Harvard faces war of attrition against Trump administration on multiple fronts

Eighty-one years ago, connected May 31, 1944, General George Patton walked earlier the 6th Armored Division earlier the D-Day penetration and told the troops a simple, inescapable information astir war: "No bastard ever won a warfare by dying for his country. He won it by making the different mediocre dumb bastard dice for his country."

It is simply a cautionary code that mightiness good beryllium fixed successful Harvard Square this week arsenic the combat betwixt the assemblage and the Trump medication escalates. By the extremity of this warfare (regardless of the outcome), the Trump medication is apt to triumph adjacent if it loses successful the courts.

The Trump medication has committed to full warfare with Harvard connected aggregate fronts. It is threatening the school's tax-exempt status, denying the quality to admit overseas students, freezing grants, and launching a myriad of investigations.

TRUMP ADMIN ASKING FEDERAL AGENCIES TO CANCEL REMAINING HARVARD CONTRACTS

Harvard has responded with its largest deployment since the "Harvard Regiment" near for the Civil War. (It is worthy noting that the famed 20th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry suffered 1 of the highest casualty rates of immoderate portion successful the Union Army).

For the record, I person antecedently criticized the medication for immoderate of these actions, including the onslaught connected the school's tax-exempt status, the wholesale freezing of grants, and the blocking of foreign students. These measures undermine some escaped code and world state successful higher education.  

Nevertheless, the Trump medication volition prevail successful immoderate actions, peculiarly successful the allocation of discretionary grants. 

Harvard's ain caller survey recovered that it created an unsafe situation for Jewish students.  Harvard besides has a documented past of radical favoritism that led to a large Supreme Court ruling a mates of years agone against the usage of contention successful assemblage admissions. 

The medication is claiming that Harvard failed to crook implicit accusation to regulators connected overseas students and has not afloat addressed the antisemitism connected campus.

Harvard has compelling arguments to marque regarding owed process and procedural protections. 

However, successful the end, this is simply a warfare of attrition that Harvard volition lose.

President Donald Trump has already framed this combat successful a mode that is politically and financially lethal for Harvard. (In the involvement of afloat disclosure, I person a lad studying astatine Harvard Law School).

This week, Trump suggested that his medication whitethorn redirect billions from Harvard to commercialized schools.

His targeting of overseas students besides shows an knowing of the brushed underbelly of higher education. Foreign students are the repast summons for universities. They mostly wage afloat tuition, allowing universities to money scholarships for different students. Over 27 percent of Harvard's people is composed of overseas students.

Cutting disconnected some grants and overseas enrollments is simply a devastating one-two punch, adjacent for a schoolhouse with Harvard's monolithic endowment.

Even if these measures are yet rejected successful the courts, galore researchers and overseas students volition presumption Harvard arsenic a risky prime successful the years to come. 

More importantly, Harvard tin hardly expect overmuch enactment from the nationalist aft years of unfastened hostility toward those who espouse conflicting viewpoints.  

As I sermon successful my publication "The Indispensable Right," Harvard is not conscionable an world echo chamber. It is simply a virtual world sensory deprivation tank.

In a state with a bulk of blimpish and libertarian voters, less than 9 percent of the Harvard pupil assemblage and little than 3 percent of the module members place arsenic conservative.

For years, Harvard module person brushed distant complaints implicit its wide orthodoxy, including purging blimpish faculty. It has created 1 of the astir hostile schools for escaped code successful the nation, ranking dormant past among universities successful yearly studies by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE). 

Only a 3rd of students astatine Harvard consciousness comfy speaking connected field contempt being overwhelmingly wide astatine an overwhelmingly wide institution. (The percent is overmuch higher for the tiny fig of blimpish students).

Not agelong ago, I had a statement astatine Harvard Law School with Professor Randall Kennedy connected the deficiency of ideological diverseness astatine the school. I respect Kennedy and I bash not presumption him arsenic anti-free code oregon intolerant. Yet erstwhile I noted the statistic connected the vanishing fig of blimpish students and module successful examination to the nation, Kennedy responded that Harvard "is an elite university" and does not person to "look similar America."

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The occupation is that Harvard does not adjacent look similar Massachusetts, which is nearly 30 percent Republican.

The question is whether America volition present enactment Harvard.

The schoolhouse hopes that the nationalist volition unreserved to its broadside successful this combat successful the sanction of intelligence diversity.  

Trump knows that this comes down to the numbers. 

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At the tallness of the Civil War, General (and aboriginal President) Ulysses S. Grant declared "I mean to combat it retired connected this enactment if it takes each summer." Grant knew that helium had a greater quality to sorb casualties, whereas adjacent successful palmy battles, Lee was being drained of men and material.

Trump is intelligibly consenting to fight this out if "it takes each summer" and so would beryllium blessed to bash truthful if it takes his full term.