[ZenMode]

Except she's not working around anything.

She's also not working, 'cause she got fired.

The Scotus ruling does not remotely apply here. Not going to play front hand, back hand with you any more.

True, it's not related to SCOTUS (admissions ruling) it's related to Trump's EO, and the NC Board of Governors order.

As I said, it's all about circumventing the rules when the rules conflict with your world view... and she got caught!

 

[superrific]

True, it's not related to SCOTUS (admissions ruling) it's related to Trump's EO, and the NC Board of Governors order.

As I said, it's all about circumventing the rules when the rules conflict with your world view... and she got caught!

Neither of those is a source of law. Neither lay down any rules. She did nothing at all wrong. If she got fired, she will win in court if she sues.

 

[donbosco]

She was fired by afternoon. She was not a tenured person nor did she teach. She had been employed at UNCA since 2017.

 

[superrific]

She was fired by afternoon. She was not a tenured person nor did she teach. She had been employed at UNCA since 2017.

Seems like retaliation for protected speech but the environment complicates the analysis and it would depend on specific facts, I think.

 

[nycfan]

 

[nycfan]

 

[donbosco]

Seems like retaliation for protected speech but the environment complicates the analysis and it would depend on specific facts, I think.

Well, it’s retaliation - that’s pretty clear.