Good day all. I’ve been writing off and on about Harvard University for a few years now. I also have stated that I once applied for an I.T. job at the university. (I didn’t get it of course. To white, to old and to American) However, Harvard has been getting raked over the coals by everyone since the October 7th attack on Israel by Hamas, Israel’s response and Harvard’s basically supporting terrorists.
Things have ramped up significantly since President Trump came back into office. His administration has been demanding that Harvard basically clean up their act with regards to supporting the Nazi students attacking Israel and other Jewish students along with their history of racism in their enrollment policies.
Lately, the Trump Administration has escalated things, first by shutting off all the grants to Harvard and canceling their ability to bring in foreign students. This has led to people wondering if Harvard has any way to win. Here is a column from the New York Slimes. (This is an archived version. The original is paywalled):
The Trump administration’s attempt to block international students from attending Harvard University was a sharp escalation in the showdown between the federal government and one of the nation’s oldest and most powerful institutions.
It also showed how the younger side — the government — is the one with the upper hand.
Harvard has won praise for fighting back, and many legal experts believe the law is squarely on its side. But the administration holds the levers of power, and is methodically and creatively using them in a take-no-prisoners assault on the school.
I question these “Legal experts” on their belief that Harvard has the law on their side. Please show me where in the Constitution or the US Legal code where it says that the American Taxpayers are required to send money to Harvard. Also, please show me where Harvard has any say in the immigration and visa process. No rush. Whenever you’re ready.
To cut off the university’s pipeline of international students — who make up about 27 percent of Harvard’s enrollment — the government has turned to an obscure tactic it usually uses to shut down shoddy diploma mills.
Considering how many degrees Harvard hands out that are one step above Basket Weaving Studies, I’m not all that certain they aren’t, in many cases, nothing more then a diploma mill.
“I was dumbfounded,” Ted Mitchell, the president of the American Council on Education, told me. “What’s becoming increasingly clear is that this administration will use any tool that it can.”
A federal judge has already blocked the move for now, but my colleague Michael Schmidt, an investigative reporter who has been covering every twist in this story, tells me the damage may already be done. Today, he explained just how dire Harvard’s predicament has become — and why the federal government’s power over the nearly 400-year-old institution is even greater than he had appreciated.
That judge is yet another Obama judge and is usurping authority she doesn’t have. When it comes to who the United States allows into the country, that is the Executive and Legislative branches, with most of it in the hands of the Executive. The judicial branch has very little say in the matter. We have been seeing these corrupt Obama and Biden judges actively aiding criminals, terrorists and active threats to this country. That, of course, is something for another day.
The New York Slimes story interviews Michael Schmidt on what Harvard is facing. (Interesting, but not surprising, This is the NY Slimes after all and doing actual work is not something their propagandists do all that often) Right off the bat, the “Journalist, Jess Bidgood, shows how unbiased she is with her first question.
JB: You have long covered the way Trump has used the power of the government to target his perceived enemies. How is this time different?
And we’re off to a good start. In the minds of the Slimes, anything President Trump does is to get his enemies.
MS: There’s been an audacity and creativity to the way that Trump has tried to use his power in the second term, and this is the latest example. Coming into this, we concentrated on his threats to lock up his enemies, like Liz Cheney or James Comey. The use of the government’s power for purely political ends has manifested itself in ways that I think go beyond what we had imagined, and even beyond what Project 2025 contemplated.
Do I need to go into the literal criminal activities that have been uncovered regarding James Comey and Liz Cheney? Cheney’s blind hatred for President Trump, along with the rest of that so called “Committee” so contaminated the findings as to render them useless. Add to that the actual obstruction, destruction of evidence and documents, and blocking testimony from anyone who wasn’t going to toe the line to Get Trump! Comey has his own issues including the apparent call to assassinate President Trump recently.
Today, a judge temporarily blocked this Trump effort to bar international students from Harvard. Is that good news for Harvard? Is this over?
Not even close for the reasons I’ve already listed above.
It’s not over at all.
Nope, not even close. Harvard’s complete humiliation hasn’t happened yet.
For now, it allows foreign students to continue to attend Harvard. But what it doesn’t remove is the question of what’s going to happen.
The Executive Order doesn’t expel foreign students attending Harvard, at least not right away. It does, or should, force them to look at other colleges and universities and transfer to them. Those who won’t or can’t transfer will be required to leave the United States or be in violation of their visas. (In other words, illegal aliens)
If you’re an international student at Harvard, are you going to be like, “OK, cool, I’ll just go to school in the fall, and I’ll be checking the federal docket to see if the restraining order is still in place”?
I’d imagine that for international students, this makes the prospect of attending Harvard feel deeply uncertain — even unappealing. Where would the university find itself, even if it wins?
First, it won’t win for a myriad of reasons. Second, these foreign students should understand that Harvard isn’t what it once was. Even the secondary goal of making contacts isn’t the panacea it once was.
Even if Harvard runs the table in court, it’s still persona non grata with the Trump administration, and that means that it’s going to continue to face investigations, including from the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security.
Harvard has only itself to blame. When the anti-Israel protests started, the Harvard administration let the professional protesters get away with everything short of murder and this include assault and battery on Jewish students. Then there are all the other issues previously mentioned.
Trump has stripped extensive federal funding from Harvard. Let’s say a judge gives back all of that money for this year.
While you might find an Obama or Biden judge ordering the Administration and Congress to send money to Harvard, they are going to find out very quickly what happens next. Best case, (Or worst case, depending on your point of view), that judge is told that no, their order will not be followed. Then you might see Congress step in and decide the time has come to shut down all the courts below the Supreme Court and start all over. (Yes, they can do that. All judges will then be essentially retired)
Half of the university’s research budget comes from the federal government. Where is Harvard going to get the money in the year after that, and the year after that? If you’re a researcher, do you want to be doing research at a school where your funding is in question?
There is this thing call the Private Sector. They can apply to all sorts of corporations and industries. Of course, unlike the Federal Government, those private companies are going to expect actual results.
What’s happening at Harvard behind the scenes?
Panic no doubt.
Harvard officials have privately determined they are in a major, major, major crisis with very few, if any, good off ramps.
There is one off ramp that Harvard could use. Try following the laws and not discriminating as well as shutting down violent protests. This is Harvard’s major problem. They literally don’t think the laws apply to them. This is why the Harvard Administration is refusing to discuss anything.
Harvard’s board, as far as we know, won’t let the university go back to the table. The board members don’t trust that you can negotiate with Trump. And the things that Trump keeps hitting Harvard with are so destructive. How could you go back to the table?
As you can see both the New York Slimes and the Harvard board/administration are utterly clueless as to what is going on. President Trump has always played hardball, however he is also open to doing a deal. However, if you screw him over, he will come at you with every legal tool in the box.
Harvard’s Board of Overseers and the Harvard Corporation are not generally in tune with the real world. There are a few with a clue, but I don’t see those few being able to change anything. Harvard has, for not decades, but centuries, pretty much had things their own way. Now they are in the FO part of FAFO.
Thatisall
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