they aren't going to roll and DT isn't going to back down Former presidents of Columbia, Harvard urge their successors to fight the Trump administration - POLITICO Leaders who once helmed the nation’s most prestigious universities are homing in on a message for their successors: resist, defend and litigate. That formula, they argue, is the only way to survive an administration eager to extract fundamental concessions from schools that go far beyond addressing stated concerns about antisemitism. In the three months since returning to the White House, President Donald Trump has demanded that some of these private institutions end diversity programming, change admissions requirements, toughen student discipline policies and audit some academic programs. .............................................................. Bollinger said the universities should consider a collective action and mobilize their defenses in court. But the leadership of the Ivy League has faced significant turnover in recent years, giving the newest presidents little time to find allies within their institutions to help them fight the federal government. ............................................ Harvard University President Alan Garber this week announced he has no intention of complying with Trump’s demands, despite the risk of $9 billion in federal funding. Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber has also signaled he will refuse to capitulate to the administration. Columbia’s interim president has hinted that the university may not be willing to agree to any demands it believes infringes upon its autonomy.
Someone told me earlier today that Yale has purchased an almost $400M surety bond to fund scientific research and fight the Trump administration. Don’t know if it’s true but this person has significant academic contacts.
this is interesting considering how he is calling for schools to lose their tax exempt status 'Literally a federal crime': Expert tears into new Trump threat President Donald Trump’s latest threat against his political opposition was doused with the reality that he could be violating federal law for publicly airing his retaliatory request, according to American Immigration Council senior fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick. Trump on Thursday openly floated the possibility of the IRS changing the tax status of organizations that disagree with his administration’s MAGA policies, including immigration and environmental rights organizations. “It is literally a federal crime punishable by up to five years in prison for the President, VP, or any senior White House employee, to ‘request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the IRS to conduct ... an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer,’” Reichlin-Melnick said in a social media post. He provided his followers a copy of the federal law titled "Prohibition on executive branch influence over taxpayer audits and other investigations.”
And now here comes the 'brain drain'. This is a feature, not a bug. Nearly 300 apply as French university offers US academics ‘scientific asylum’ | Academics | The Guardian Nearly 300 academics have applied to a French university’s offer to take in US-based researchers rattled by the American government’s crackdown on academia, as a former French president called for the creation of a “scientific refugee” status for academics in peril. Earlier this year, France’s Aix-Marseille University was among the first in Europe to respond to the funding freezes, cuts and executive orders unleashed on institutions across the US by Donald Trump’s administration. What they were offering – through a programme titled Safe Place for Science – was a sort of “scientific asylum”, offering three years of funding at their facility for about 20 researchers. On Thursday the university said it had received 298 applications in a month, of which 242 were deemed eligible. The applicants hailed from institutions such as Johns Hopkins University, Nasa, Columbia, Yale and Stanford, it said in a statement.
One of many Professor explains why he's leaving Yale for Toronto as colleges react to Trump's threats
this is where I'm at 'It’s time': Conservative calls for 'comprehensive national civic uprising' against Trump Conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks is in the unique position of declaring war against a Republican president. “[His] is a multifront assault to make the earth a playground for ruthless men,” Brooks writes, “so of course any institutions that might restrain power must be weakened or destroyed. Trumpism is about ego, appetite and acquisitiveness and is driven by a primal aversion to the higher elements of the human spirit — learning, compassion, scientific wonder, the pursuit of justice.” A “single effort to undo the parts of the civilizational order” requires a concerted response to beat it back, says Brooks, and one that is yet to be fully underway. So far, each sector Trump has assaulted, be it law firms, universities or whole groups of people, has responded independently, and therefore ineffectively. .............................................. “It’s time for a comprehensive national civic uprising,” says Brooks “It’s time for Americans in universities, law, business, nonprofits and the scientific community, and civil servants and beyond to form one coordinated mass movement. Trump is about power. The only way he’s going to be stopped is if he’s confronted by some movement that possesses rival power.” Brooks, who does not describe himself as “a movement guy,” says groups need a short-term vision of burying Trump in lawsuits and derailing him and a long-term vision of asking themselves what societal plagues turned voters to Trump, be it economic problems or perceived imbalances.
First US 'refugee scientists' to arrive in France in weeks: university The first researchers fleeing US spending cuts imposed by President Donald Trump will start work at a French university in June, officials said Thursday. Aix Marseille University said its "Safe Place for Science" scheme received a flood of applicants after announcing in March it would open its doors to US scientists threatened by cuts. Of 298 applications, 242 were deemed eligible and "are being studied" for some 20 available posts, the university said in a statement. It added that 135 of the applicants were US citizens, and 45 were dual citizens.
Brooks is definitely not a movement guy, so it is clear that Trump has really rankled him thus far. I understand. I really expected Trump to be bad in his second term, and he has really exceeded those expectations already.
Big 10 faculty taking his advice Will be interesting to see if he reacts and goes union busting on the big 10
Lol. The Trump people sent the letter on accident. Wow. Just when you think they can't get any more embarrassing. White House Sent Harvard April 11 Demands in Error, The New York Times Reports | News | The Harvard Crimson
