You cannot negotiate with terrorists. If the Ivies give in to any regime demands, the goal posts will move. If the massive ivy endowments aren’t deployed to preserve institutional integrity and academic freedom, what on earth are they for? - ThreadSky

roxanegay.bsky.social • 4 days ago

You cannot negotiate with terrorists. If the Ivies give in to any regime demands, the goal posts will move. If the massive ivy endowments aren’t deployed to preserve institutional integrity and academic freedom, what on earth are they for?

Reposted from Jonathan Cohn

He wants to destroy higher ed because he hates critical thinking.

apnews.com/article/penn...

Comments

snarkyrobot.bsky.social•4 days ago

The massive endowments are for money.

And sports.

catebridget.bsky.social•4 days ago

this is that rainy day!!!

hankers.bsky.social•4 days ago

Let’s normalize presidents needing college degrees

geminidrgn.bsky.social•4 days ago

making money, they're for making money

caoineag.bsky.social•4 days ago

I hope they all fold, fuck these diploma mills for the bourgeoisie

afeeney.bsky.social•4 days ago

A lot of higher ed institutions have become hedge funds with extensive real estate holdings that happen to offer classes on the side for the tax benefits.

I'm not surprised that they're backing down.

urbanadventure.bsky.social•3 days ago

This is so true. Have been saying this about Harvard for years—Hedge fund with a uni attached to it

thejeffbyrnes.com•2 days ago

I encourage learning how Harvard’s endowment works, it’s far more complicated than that.

Hedge funds can use their investments, Harvard mostly cannot: https://www.harvard.edu/about/endowment/

urbanadventure.bsky.social•1 day ago

Definitely complicated, but if you peel back complexity, the fees to the managers and the university’s focus on money and donors it is not pretty. I can say that as someone who does know how endowments work.

mathandstuff.bsky.social•4 days ago

Over $175 million?

You may have heard that some of these universities have law schools.

If they are "backing down" it's because they find that stance politically convenient.

Seriously, what is the threat to the endowment that you are insinuating? Trump will crash the market to own UPenn?

afeeney.bsky.social•4 days ago

For many of these organizations, the administration and endowment are now the raison d'etre for the school. They are backing down from DEI because it was a core belief only as long as it appeared fashionable.

mathandstuff.bsky.social•4 days ago

I disagree. I see these choices as a result of internal struggles within universities by camps of people with different agendas and goals. Typically, a university administration represents different people than the faculty. The faculty represent educators while the administration represent alumni.

mathandstuff.bsky.social•4 days ago

If you look at the individuals involved, you see administrators with little connection to the faculty imposing these views. They are representing the oligarchic viewpoints of wealthy alumni. It's the same class war that's going on in the nation at large.

999happyhops.bsky.social•4 days ago

Fully with you, with one asterisk that a lot of a school’s endowment can’t necessarily be touched because it’s often made of smaller donor-created funds with specific use restrictions- scholarships, department support, etc. A common misconception is that it’s just a giant pot of money to draw from.

panicatthedogpark.bsky.social•4 days ago

I think if the word goes out, a lot of the families or institutions who created the funds will make exceptions to answer the call.

999happyhops.bsky.social•3 days ago

Yes! Some paperwork involved for legal reasons, but definitely an option.

klomeliruns.bsky.social•4 days ago

Super curious if they step up. Philly has a rep for not being submissive

danaaddydesigns.bsky.social•4 days ago

Penn is decidedly un-Philly

fvlib.bsky.social•4 days ago

Trump is going to pull the money no matter what the Ivies do. They might as well hold to their principles rather than kowtow to the geriatric syphilis patient.

mammamin.bsky.social•4 days ago

I cannot agree more!! What’s the use of accumulating all this financial and social capital if you don’t use it? There will not be a more critical time than now. What’s stopping this?!?!?!

timeforguillotines.bsky.social•2 days ago

Boats

codemonkey23.bsky.social•4 days ago

They are, primarily, a club for the children of the exceedingly wealthy so that they may network, as well as, perhaps, a way to spend & make a great deal of money on sports. Any other purposes, stated goals not withstanding, are secondary to those.

thereverended.bsky.social•4 days ago

Doesn't he have an 'honorary degree' from Penn? Come on boyz...Pull it!

hl-caster.bsky.social•3 days ago

It's honorary in the sense his Daddy bought it.

doniamyrfather.bsky.social•3 days ago

the guys who manage the endowments think they exist just to draw salary from. they'll protect that shit from use just to maintain their positions

wikisteff.bsky.social•4 days ago

Appeasement is not a policy stance.
It is a delaying tactic.

stateliner63.bsky.social•4 days ago

He's pissed because there was never a school that would give him a diploma. Daddy had to buy every one. Because his stupidity exceeded his brain power.

banquosghost.bsky.social•4 days ago

Exactly. These schools should be responding to this white nationalist regime with “fuck off and see you in court”. Each of them have law schools and students in need of experiential education.

mothpockets.bsky.social•4 days ago

Well said. They have resources most schools can only dream of.

secretoriginz.bsky.social•4 days ago

What about the 22 billion endowment Penn has?

thejeffbyrnes.com•2 days ago

Endowments are basically useless except for the returns they generate. Harvard’s website has a good explainer: https://www.harvard.edu/about/endowment/

88corbs.bsky.social•4 days ago

Also high five to the Trans Swimmer who is worth $175 Million.

melian.bsky.social•4 days ago

Dartmouth apparently just hired a top Trump ally as their lawyer/vice president 🙃

yblent.bsky.social•4 days ago

Schools have lost accreditation for far lesser compromises of academic integrity and student health and safety. Colombia and Penn’s accreditors should announce today that they will be forced to put their accreditation under review if they accept these demands.

philosophiejane.bsky.social•4 days ago

That's not how laws work. You can't retroactively accuse someone of a crime that didn't exist when they allegedly committed it. I bet UPenn capitulates anyway. Why anyone would ever go to school that let's the federal gov't push them around is beyond me.

jessdee.bsky.social•4 days ago

They were never actually for that.

The sad truth is that they just never were.

michaelcpaul.bsky.social•4 days ago

It’s just vindictiveness. Nothing legal about it.
Penn should revoke Trump’s degree. See how that goes.

ihavesomething2say.bsky.social•4 days ago

That phrase—you cannot negotiate with terrorists “ says it all. It needs to be all that schumer hears every say for the rest of his life-and what those idiot “moderate “ Democrats hear as well.

lovewinzalways.bsky.social•3 days ago

Universities aren't armies. They're not ready for a blitzkrieg.

If the Dems showed any sign of having the universities' backs, it would change everything. Instead, we see Schumer doubling down on pacifism, and Pelosi—who was, importantly, willing to turn on him a few days ago—meekly going along.

drspedinnv.bsky.social•4 days ago

Plus, he wants to punish them for something they did while someone else was in charge? That’s like if in the future, a different Administration refuses funding b/c of what school did now. It’s a cycle that would never end.

apocalypsenovia.bsky.social•4 days ago

LITERALLY THIS

unclehatt.bsky.social•4 days ago

They're for symbolic dick measuring contests and to pay egregious administrator salaries.

mandolinfriend.bsky.social•4 days ago

The Orange shitgibbon douchebag strikes again!

wakeupdems.bsky.social•3 days ago

We the people are renaming doge to DOGET !!

Department of Government Elon Terrorism

Surely...isn't that what it really is!!!!

literaryles.bsky.social•4 days ago

THIS!!!

panicatthedogpark.bsky.social•4 days ago

These schools are soooo much LESS vulnerable to this protection racket than any of the state schools. They have that safety net and they *must* use it. Someplace has to continue the work when others cannot. And to show that refusal to obey doesn’t mean death. The Ivies have been ridiculously snooty

panicatthedogpark.bsky.social•4 days ago

2/ institutions for the egregiously entitled, but now they’ve got to get gritty and stand up for all the pious slogans and performative DEI.

And state schools have got to look at all the dumb stuff they’ve been spending $$$$$$ on and get back to the basics—pay people to give students an education

kwhyphens.bsky.social•4 days ago

I mentioned their responsibility to use endowments before and got shouted at by randos telling me I don’t know how they work. Just to head that off here: UNRESTRICTED ENDOWMENTS EXIST.

3rdcoastlibby.bsky.social•4 days ago

100%
Maybe they can stop building more buildings for the same amount of students every year and put that money toward supporting students, research and faculty hires.

jcricket.bsky.social•4 days ago

I recommend you read The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle by Chris Hedges to answer that question. I think you'll get a lot out of it.

danaaddydesigns.bsky.social•4 days ago

📌

zerocard.bsky.social•4 days ago

Republicans, post 9/11: We will not negotiate with terrorists!
Republicans, post Trump: Negotiate with us or we will terrorize you!

survivethis.bsky.social•4 days ago

The stalwart of free press, The NY Times, “reported” that trump pulled funds from Penn because of their stance on transgender women in women’s sports. That same newspaper failed to report the fact, Penn has ZERO transgender women in any of their sports. Bad journalism or
do svidaniya free press

justicewarrior4all.bsky.social•3 days ago

Zionist will destroy any freedom on earth

tripperday.bsky.social•4 days ago

Columbia is about to allow their Area Studies departments be put in receivership which seems to mean they won’t have agency over curriculum. What’s Area Studies without critical cultural thinking? The is the tip of the saddest spear.

mister-sterling.bsky.social•4 days ago

I'll speak for Columbia. The reluctance to tap into the endowment is the precedent it sets. The Feds aren't going to restore NIH reimbursements nor grants, so the institution, as of last week, was considering selling the whole medical school and other assets.

panicatthedogpark.bsky.social•4 days ago

W
T
F
????????????

mister-sterling.bsky.social•4 days ago

If CU peeled $1 Billion from the endowment each year to fill this hole, there would be no endowment in 20 years. And alumni already see the futility of sending money at this point.

dream-king.bsky.social•4 days ago

CU telling them to fuck off and burn 4 years makes it much more likely it will only be for four years. There is no path here that doesn’t explicitly exclude confiscation or penalization of their endowment at sone point, for an indefinite period of time.

panicatthedogpark.bsky.social•4 days ago

Not an endowment-knower, so how could the endowment be confiscated (I’m assuming you mean by the Govt)??? Or penalized? If the school is meeting the conditions of the various funds, then what law are they breaking? (And yes, I know this argument doesn’t mean what it did 2 months ago.)

dream-king.bsky.social•3 days ago

The Ivies are rich prizes, like the Irish monasteries of old. They’re in a position to come up with fines, retroactively charge taxes for some imagined past point where CU would have ‘rightfully’ lost their non-profit status. Not saying CU isn’t a shitty landlord, but pretexts can be manufactured.

panicatthedogpark.bsky.social•3 days ago

That seems awful/feasible. So: yes, Big Lawsuits are Big Expensive. That said, couldn’t there be a 1st Amendment suit? Maybe a class action for all Unis? Or pvt unis?

mister-sterling.bsky.social•4 days ago

True. But we're two weeks into this crisis, and CU seems to be accepting that the Administration is going to pick their next president. It's becoming a toxic university to work for and to be schooled in.

dream-king.bsky.social•4 days ago

That doesn’t get better by bowing early.

dream-king.bsky.social•4 days ago

I used to work at Columbia and it really pains me to see this.

gpthacker.bsky.social•4 days ago

They will. They’re cowards. Not the faculty, not the grad students and the students! They kick ass. Esp the students.

But the admin are Schumerites. They’re scared, complicit, or supportive of the Regime.

panicatthedogpark.bsky.social•4 days ago

If the pressure from donors, alums, faculty & students lines up in one direction, the admin will be forced to do the right thing. Nothing a place “steeped in tradition” (and $) hates more than being on the wrong side of history. Bc that has bad future consequences. McGill will be the new Harvard.

bryanlougheed.bsky.social•3 days ago

American Ivy League faculty have a long history of happily raking in large salaries for themselves while employing minimum wage PhDs to do their work for them.

I'm not holding my breath as far as faculty speaking up.

pgsee.bsky.social•4 days ago

Also, it’d be a shame if Trump and Musk’s Penn transcripts were somehow made public.

antifatemptress.bsky.social•3 days ago

To pay for their sports programs?

zolascola.bsky.social•4 days ago

If you attended an Ivy, please let them hear from you about NOT CAVING.

comish4lif.bsky.social•3 days ago

Exactly, according to @upenn.edu they have a $22.3 BILLION endowment. Isn't this what it should be spent on?

Yale has $41 Billion.
Harvard has $50 Billion.

honorabledf.bsky.social•4 days ago

I’m mostly shocked that my Alma mater is getting $1B in federal funds, on top of the exorbitant tuition they charge students, while still sending endless fundraising emails and mailings.

ejpettinger.bsky.social•4 days ago

Gonna keep saying this: There are no maga institutions of higher learning. Period. That is not a thing that can exist

lizme.bsky.social•4 days ago

Endowments are for good credit ratings and to impress trustees. I asked.

paginini.bsky.social•4 days ago

Last swam competitively for the school was in 2022.

justinholbrook.bsky.social•4 days ago

The billionaires bowed. Newspaper owners caved. BigLaw has been silent.

This is the moment for Ivy League universities to stand up. History will remember.

~ HLS ‘01

arcoenciel.bsky.social•4 days ago

I wonder who is organizing these universities to be solidarity with each other.

bluefish2025.bsky.social•4 days ago

Remember the screams of rage in Billions when the woman writing tell all learns her son was waitlisted at Stanford? All selective college must immediately announce a no MAGAT policy. No MAGATs' kids come through the door ever again. This shit will stop immediately. Can't afford them w/ fed aid cuts

gaildrakes.bsky.social•4 days ago

Right?!

God knows I am (still disappointed but) not shocked that these schools aren’t fighting the fight to defend trans folks or Palestinians…

…but I thought they might come out swinging just out of “You-are-not-the-boss-of-ME” arrogance and pure self-defense.

Instead, unforced errors abound.

krissy.bsky.social•4 days ago

Yeah, it's like: they're moral cowards, sure. I guess my expectations should have been lower, given that the admins at these places were never going to risk losing donations. But now it looks like they're barely even fighting for self-preservation.

norabradford.bsky.social•4 days ago

just going to leave this right here...

katennp.bsky.social•4 days ago

Hasn't this woman graduated already? And she already stated that she is no longer competing. WTF?

katendgame.bsky.social•4 days ago

The specifics are irrelevant, this an entirely messaging, memes and vibes based conflict. The damage is real, but we can’t defeat fascism through fact checking, we cannot outpace their narrative.

We win with solidarity, moral clarity, and unfettered ferocity. Everyone must fight.