Harvard today, your institution tomorrow. It's all part of the Project 2025 plan to destroy high education in America. All leading US universities depend on federal funding and tuition dollars from international students. They severely curtailed the former. Now they're eliminating the latter. - ThreadSky

carlbergstrom.com • 20 hours ago

Harvard today, your institution tomorrow.

It's all part of the Project 2025 plan to destroy high education in America.

All leading US universities depend on federal funding and tuition dollars from international students. They severely curtailed the former. Now they're eliminating the latter.

Comments

cadbecker.bsky.social•9 hours ago

Close Havard and move to Europe.
Your are welcome.

russtofferson.bsky.social•19 hours ago

Can we call it "fascism" yet or is that still too alarmist and inflammatory and--gasp!--polarizing?

seattlesanta.bsky.social•20 hours ago

HOW can a Private University be controlled by the Federal Government?

jasonlassiter.bsky.social•20 hours ago

They control the visas.

resjudicata22.bsky.social•19 hours ago

They may control the visas, but there has to be a legal reason why the visas are withheld and/or revoked. Further, while SCOTUS has heard numerous cases related to immigration, some cases deal with the broader principles of immigration law, such as the POWER OF CONGRESS to regulate immigration.

jasonlassiter.bsky.social•19 hours ago

Oh I totally doubt it's legal and it will definitely end up in the courts along with everything else.

resjudicata22.bsky.social•19 hours ago

To quantify that:
122 days/246 lawsuits

https://www.justsecurity.org/107087/tracker-litigation-legal-challenges-trump-administration/

ri.oldfolkshome.org•19 hours ago

The Federal Government decides who is able to legally be in the country.

They can't tell Harvard that Harvard can't have foreign students.

But they can tell the foreign students they're not allowed to be in the US as students.

ri.oldfolkshome.org•19 hours ago

It is, of course, ridiculous and evil that the govt is doing this.

nicoleackermans.bsky.social•18 hours ago

📌

sophiajanehayden.link•20 hours ago

How is this allowed?

trai70.bsky.social•20 hours ago

I wonder if they'll be able to find a good lawyer 🤔

trai70.bsky.social•19 hours ago

At the risk of explaining my own joke: if 47 was doing this to a less prestigious school, or even one that had produced fewer top notch attorneys, this act would be no less lawless, but potentially more outrageous. Harvard has an alumni support system smaller schools can only dream of.

janedwrites.bsky.social•19 hours ago

...and that's why my son turned down his Cornell offer. He's chosen a great uni 'at home'. 🇨🇦 🍁

bsky.tdunning.com•19 hours ago

It's fantastic he had options.

But I am very sad that our dearest neighbors now justifiably feel that it is necessary for them to avoid coming to US universities.

cv-danes.com•19 hours ago

Like everything else Trump has done, this will have profound and lasting existential consequences.

sailorviolet92.bsky.social•18 hours ago

These things don't happen overnight. But if it keeps on this trajectory for, say, another twenty years, and it still looks like there's no way out? Then people start asking about taxation without representation.

lawy.bsky.social•7 hours ago

The American people voted this lunatic in; now they are paying the price. No use complaining.

panther-nan-14.bsky.social•20 hours ago

The Obamas went to Harvard

lindakaboolian.bsky.social•19 hours ago

George W. Bush went to Harvard Business School, 4 sitting Scotus justices, innumerable senators, cong. Reps and Govs.

dj1au.bsky.social•16 hours ago

and who hates Obama more than anyone?

carlbergstrom.com•20 hours ago

One my favorite college professors, Joe Nye, passed very recently. He developed the concept of soft power in international relations.

Two of the strongest sources of US soft power were international aid and higher ed. The Republican administration has utterly destroyed both. Ask yourself why.

carlbergstrom.com•20 hours ago

With regard to higher ed, bringing the best and brightest from around to world to the US, to experience life here in a semblance of a liberal democracy (don't laugh, this was back then) — either they stay and we benefit from their skills, or they go home and take our ideals with them.

shewolf007.bsky.social•18 hours ago

A modern feudalism ward situation, more or less.

stanfordaaup.bsky.social•10 hours ago

💯

carlbergstrom.com•20 hours ago

Nye observed that soft power—benevolent means of shaping the preferences and actions of others—is as important as hard power—military force, economic pressure, etc. in international relations.

The GOP has done soft power equivalent of scuttling our navy and selling the Air Force for parts.

angusm.bsky.social•20 hours ago

"If you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition ultimately."
-- Gen. James Mattis

carlbergstrom.com•19 hours ago

In addition to antagonizing our allies, halting foreign aid, and destroying higher ed, GOP attacks on US soft power include:

1) halting education/cultural exchange (Fulbright etc)

2) shuttering US-funded media (PBS, Voice of America etc)

3) abandoning global health and climate commitments.

haroldv3.bsky.social•18 hours ago

Soft Power does have a way of pushing back though. The connections and culture of Harvard are quite powerful. I suspect the impact may be found when invites to Mar-a-Lago begin to go unanswered.

reflexhammer.bsky.social•19 hours ago

Also destroying some of the domestic scientific institutions and regulatory agencies that other countries depend on. Cuts at National Institute of Standards and Technology, CDC disease surveillance, weather data, tsunami monitoring, etc.

carlbergstrom.com•14 hours ago

Fortunately there are some forms of soft power they can’t touch.

Bruce, across the ocean, doing the Lord’s work.

“The America I have sung to you about for fifty years is real, and regardless of its faults is a great country with a great people. So we will survive this moment.”

jefffreyspies.bsky.social•14 hours ago

Living in NJ, the number of white men I’ve heard disown Springsteen is abhorrent and absurd.

slimchickens.bsky.social•13 hours ago

https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2025/05/nj-bar-cancels-springsteen-cover-band-over-bruces-anti-trump-comments-wont-stand-for-his-bulls-.html

mrfett.bsky.social•13 hours ago

Love that he does a little “People Get Ready”

andyfraser.bsky.social•19 hours ago

What’s the goal? I cannot see any coherent endgame here except removing any possible intellectual resistance to totalitarianism. It’s appalling to watch from across the border - I cannot imagine what it’s like to watch academia and research being burnt to the ground in your own country. Truly sorry.

calimero000000.bsky.social•19 hours ago

What else is Harvard known for?Most of the most important leadership personnel in the US government,US business,and even the intelligence service and military also come from this university. Why is it being destroyed? See this documentary and please translate it yourself.

https://www.zdf.de/video/dokus/zdfzeit-106/putins-helfer-100

ronthinkmedia.bsky.social•10 hours ago

And ambushing world leaders at the White House ain't doing us any favors either. https://amp-cnn-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2025/05/21/politics/trump-ramaphosa-oval-office-ambush?amp_gsa=1&amp_js_v=a9&usqp=mq331AQGsAEggAID#amp_tf=From%20%251%24s&aoh=17478874721175&csi=0&referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com&ampshare=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2025%2F05%2F21%2Fpolitics%2Ftrump-ramaphosa-oval-office-ambush

earlymodjustice.bsky.social•19 hours ago

I took a course with Joe Nye as an undergraduate on international balance of power.
It stuck with me…

jrmorber.bsky.social•18 hours ago

Why would they want to scuttle it, instead of command it? Would not the power hungry want hard AND soft power to control?

postingposter.bsky.social•17 hours ago

Fascists don't exercise soft power. Convincing someone to do something because it's in your mutual best interest is cowardly, womanly. Punching a problem until it goes away (or, more accurately, ordering someone else to do so) is the only solution they recognize.

benfranklinsaid.bsky.social•19 hours ago

they would sneer and say all of what is being destroyed was just elitist or deep state or some such garbled inanity. cultural revolution has come to America, and it’s as dumb as it ever was.

tompaine1776.bsky.social•19 hours ago

mossiegirl.bsky.social•19 hours ago

Good lord - don’t give them any ideas! They’d race to sell off our Air Force and pocket the money for themselves. And still cut Medicaid and Medicare.

aralski.bsky.social•19 hours ago

Exactly. My very English dad got a Knox Fellowship to study at Harvard. He stayed on, worked in NY and met my mother. I was born in the UK but his work took us back to NY where my brothers were born. He loved America, his family and friends there, and visited often for almost 60 years. Soft power.

stylo.bsky.social•20 hours ago

they believe their own bullshit, they are white supremacists

dj1au.bsky.social•16 hours ago

no idea why but they appear to be following the Nazi/pol pot/ Orban madness of destroying intellectuals.

frozzbot.bsky.social•20 hours ago

I've asked this question many times. A rollback to feudalism is an unsatisfying answer.

tellnolies.bsky.social•19 hours ago

Facism supported by the oligarchs the Republicans pander to. With King Trumpety leading the parade of hate and lies.

elizabeth-eisen.bsky.social•20 hours ago

The only reasons I can think of are
1.) the Project 2025 people are racist AND anti-science AND anti-democratic

-OR-

2.) The whole MAGA movement is run by Putin

steveolson.bsky.social•19 hours ago

it's sooooooo number 1. Not like Putin wouldn't have loved to do this, but this is so in-line with hard right thought FOREVER that we don't need any malign foreign actors to explain it.

pmanzo.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Following orders?

davidjwbailey.bsky.social•19 hours ago

Russia
Saudi
Israel
China
- they were willing to pay more, Sir!

christine520.bsky.social•19 hours ago

Sorry for your loss. Trump has destroyed so much goodwill. Putin is thrilled.

jennired83.bsky.social•10 hours ago

They want mass deaths

drjgarber.bsky.social•20 hours ago

That’s sad news about Joseph Nye. My condolences.

jencwaters.bsky.social•18 hours ago

https://apnews.com/article/students-trump-administration-arrest-deportation-7fc4cb9ebc1b10d3ec0d564313067846

mfelps.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Yes, the first thing fascist regimes do is attack the institutions until they roll over and become part of the regime. The news, the universities, the courts all under attack and they'll stay under attack until either the regime goes or they fall.

jamiecbarnett.bsky.social•20 hours ago

There’s only one explanation to the totality of his actions: he’s actively trying to destroy America.

tpo-asd.bsky.social•17 hours ago

📌

daedalus451.bsky.social•18 hours ago

It is absolutely corrupt to the core 🤮. By numbing higher education, they get to spawn a generation of degenerates, who rely on Social Media for 1° information, NOT challenge or ask questions or hold their leaders feet to the fire 🔥 . Easier to control the masses and enact their agendas 🤦🏻‍♂️.

lartigue.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Maybe they’ll have to rely on distance learning for a while

browneyedgirl876.bsky.social•19 hours ago

The party of small government strikes again!

sanneru.bsky.social•20 hours ago

This is also breaking news in Germany, we see it and we must stand in solidarity!

https://www.spiegel.de/ausland/usa-blog-europa-lobt-trump-und-sanktioniert-russland-a-81e94873-36e1-400b-a026-7fffc9ab6fd3

mariopro.bsky.social•20 hours ago

eveexamines.bsky.social•18 hours ago

You realize they'll now take even MORE money from Qatar.

she1966.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Harvard should take their school and bring it to England. As should any other higher learning institution who is being blackmailed by the administration. I just honestly have no words anymore. This is such a dumpster fire, It’s not even funny. This is no longer a free country.

borislenhard.bsky.social•17 hours ago

And then, in 2029, with Farage as PM, move somewhere else again?

she1966.bsky.social•17 hours ago

You never know what’s gonna happen. Canada thought that the GOP was gonna get in there and Trump did a great job of convincing them never to go in that direction. I’m sure England’s watching this ship wreck. They know what’s going on.

borislenhard.bsky.social•17 hours ago

Have you seen the results of local elections in England two weeks ago? They are watching the ship wreck and voting for its copy at home: https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/25181061.reform-unveils-new-durham-county-council-cabinet-leadership-team/

geetasood.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Absolutely awful and senseless. I am not sure how destroying higher education gems in this country makes us great

dj1au.bsky.social•16 hours ago

It doesn't but trump got elected thanks to likes and conspiracy theories from Fox and X.

dj1au.bsky.social•15 hours ago

lies

rgh1205.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Not the last of the dirty tricks they will pull.

Mediocre people who envy really smart people.

dj1au.bsky.social•16 hours ago

Read the magas on X, their idiocy is mind boggling

nojustdan.bsky.social•10 hours ago

Their opinions are based entirely on misinformation, propaganda, and lies.

themjl.bsky.social•19 hours ago

This is getting more and more like the Mongols' sack of Baghdad back in the 1200s.

Total destruction of an entire culture...🤷‍♂️

johnroddick.bsky.social•16 hours ago

Universities outside of the US must be loving this. They get the best overseas students (and I suspect many from the US too given that US universities will start to drop in the rankings) and in a few years a jump in technology and some great employees.

segment6.net•18 hours ago

Nothing new, really. 🇺🇲, 🇨🇦 and others have been chipping away public education for decades. Educated people are harder to control and abuse.

dozybear.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Another day, another slide further into Nazi America. Protect yourselves.

ladyvibrato.bsky.social•20 hours ago

I agree with the thrust of this, but it's also true that Harvard could easily find plenty of full-pay domestic students if it needed to - not that it would be a good thing for them or the US to curtail international enrollment

carlbergstrom.com•20 hours ago

Read on to the second post of the thread.

ladyvibrato.bsky.social•20 hours ago

I earned this rebuke

carlbergstrom.com•20 hours ago

Wasn't meant as a rebuke. It wasn't a numbered thread so it's not obvious there was a next post.

1961carol.bsky.social•20 hours ago

The fact that this German European is halting international students should give Harvard a reason now, more than ever to publish this nation's history. Starting with the Doctrine of Discovery which was repudiated in 1537 and March of 2023.
What 47 is doing to our country is illegal.

thia2.bsky.social•19 hours ago

I wonder how his rich middle east buddies/piggy banks will like this - a lot of them send their kids to Harvard and other top institutions. Will there by specific waivers granted for connected international kids? Stay tuned.

jeremybyington.bsky.social•19 hours ago

That scenario is what the Trump Gold Card is for.

bjorkianrice.bsky.social•19 hours ago

As an International College Counselor out of a Boarding School in Switzerland for the “elite uber wealthy “ there will be hell to pay. Literally.

illimij.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Hungary with an American exceptionalist twist.

carhorns.bsky.social•16 hours ago

The far right figured out years ago that in order to win hegemony, they had to control the world of ideas. In turn, they methodically attacked and infiltrated higher ed and hijacked/distorted an entire media ecosystem. H/T to Jane Mayer’s Dark Money. Project 2025 levels it up, but it’s been 40 yrs.

nousman.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Is this really possible?

browneyedgirl876.bsky.social•19 hours ago

We are learning a lot of impossible things are possible 😞 All these rules and norms are built around good people doing the right things. Until…

wamsleylab.bsky.social•18 hours ago

For whoever wants something they can do NOW, #AAUP is fighting Trump's war on higher education in court, on multiple fronts.

Donate to their legal defense fund: https://bit.ly/3EqWFH9

ldw1.bsky.social•17 hours ago

https://bsky.app/profile/ldw1.bsky.social/post/3llxyem66ss2b

rdwnur.bsky.social•19 hours ago

Turns out #FatDad ‘s checkbook isn’t always enough, is it #WhiteRash?

dj1au.bsky.social•16 hours ago

Don't cross a trump🙄

rdwnur.bsky.social•16 hours ago

Soon enough, everyone will have to just admit what a chode he is and move on to the next gem.

wildsaltydog.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Over the whole shebang to Canada...

ruggledome.bsky.social•20 hours ago

Also made me think of this. The anti-edu crowd has, well, tendrils.

https://www.businessinsider.com/peter-thiel-fellow-program-skip-woke-college-education-2024-2

christeele.bsky.social•12 hours ago

https://youtu.be/oa6nMab2eoE

maryburns.bsky.social•19 hours ago

Higher Education Institutions must stand together to push back on this regime.

da85bears.bsky.social•20 hours ago

I love this new small government approach!

kroekermartin.bsky.social•19 hours ago

Soon NATO countries will have to send paratroopers to evacuate their expat students before ICE disappears them - the Taliban of Trumpistan in full swing

nduggar.bsky.social•9 hours ago

Can the rest of us go too?

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