Harvard battle 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Dated April 11, 2025, a particular letter was sent to Harvard from the government. It says that the U.S. has invested in that university because of its value to the country, but that investment is no longer justified since they haven't lived up to intellectual and civil rights conditions. 

A sum of $2.2 billion in federal government grants was withdrawn as a penalty for defying the government's letter.

 

 

Still defiant, the university (photo) filed a suit against the government for freezing those funds, claiming that important research programs will suffer. (With a mammoth endowment fund of $53 billion, the largest of any education institution in the world, some are wondering just how big a hardship losing $2 billion can be.)

Responding to the suit, a White House spokesman said: “The gravy train of federal assistance to institutions like Harvard, which enriches their grossly overpaid bureaucrats with tax dollars from struggling American families, is coming to an end. Taxpayer funds are a privilege, and Harvard fails to meet the basic conditions required to access that privilege.”

(cont'd tomorrow)

Harvard battle 1

Is it right to choose people for college admission or jobs or home purchase or promotion based on their race? It's not even legal in the United States to do that, and hasn't been since the Civil Rights Act of 1964. 

But prestigious Harvard University was convicted of doing that very thing in 2023, and they're not the only one. Somehow our whole university system got way off track:

"Shielded by a virtuous public image, elite universities have institutionalized discrimination against disfavored racial groups, implemented DEI policies based on racial rewards and penalties, hired and promoted faculty according to skin color rather than merit, and overseen racially segregated student programs, dormitories, and graduation ceremonies."

Now Americans through the recently elected president's administration are trying to bring universities back to American values. It's a fight. Harvard University is front and center.

from City Journal 

(cont'd tomorrow)

Harvard battle 4

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

So, in effect, Harvard's argument is that they have a right to taxpayer money (in the billions of dollars) while they pursue any policies they choose, i.e. do whatever they want. They're shocked, shocked, that the American people might want to withdraw their money from racial discrimination and . . antisemitism.

Yes, the university's president admits it. He tells NBC in this video: "At Harvard, we have a real problem with antisemitism . . . There's no doubt about the severity of this problem."

He says they have no choice but to defend themselves against government "overreach" and they're going to use their "first amendment rights." 

Amazing hutzpah! They claim the American right of free speech for themselves - while that freedom is suppressed on their campus.

Harvard battle 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Ivy League presidents received letters from the current administration warning them of the consequences of their violation of the Civil Rights Act and other policies. Federal funding could be withdrawn.

Responses have varied. The president of Columbia University agreed to change policies, and then she "stepped down" from her position. Princeton's president (photo) defied the letter's demands, and seems to argue that he is defending civil rights with his discriminatory policies.

Does he not understand the argument? "[R]acial discrimination is wrong whether it targets whites, Asians, Jews, blacks or Hispanics. Any institution that continues to discriminate based on race is ineligible for federal support." Princeton received $455 million from the federal government last year. 

Harvard receives billions from the federal government. All those billions are at stake, and they're suing the administration.

from City Journal

(cont'd tomorrow)