Well said about the endowment. A note to those who whined that the universities could not legally adjust their endowments because the terms of the donation would not allow that — this is a former Harvard President who says it can be done, so it is a fair assumption that he has actually done it. Now the other blue state private universities (Stanford and USC, I am looking at you) should follow suit. In California, the main issue in next year’s gubernatorial election must be — fix Prop 13, impose a graduated surtax on expensive homes and commercial real estate, issue bonds to build better infrastructure, and spend new state revenue on hiring CDC, NIH, USDA, USFS scientists, etc, to work in CA, MA, IL, NY, and other rational states. Hire ex-USAID people to work on our many public health problems.
Generally not a Summers fan, but here he gets it, and Harvard alumni who have not lost their souls to Malignant Stupidity (thank you, Paul Krugman) and MAGA really need to step it up with pointed communications to Garber and Harvard's Management (one hesitates to use administration). Harvard clearly has the financial and intellectual resources to maintain its independence and to be a bulwark for liberal democracy.
Way beyond my pay grade, and definitely want to see universities be bastions of resistance, not capitulation, but the snide reference to leadership with "political agendas" combined with his own comments about "antisemitism" and "identity politics," as if oblivious to the fact the former is an example of the latter, suggests to me this maybe isn't the unifying statement Harvard or other universities need. It's like he's saying we need to stand up to Trump, even if it's extremist leftist identity politics that precipitated this assault.
sorry, this is week tea at best. There are many things universites and other sources of civic legitimacy and power can legitamatey be criticised for, none othem justifies the attempt by this adminsitrationto undermine each and every one of them.
No, Harvard must dance to entertain the orange god. It must grovel at every utterance of the fat mango. Harvard must debase itself to please the orange Putin.
Only then can its reputation for rigorous excellence be completely forgotten.
Go to it Harvard. Be the stooge for the puppeteer.
I wish Summers had put more emphasis on the reform part of the message. It should in fact be part of the stance:
We are correcting toleration of antisemitism in a way that would be inconceivable with any other for of prejudice (they should tolerate all forms of prejudice equally)), elevation of identity over excellence in the selection of students and faculty, the lack of diversity of perspective failure to impose discipline and maintain order in order to better fight for academic freedom.
Well said about the endowment. A note to those who whined that the universities could not legally adjust their endowments because the terms of the donation would not allow that — this is a former Harvard President who says it can be done, so it is a fair assumption that he has actually done it. Now the other blue state private universities (Stanford and USC, I am looking at you) should follow suit. In California, the main issue in next year’s gubernatorial election must be — fix Prop 13, impose a graduated surtax on expensive homes and commercial real estate, issue bonds to build better infrastructure, and spend new state revenue on hiring CDC, NIH, USDA, USFS scientists, etc, to work in CA, MA, IL, NY, and other rational states. Hire ex-USAID people to work on our many public health problems.
Generally not a Summers fan, but here he gets it, and Harvard alumni who have not lost their souls to Malignant Stupidity (thank you, Paul Krugman) and MAGA really need to step it up with pointed communications to Garber and Harvard's Management (one hesitates to use administration). Harvard clearly has the financial and intellectual resources to maintain its independence and to be a bulwark for liberal democracy.
Way beyond my pay grade, and definitely want to see universities be bastions of resistance, not capitulation, but the snide reference to leadership with "political agendas" combined with his own comments about "antisemitism" and "identity politics," as if oblivious to the fact the former is an example of the latter, suggests to me this maybe isn't the unifying statement Harvard or other universities need. It's like he's saying we need to stand up to Trump, even if it's extremist leftist identity politics that precipitated this assault.
sorry, this is week tea at best. There are many things universites and other sources of civic legitimacy and power can legitamatey be criticised for, none othem justifies the attempt by this adminsitrationto undermine each and every one of them.
No, Harvard must dance to entertain the orange god. It must grovel at every utterance of the fat mango. Harvard must debase itself to please the orange Putin.
Only then can its reputation for rigorous excellence be completely forgotten.
Go to it Harvard. Be the stooge for the puppeteer.
The statement of Valarie. Smith , President of Swarthmore, is worth reading. .Allen Kamp
Alumni Associations should organize their members to protect their University from this type of extortion.
Universities have more capital than just money.
They have human capital which can be organized to put counter pressure on politicians.
Will you have something on tariffs soon? Sorry to go off topic.
I wish Summers had put more emphasis on the reform part of the message. It should in fact be part of the stance:
We are correcting toleration of antisemitism in a way that would be inconceivable with any other for of prejudice (they should tolerate all forms of prejudice equally)), elevation of identity over excellence in the selection of students and faculty, the lack of diversity of perspective failure to impose discipline and maintain order in order to better fight for academic freedom.