War on Universities, Lawyers & Expertise

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I guess they were not convinced when he withdrew his signature in an open letter criticizing the Trump Admin policies attacking universities …
 
ZenMode said:
The entire statement can be read here but, to me, it seems like a fairly good idea and it's one that most schools/corporations/businesses follow - stay out of politics and, in this case, focus on the fundamental reason for your existence, which is educating students, many of whom have paid a significant amount of money to be educated by you.

They may want to add in, as part of a public statement, something along the lines of "If something truly awful happens, we do not support it or the perpetrators of said event".
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This isn't the "fundamental reason for the existence" of a university. You seem indicate that higher ed is merely a service industry. It is not. The main reason for a university to exist is the furtherance of knowledge. Educating students is but one of many parts of that goal--to increase the body of knowledge, future generations must be trained to continue the project.
 
zeuxis said:
This isn't the "fundamental reason for the existence" of a university. You seem indicate that higher ed is merely a service industry.
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Yes. Students pay money for the service of being educated.
zeuxis said:
It is not.
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It certainly seems to be.
zeuxis said:
The main reason for a university to exist is the furtherance of knowledge.
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Furthering knowledge still sounds like education for money to me.
zeuxis said:
Educating students is but one of many parts of that goal--to increase the body of knowledge, future generations must be trained to continue the project.
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Increasing the body of knowledge and "trained" also sounds like a type of education, but what do I know?
 
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DiehardHeelFan said:

UNC cuts jobs, pauses $218M project in response to federal funding cuts​


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Q&A: How a 'quadruple whammy' could cost Duke University hundreds of millions of dollars a year​



“Duke University stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars annually under proposed federal budget cuts. That's according to public policy professor Don Taylor, who calls it a "quadruple whammy."

In a weekly newsletter he writes about public policy in higher education, Taylor estimates changes to federal research funding, Medicaid, Medicare, and the university endowment tax could add up to anywhere from $350-600 million in annual cuts to Duke University.”

——————

I don’t think many folks understand just how much MAGA/DOGE policies are going to impact our local economies in the triangle.

That is, I know that folks in my field and in academia and research understand—but I really don’t think that folks outside those fields understand the economic downturn we’re about to experience in the triangle. The bloodbath has already begun, and is going to get much worse.

Perhaps that’s the intent? Own the libs by putting them out of jobs and cutting funding to those damned commie colleges.
 
ZenMode said:
Yes. Students pay money for the service of being educated.

It certainly seems to be.

Furthering knowledge still sounds like education for money to me.

Increasing the body of knowledge and "trained" also sounds like a type of education, but what do I know?
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At one level, students are customers. At another they’re an investment. At yet another they’re the product.

You might want to read some university mission statements and reflect upon them with the above in mind.
 
BlooVooDoo said:
At one level, students are customers. At another they’re an investment. At yet another they’re the product.

You might want to read some university mission statements and reflect upon them with the above in mind.
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Sure, I'm not saying universities only educate students, but if educating students isn't the "fundamental reason for the existence of universities", then I have been horribly misinformed by the world!
 
EyeballKid said:

Q&A: How a 'quadruple whammy' could cost Duke University hundreds of millions of dollars a year​



“Duke University stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars annually under proposed federal budget cuts. That's according to public policy professor Don Taylor, who calls it a "quadruple whammy."

In a weekly newsletter he writes about public policy in higher education, Taylor estimates changes to federal research funding, Medicaid, Medicare, and the university endowment tax could add up to anywhere from $350-600 million in annual cuts to Duke University.”

——————

I don’t think many folks understand just how much MAGA/DOGE policies are going to impact our local economies in the triangle.

That is, I know that folks in my field and in academia and research understand—but I really don’t think that folks outside those fields understand the economic downturn we’re about to experience in the triangle. The bloodbath has already begun, and is going to get much worse.

Perhaps that’s the intent? Own the libs by putting them out of jobs and cutting funding to those damned commie colleges.
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If it is allowed to happen as DOGE plans-we talking well over 2 billion dollars a year-just dook and Carolina And then EPA in the RTP
And then all those brains relocate.............
 
mpaer said:
If it is allowed to happen as DOGE plans-we talking well over 2 billion dollars a year-just dook and Carolina And then EPA in the RTP
And then all those brains relocate.............
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And all of the non-profits like FHI360, IntraHealth, RTI…the NIH facility in RTP…and on and on. Potentially tens of thousands of jobs lost just in the triangle.
 
EyeballKid said:

Q&A: How a 'quadruple whammy' could cost Duke University hundreds of millions of dollars a year​


I don’t think many folks understand just how much MAGA/DOGE policies are going to impact our local economies in the triangle.

That is, I know that folks in my field and in academia and research understand—but I really don’t think that folks outside those fields understand the economic downturn we’re about to experience in the triangle. The bloodbath has already begun, and is going to get much worse.

Perhaps that’s the intent? Own the libs by putting them out of jobs and cutting funding to those damned commie colleges.
Click to expand...
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.
 
EyeballKid said:

Q&A: How a 'quadruple whammy' could cost Duke University hundreds of millions of dollars a year​



“Duke University stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars annually under proposed federal budget cuts. That's according to public policy professor Don Taylor, who calls it a "quadruple whammy."

In a weekly newsletter he writes about public policy in higher education, Taylor estimates changes to federal research funding, Medicaid, Medicare, and the university endowment tax could add up to anywhere from $350-600 million in annual cuts to Duke University.”

——————

I don’t think many folks understand just how much MAGA/DOGE policies are going to impact our local economies in the triangle.

That is, I know that folks in my field and in academia and research understand—but I really don’t think that folks outside those fields understand the economic downturn we’re about to experience in the triangle. The bloodbath has already begun, and is going to get much worse.

Perhaps that’s the intent? Own the libs by putting them out of jobs and cutting funding to those damned commie colleges.
Click to expand...
That is the intent.
 

No, Trump Is Not Pulling Columbia’s Accreditation. Here’s What You Need to Know.​

By Eric Kelderman June 4, 2025

The Trump administration is yet again escalating its fight with the Ivy League, pressuring Columbia University’s accreditor to take action over allegations the institution violated federal antidiscrimination laws. The government sent a similar notice in May about the University of Pennsylvania’s alleged violation of Title IX.

The threat against Columbia is another example of how the administration is stretching the boundaries of federal law and regulation to achieve its ideological goals, accreditation experts said. While it’s unlikely to result in any significant penalty against Columbia, let alone a loss of accreditation, the move could also give the Education Department a pretext to punish the accreditor.

In terms of individual colleges, the federal government has no direct authority to interpret an accreditor’s standards, said John R. Przypyszny, a lawyer who specializes in accreditation. So Trump alone can’t revoke Columbia’s accreditation, which would cut off access to federal financial aid.

The Education Department’s letter, sent Wednesday, argued that Columbia has violated the standards of the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.

Because Columbia failed to adequately respond to antisemitic behavior during protests against the war in Gaza, the department’s Office for Civil Rights concluded last month, the institution has violated Title VI, which bars discrimination based on race, color, or national origin, including shared Jewish ancestry. Therefore, the letter continues, Columbia “fails to meet the standards for accreditation,” the department said in a news release. In light of that, the department said, the Middle States Commission must require the university to “establish a plan to come into compliance.”

“Just as the Department of Education has an obligation to uphold federal antidiscrimination law, university accreditors have an obligation to ensure member institutions abide by their standards,” Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in the release. McMahon added that she expected the accreditor to keep the administration “fully informed of actions taken.”

Heather Perfetti, president of the Middle States Commission, said in an email that the organization is reviewing the letter from the department. “Consistent with our commission’s management of investigative findings,” Perfetti wrote, “we will process these findings in accordance with our policies and procedures.”

Perfetti said the accreditor has already begun looking into Columbia’s response to the charges of antisemitism. On May 16, the accreditor sent a request to Columbia for information on meeting several standards, including those for ethics and integrity, supporting the student experience and governance, and administration. Commission representatives have also visited the campus, and the commission is scheduled to review Columbia’s response at a meeting later this month.

Wednesday’s letter is the latest of many steps the administration has taken to try to punish Columbia and numerous other selective colleges over what it has deemed antisemitism and other kinds of discrimination on campuses.

In early March, the Trump administration announced it was canceling $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia over “continued inaction” in the face of discrimination against Jewish students. Since then, the university has agreed to sweeping demands to overhaul student disciplinary procedures and increase oversight over the Middle East studies department.

Those concessions did nothing to mollify the administration, which has sought to force more changes at Columbia — including by asking a federal judge to enact a consent decree that would give the government widespread authority over the university for years, possibly.

The Trump administration has also sought to exert more authority over accreditors, the private nonprofit organizations that serve as the gatekeepers to more than $100 billion in federal student aid. On the campaign trail, President Trump threatened to “fire the radical left accreditors,” which he blamed for forcing colleges to adopt diversity, equity, and inclusion measures and lowering academic rigor.

In April, Trump issued an executive order that seeks to bar accreditors from setting standards for diversity, equity, and inclusion; make it easier for institutions to change accreditors; and expedite federal approval of new accreditors.

cont.
 
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