War on Universities, Lawyers & Expertise
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Mulberry Heel
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Imagine if the Biden or Obama Administrations had just openly and blatantly threatened Liberty, Hillsdale, Regent, and Bob Jones Universities on social media and in PR releases with their destruction if they didn't agree to every single demand to placed on them by Biden or Obama or people in their administrations, and they had the federal government go after the very sources of their financial ability to operate and stay open and independent of direct federal control. Conservatives and Fox News and other right-wing media would be screaming bloody murder from the rooftops and calling such a move tyranny, an illegal and radical exertion of federal dominance over private institutions, and all sorts of things.
Federal Grants largely pay for basic research — as a former grants manager for a University department (decades ago), I have no issue reforming the use of grant money set aside for indirect costs / general overhead, that had to happen in the 90s, too, and there has definitely been backsliding. But the government is not just granting Harvard and other universities money to run the university. It is funding the American dominance in basic scientific research across virtually all STEM and medical fields.
And yet most Trumpers are gleefully in favor of Harvard being humbled and perhaps destroyed - including Republicans who actually attended the university and are alumni. Insane, and as you pointed out it's going to lead to a decline of American prestige and dominance in science, technology, and other fields, yet here we are. And all because Trumpers are pissed and resentful that most universities are liberal and that people with college degrees have generally fared well in this global economy while many of them haven't.
tonman
Exceptional Member
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Mostly universities are liberal because diversity begets liberal thought. Hence the war on DEI.
I do not like liberal and conservative labels. Idiots in politics do not understand. You can't be liberal on every policy nor conservative on all policies.
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The post by Trump about re-allocating grant money to Trade Schools is probably a more politically astute way to frame some of this.
But on the list of foreign students at Harvard, it is hard to understand why the government agency that issues the student visas doesn’t already have that info …
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Of course they do have that info, but perhaps Elon, Big Balls and their woodchipper brigade corrupted the database.
Mulberry Heel
Inconceivable Member
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"Bad" - liberal, brown skin, feminist, immigrant from somewhere most Trumpers can't pronounce, etc.
A significant percentage of Trump’s Administration knows it has this information.
Trump’s statement/claim is akin to Joe McCarthy’s claim that he has a list of State Department communists in his pocket.
MAGAts will gobble that shit up.
superrific
Master of the ZZLverse
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Harvard should sue over EVERY contract that it doesn't get over the next four years.
HintonJamesHeel
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Harvard is struggling financially and Trump knows it. The endowment numbers they mention are not cash or investments that can easily become liquid if required. By going down this route, Trump would be crippling a university that provides very valuable research to so many different areas of our lives. This is a huge mistake.
superrific
Master of the ZZLverse
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For what it's worth, there's a doctrine in law called cy pres, which allows a court to redirect the funds from a charitable trust or gift if the original purpose behind the bequest is no longer feasible.
For instance, giving a grant for an endowed chair in history will have its purpose frustrated if Harvard were to go belly up. That's an extreme case. I don't know trusts and estates law basically at all, so I don't know what else might qualify, but anyway . . .
I suspect Harvard is talking to many donors about releasing the money for more general purposes, or "borrowing" against the donation.
For instance, giving a grant for an endowed chair in history will have its purpose frustrated if Harvard were to go belly up. That's an extreme case. I don't know trusts and estates law basically at all, so I don't know what else might qualify, but anyway . . .
I suspect Harvard is talking to many donors about releasing the money for more general purposes, or "borrowing" against the donation.
State AGs will get involved at that point
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This long piece by Adam Serwer is relevant to this thread- summarizes a lot of what’s been talked about:
www.theatlantic.com
The New Dark Age
The Trump administration has launched an attack on knowledge itself.
Duke Mu
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and they actually know the law.
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Trump administration orders US embassies to stop student visa interviews
Directive could severely delay visa processing and hurt universities that rely on foreign students for revenue
The Trump administration has ordered US embassies worldwide to immediately stop scheduling visa interviews for foreign students as it prepares to implement comprehensive social media screening for all international applicants.
A Tuesday state department cable instructs consular sections to pause adding “any additional student or exchange visitor (F, M, and J) visa appointment capacity until further guidance is issued” within days.
The directive, first reported by Politico and now confirmed by the Guardian, could severely delay visa processing and hurt universities – many of which Donald Trump accuses of having far-left ideologies – that rely heavily on foreign students for revenue.
“The department is conducting a review of existing operations and processes for screening and vetting of student and exchange visitor visa applicants,” the cable reads. Officials plan to issue guidance on “expanded social media vetting for all such applicants”.
The freeze is a further escalation from current screening measures, which have primarily targeted students who participated in pro-Palestinian campus protests. Since March, consular officers have been required to conduct mandatory social media reviews looking for evidence of support for “terrorist activity or a terrorist organization” which could be as broad as showing support for the Palestinian cause, according to a cable obtained by the Guardian at the time. That directive required officers to take screenshots of “potentially derogatory” content for permanent records, even if posts were later deleted.