Trump’s assault on Universities (1 Viewer)

[MT15]

I thought we had a thread just about Trump’s illegal attacks on American universities, especially some of our very best. Harvard has decided to fight back, while Yale and Columbia have basically rolled over. Trump had been using the excuse of rooting out anti-semitism, which MAGA actually cares nothing about, but it at least provided a paper-thin veneer of a reason. The latest letter sent to Harvard, announcing they will no longer receive any federal grants, discards that excuse. An Atlantic article about this letter:

“The intensely hostile letter that Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent to the leadership of Harvard yesterday has a lot going on. But the most notable thing about it is what it leaves out.

To hear McMahon tell it, Harvard is a university on the verge of ruin. (I say McMahon because her signature is at the bottom of the letter, but portions of the document are written in such a distinctive idiolect—“Why is there so much HATE?” the letter asks; it signs off with “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”—that one detects the spirit of a certain uncredited co-author.) She accuses it of admitting students who are contemptuous of America, chastises it for hiring the former blue-city mayors Bill de Blasio and Lori Lightfoot to teach leadership (“like hiring the captain of the Titanic to teach navigation”), questions the necessity of its remedial-math program (“Why is it, we ask, that Harvard has to teach simple and basic mathematics?”), and accuses its board chair, Penny Pritzker (“a Democrat operative”), of driving the university to financial ruin, among many other complaints. The upshot is that Harvard should not bother to apply for any new federal funding, because, McMahon declares, “today’s letter marks the end of new grants for the University.”

What you will not find in the McMahon letter is any mention of the original justification for the Trump administration’s ongoing assault on elite universities: anti-Semitism. As a legal pretext for trying to financially hobble the Ivy League, anti-Semitism had some strategic merit. Many students and faculty justifiably feel that these schools failed to take harassment of Jews seriously enough during the protests that erupted after the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas. By centering its critique on that issue, the administration was cannily appropriating for its own ends one of the progressive left’s highest priorities: protecting a minority from hostile acts.

Now, however, the mask is off. Aside from one oblique reference to congressional hearings about anti-Semitism (“the great work of Congresswoman Elise Stefanik”), the letter is silent on the subject. The administration is no longer pretending that it is standing up for Jewish students. The project has been revealed for what it is: an effort to punish liberal institutions for the crime of being liberal.”

It simply amazes me that this letter was actually sent. It seems to suggest a First Amendment violation is being committed by the Trump Administration. I am so sick of these morons.

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

I thought we had a thread just about Trump’s illegal attacks on American universities, especially some of our very best. Harvard has decided to not fight back, while Yale and Columbia have basically rolled over. Trump had been using the excuse of rooting out anti-semitism, which MAGA actually cares nothing about, but it at least provided a paper-thin veneer of a reason. The latest letter sent to Harvard, announcing they will no longer receive any federal grants, discards that excuse. An Atlantic article about this letter:

“The intensely hostile letter that Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent to the leadership of Harvard yesterday has a lot going on. But the most notable thing about it is what it leaves out.

To hear McMahon tell it, Harvard is a university on the verge of ruin. (I say McMahon because her signature is at the bottom of the letter, but portions of the document are written in such a distinctive idiolect—“Why is there so much HATE?” the letter asks; it signs off with “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”—that one detects the spirit of a certain uncredited co-author.) She accuses it of admitting students who are contemptuous of America, chastises it for hiring the former blue-city mayors Bill de Blasio and Lori Lightfoot to teach leadership (“like hiring the captain of the Titanic to teach navigation”), questions the necessity of its remedial-math program (“Why is it, we ask, that Harvard has to teach simple and basic mathematics?”), and accuses its board chair, Penny Pritzker (“a Democrat operative”), of driving the university to financial ruin, among many other complaints. The upshot is that Harvard should not bother to apply for any new federal funding, because, McMahon declares, “today’s letter marks the end of new grants for the University.”

What you will not find in the McMahon letter is any mention of the original justification for the Trump administration’s ongoing assault on elite universities: anti-Semitism. As a legal pretext for trying to financially hobble the Ivy League, anti-Semitism had some strategic merit. Many students and faculty justifiably feel that these schools failed to take harassment of Jews seriously enough during the protests that erupted after the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas. By centering its critique on that issue, the administration was cannily appropriating for its own ends one of the progressive left’s highest priorities: protecting a minority from hostile acts.

Now, however, the mask is off. Aside from one oblique reference to congressional hearings about anti-Semitism (“the great work of Congresswoman Elise Stefanik”), the letter is silent on the subject. The administration is no longer pretending that it is standing up for Jewish students. The project has been revealed for what it is: an effort to punish liberal institutions for the crime of being liberal.”

It simply amazes me that this letter was actually sent. It seems to suggest a First Amendment violation is being committed by the Trump Administration. I am so sick of these morons.

Linda McMahon wrote Harvard a letter to which they responded by noting areas that are in need of corrections and then posted it on social media.
Great job Harvard!

 

[Optimus Prime]

The intensely hostile letter that Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent to the leadership of Harvard yesterday has a lot going on. But the most notable thing about it is what it leaves out.

To hear McMahon tell it, Harvard is a university on the verge of ruin. (I say McMahon because her signature is at the bottom of the letter, but portions of the document are written in such a distinctive idiolect—“Why is there so much HATE?” the letter asks; it signs off with “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”—that one detects the spirit of a certain uncredited co-author.) She accuses it of admitting students who are contemptuous of America, chastises it for hiring the former blue-city mayors Bill de Blasio and Lori Lightfoot to teach leadership (“like hiring the captain of the Titanic to teach navigation”), questions the necessity of its remedial-math program (“Why is it, we ask, that Harvard has to teach simple and basic mathematics?”), and accuses its board chair, Penny Pritzker (“a Democrat operative”), of driving the university to financial ruin, among many other complaints. The upshot is that Harvard should not bother to apply for any new federal funding, because, McMahon declares, “today’s letter marks the end of new grants for the University.”

What you will not find in the McMahon letter is any mention of the original justification for the Trump administration’s ongoing assault on elite universities: anti-Semitism. As a legal pretext for trying to financially hobble the Ivy League, anti-Semitism had some strategic merit.

Many students and faculty justifiably feel that these schools failed to take harassment of Jews seriously enough during the protests that erupted after the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel by Hamas. By centering its critique on that issue, the administration was cannily appropriating for its own ends one of the progressive left’s highest priorities: protecting a minority from hostile acts.

Now, however, the mask is off. Aside from one oblique reference to congressional hearings about anti-Semitism (“the great work of Congresswoman Elise Stefanik”), the letter is silent on the subject.

The administration is no longer pretending that it is standing up for Jewish students.

The project has been revealed for what it is: an effort to punish liberal institutions for the crime of being liberal...............

Trump Finally Drops the Anti-Semitism Pretext​

Trump Finally Drops the Anti-Semitism Pretext

The latest letter to Harvard makes clear that the administration’s goal is to punish liberal institutions for the crime of being liberal.

www.theatlantic.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

Posted this in the education thread but I'll put it here also since it's specifically about universities

Interesting article about the right's historic issues with colleges

And surprise surprise it always coincides with whenever a group of people who "shouldn't" be in college starts attending, starting in the 1920's when the children of the Ellis Island immigrants started enrolling, then women, then blacks not just a catch all of 'woke'
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In 2021, JD Vance, then a candidate for Ohio senate, gave a provocative keynote address at the National Conservatism Conference.

Vance’s lecture was an indictment of American higher education: a “hostile institution” that “gives credibility to some of the most ridiculous ideas that exist in this country”.

The aspiring politician did not mince words before his receptive rightwing audience:

“If any of us wants to do the things we want to do … We have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities.”

The title of Vance’s keynote was inspired by a quote from Richard Nixon: “The universities are the enemy.”

The Maga movement, of which Vance, the vice-president, is now at the forefront, has been unabashedly on the attack against campuses, professors and students.

Donald Trumpcharacterizes colleges as “dominated by Marxist maniacs and lunatics”, and student protesters as “radicals”, “savages” and “jihadists” who have been indoctrinated by faculty “communists and terrorists”.

He has already delivered swift vengeance against campus protesters and non-protesters alike with visa terminations and deportations.

This administration has gleefully withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to force colleges to crack down on student dissent.

While Vance paid homage to Nixon and other forebears on the right, he failed to acknowledge that his political lineage had been fighting the university as an enemy for more than 100 years.

In fact, reactionary backlash is a feature of two main milestones in the academy’s history: the democratization of admissions and the diversification of curriculum.

Trump and Vance’s attacks are part of a longer history of rightwing backlash that follows each time college becomes more democratic……..

‘The universities are the enemy’: why the right detests the American campus | Lauren Lassabe Shepherd

For centuries, the academy was exclusive to the Christian elite. When that began to change, an onslaught began

www.theguardian.com

 

[Optimus Prime]

On Valentine’s Day, Kaiya Brown was in class at her local tribal college, Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico, when she learned that 20 of her school’s faculty and staff members had been laid off. They were given two hours to clear out their offices. By the time they left campus, their work had been wiped from federal servers. “When we came back after the long weekend,” Brown said, “there wasn’t a single class where someone wasn’t crying.”

Brown, a 19-year-old freshman from the Navajo Nation, picked SIPI because she wanted to be surrounded by other Native students and educators who understood her. “These aren’t just people. These are our family members,” she said. But in the aftermath of the layoffs, many basic support systems of her college disappeared: tutoring programs ended, financial aid disbursements were delayed, and students were unsure if their classes would resume. For those relying on financial aid, it wasn’t clear if they could afford their next semester of school—or even food and rent.

In the weeks that followed, Brown became the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Bureau of Indian Education. The case is part of a broader legal effort led by Native students and tribal leaders represented by the Native American Rights Fund to stop the Trump administration’s sweeping federal cuts to Indigenous education. At tribal colleges across the country, students are confronting the consequences of these rollbacks: sudden staff layoffs, frozen scholarships, or the looming loss of tuition waivers.

Across the United States, 35 accredited Tribal Colleges and Universities serve more than 22,000 students across 15 states, primarily in rural and low-income areas. Most TCUs operate as two-year colleges, chartered by either federal agencies—such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs—or respective tribal governments, functioning as both educational institutions and cultural centers. Today, many TCUs rely on federal funding to provide financial aid for Native students.

Jermaine Bell, a 43-year-old enrolled member of the Wind Reservation in Wyoming, began college at the United Tribal Technical College in Bismarck, North Dakota last year. He’s a recipient of a Native American Tuition Waiver, a full-ride scholarship to earn his associate degree in Indigenous leadership. With President Trump’s slew of federal funding cuts to the agencies that support Indigenous higher education, the waiver is at risk, and Bell’s goal of becoming a tribal liaison—a Department of Interior official responsible for managing government-to-government relationships with the 574 federally recognized tribes across the United States—could become much more difficult.

Over the past 100 days in office, the Trump administration has taken a wrecking ball to Indigenous education, with tribal colleges taking the largest hits. On his first day back in office, Trump rescinded Biden’s Executive Order 14049, which staffed an Education Department office to increase funding for TCUs. Less than a month later, the administration announced layoffs of hundreds of thousands of probationary federal employees across the US—an estimated 3,500 of whom serve Indian Country. These layoffs included 950 employees in the Indian Health Service, 2,600 workers at the Department of the Interior, 118 from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and nearly half of the Office of Tribal Justice within the Department of Justice—which resulted in a quarter of the faculty both at Haskell Indian Nations University and SIPI to be laid off.

The North Dakota Tribal College System, which encompasses five tribal colleges and 650 employees, was completing the final stages to receive a grant from the National Science Foundation in January that would have allowed the system to double its system’s office staff. That funding is on hold................

Trump Is Taking a Wrecking Ball to Indigenous Education

After mass layoffs and scholarship freezes, students and tribal leaders are suing the Trump administration for violating treaty obligations.

www.thenation.com