War on Universities, Lawyers & Expertise

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nycfan said:

How Trump’s crackdown on universities is affecting the world​


www.nytimes.com

How Trump’s crackdown on Harvard and other universities is affecting the world

Mr. Trump’s ideological war on universities is putting students, professors and scientists under pressure. That could undermine the global dominance that American science has enjoyed for decades.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

“… In the mid-20th century, America was seen by many as a benign power, committed to scientific freedom and democracy. It attracted the best brains fleeing fascism and authoritarianism in Europe.

Today, the biggest beneficiary could be China and Chinese universities, which have been trying to recruit world-class scientific talent for years. Now Mr. Trump is doing their work for them. One indication of the success of China’s campaign to attract the best and brightest is Africa, the world’s youngest continent. Africans are learning Mandarin in growing numbers. Nearly twice as many study in China as in America.

Could America gamble away its scientific supremacy in the service of ideology? It has happened before.

Under the Nazis, Germany lost its scientific edge to America in the space of a few years. As a German, my brain may wander too readily to the lessons of the 1930s, but in this case the analogy feels instructive. Several of my colleagues covering the fallout from the crackdown on international students and researchers pointed to Hitler’s silencing of scientists and intellectuals.

No one region can currently replicate the magic sauce of resources, freedom, a culture of risk-taking and welcoming immigrants that made America the engine of scientific innovation. But if it tumbles as a scientific superpower, and potential breakthroughs are disrupted, it would be a setback for the whole world. …”
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We have already ceded our influential soft power to China when it comes to geopolitics.
We have already alienated our allies with stupid tariff threats.
We are in the process of creating a soon to be "brain drain" and ceding our scientific superpower status to China

We are on a path to aid China as it seeks to replace America as the dominant global superpower.
 


Background:

How a Free-Speech University Sidles Up to Orbán’s Strongman Rule​

Bari Weiss's University of Austin, touted as a haven for free academic inquiry, has a dozen scholars and officials with ties to Hungary's speech-suppressing regime​



“The University of Austin, the school founded by intellectual dark web champion and professional wokeness foe Bari Weiss, proclaims its “fearless” dedication to open inquiry, maintaining that its scholars and students “pursue their academic interests and deliberate freely, without fear of censorship or retribution.”

It’s a rather awkward look, then, for the university to retain a dozen scholars and administrators with ties to Viktor Orbán’s regime in Hungary, which has consolidated state control over the country’s universities and media outlets in the service of an authoritarian agenda that goes by the euphemistic name “illiberal democracy.” (This week, Orbán’s government showcased the incoherence of this idea with a new anti-LGBTQ+ bill that outlaws Budapest’s gay pride march.)…

Weiss announced the launch of the University of Austin in 2021, calling it an institution “dedicated to the pursuit of truth.” She also said that the school’s curriculum would be designed in partnership with “dissidents who have stood up to authoritarianism.”

UATX began holding classes in September 2024, taught by 29 faculty members, and with 39 listed staffers, according to the university’s website. Weiss launched UATX with Big Tech backers like venture capitalist Peter Thiel and Palantir executive Joe Lonsdale, along with major academic figures like Larry Summers as advisers. Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has donated, along with major GOP donors like Harlan Crow and Jeffrey Yass, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The school’s funders have touted UATX’s commitment to ideological diversity, and its dedication to free speech. Ackman called UATX “a startup university where truth is the aspiration, free speech is allowed and encouraged, and politics are left at the door,” in a post on X last year. Notably, Ackman has also called for American universities to distance themselves from foreign donors—another position that stands athwart the enthusiastic shilling that UATX scholars do on behalf of Hungarian policy objectives on the Orbán administration’s dime.

The university is not accredited but received approval from Texas to grant degrees in 2023.…”
 
nycfan said:


Background:

How a Free-Speech University Sidles Up to Orbán’s Strongman Rule​

Bari Weiss's University of Austin, touted as a haven for free academic inquiry, has a dozen scholars and officials with ties to Hungary's speech-suppressing regime​



“The University of Austin, the school founded by intellectual dark web champion and professional wokeness foe Bari Weiss, proclaims its “fearless” dedication to open inquiry, maintaining that its scholars and students “pursue their academic interests and deliberate freely, without fear of censorship or retribution.”

It’s a rather awkward look, then, for the university to retain a dozen scholars and administrators with ties to Viktor Orbán’s regime in Hungary, which has consolidated state control over the country’s universities and media outlets in the service of an authoritarian agenda that goes by the euphemistic name “illiberal democracy.” (This week, Orbán’s government showcased the incoherence of this idea with a new anti-LGBTQ+ bill that outlaws Budapest’s gay pride march.)…

Weiss announced the launch of the University of Austin in 2021, calling it an institution “dedicated to the pursuit of truth.” She also said that the school’s curriculum would be designed in partnership with “dissidents who have stood up to authoritarianism.”

UATX began holding classes in September 2024, taught by 29 faculty members, and with 39 listed staffers, according to the university’s website. Weiss launched UATX with Big Tech backers like venture capitalist Peter Thiel and Palantir executive Joe Lonsdale, along with major academic figures like Larry Summers as advisers. Billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman has donated, along with major GOP donors like Harlan Crow and Jeffrey Yass, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The school’s funders have touted UATX’s commitment to ideological diversity, and its dedication to free speech. Ackman called UATX “a startup university where truth is the aspiration, free speech is allowed and encouraged, and politics are left at the door,” in a post on X last year. Notably, Ackman has also called for American universities to distance themselves from foreign donors—another position that stands athwart the enthusiastic shilling that UATX scholars do on behalf of Hungarian policy objectives on the Orbán administration’s dime.

The university is not accredited but received approval from Texas to grant degrees in 2023.…”
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“… David Rhodes, the onetime CBS News head and current executive at Sky in the U.K., is in talks to take over CBS News if/when the Skydance acquisition of Paramount closes, per three sources familiar with the negotiations. As with all of these things, talks could still fall apart. But if David Ellison and his Skydance team sign Rhodes and close a pending deal to acquire The Free Press, the center-right media brand founded by Bari Weiss, the plan would call for Rhodes to manage and operate CBS News day-to-day alongside Weiss as an ideological guide of sorts. (Skydance declined to comment. Rhodes didn’t respond when I DM’d him.)

… Rhodes, who is currently executive chair of Sky News, ran CBS News from 2011 through 2019. Before that, he worked at Fox News for 12 years, albeit running the news shows, not the opinion programming. (That was back in the ’90s and 2000s under Roger Ailes, when there was a much clearer distinction.) Before joining Sky, Rhodes also worked for the Murdochs on media initiatives in the U.K. His name came up in the speculation around who would take over CNN after Chris Licht was ousted in 2023. (His brother is Ben Rhodes, the former top Obama aide.)

… Ellison, who I’m told has met personally with Rhodes, believes he possesses the even-keeled temperament to steer the plane through the current turbulence and balance Weiss, who can be… less even-keeled …”

 


🎁 —> https://www.wsj.com/us-news/educati...4?st=LgzuQ2&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

“… U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs pushed back Monday on the government’s assertion that the case is a straightforward contract dispute and that antisemitism on Harvard’s campus justified cutting the grants. She also questioned whether the government went through the proper process to terminate the grants.

“You can’t violate the constitution to terminate a contract,” Burroughs said. “There are limits to what you can terminate and why and how.”

Harvard is seeking a ruling from Burroughs that it has proven its case and should have its funding restored. Harvard asked Burroughs to make a decision by early September, before a deadline given to Harvard by the federal government to fully close out the canceled research projects. …”
 
nycfan said:


🎁 —> https://www.wsj.com/us-news/educati...4?st=LgzuQ2&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

“… U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs pushed back Monday on the government’s assertion that the case is a straightforward contract dispute and that antisemitism on Harvard’s campus justified cutting the grants. She also questioned whether the government went through the proper process to terminate the grants.

“You can’t violate the constitution to terminate a contract,” Burroughs said. “There are limits to what you can terminate and why and how.”

Harvard is seeking a ruling from Burroughs that it has proven its case and should have its funding restored. Harvard asked Burroughs to make a decision by early September, before a deadline given to Harvard by the federal government to fully close out the canceled research projects. …”
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nycfan said:
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LOL at Columbia if they think this "deal" will end the Trump Administration's interference with their operations and curriculum and pretty much everything else. Now that Trump and his minions know that Columbia can be bullied and extorted they'll just keep harassing them with complaints and demands for ever greater micromanagement of their curriculum and anything else they don't like.
 
The Department of Justice Wednesday said a new probe was focused on determining whether the schools were granting scholarships for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on national origin.

The targets of the probe include the University of Michigan, University of Louisville, the University of Nebraska Omaha, University of Miami, and Western Michigan University.
 


[local connection note, Linda is originally from New Bern NC and is an ECU grad with a degree in French]
 
mpaer said:
The Department of Justice Wednesday said a new probe was focused on determining whether the schools were granting scholarships for recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination based on national origin.

The targets of the probe include the University of Michigan, University of Louisville, the University of Nebraska Omaha, University of Miami, and Western Michigan University.
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Nebraska-Omaha and Western Michigan be like

Season 8 Tns GIF by THE NEXT STEP
 
There was an article in the Chronicle (Duke news ) that basically said the White House wanted an extortion payment from Duke to continue Federal funding That was 12 minutes ago
The article is gone
I am channeling a Devils Den thread
 
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