The Trump administration has delivered an extraordinary ultimatum to Columbia University, threatening to permanently end federal funding to the school unless it cedes control of an international studies department and implements sweeping changes to other policies.

The Trump administration brushed aside decades of precedent when it ordered Columbia University to oust the leadership of an academic department, a demand seen as a direct attack on academic freedom and a warning of what’s to come for other colleges facing federal scrutiny.

  • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    191·
    2 days ago

    https://library.columbia.edu/libraries/cuarchives/presidents.html

    That’s a nice thing to tell ourselves, but the three most recent Presidents at Columbia were a Law Professor (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Bollinger), a woman with a Masters of Science in Economics and a Doctorate of Philosophy of Economics, (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minouche_Shafik), and a literal fucking doctor (Masters of Science in clinical epidemiology) with a background in genetics testing for cancer (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katrina_Armstrong).

    Bollinger, for example, was literally named as a defendant in Supreme Court case Grutter v. Bollinger. The school was on the side of Affirmative Action and Grutter was just a pissed off white bitch who couldn’t handle the fact that maybe there were minority students more capable and worthy than her.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grutter_v._Bollinger

    The board of trustees is mostly Juris Doctors (Lawyers), a Master of International Relations, a bunch of Masters of Science, and yes, some MBAs in there too (7 MBAs out of 22 people on the board, literally slightly less than a third of the board).

    https://secretary.columbia.edu/directory

    We don’t have to exaggerate and make shit up to justify how we feel. That’s what the MAGA fucktards do.

    • Ledericas@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      15 hours ago

      most of them gave up thier specific fields to be nothing more than a c-suite, or MBA person would. they probably couldnt hack it in thier field so they end up as a administrator. the PHD is irrelevant if your not actually using it for its intended purposes.

      • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        1·
        15 hours ago

        Current interim President:

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katrina_Armstrong

        As an assistant professor of medicine and epidemiology in the Division of General Internal Medicine at UPenn, Armstrong co-developed and directed the first and second-year medical course “Clinical Decision Making.” In recognition of her teaching, she received the 2003 Leonard Berwick Award, awarded to “a member of the medical faculty who in his or her teaching most effectively fuses basic science and clinical medicine.”

        While continuing her research into cancer control, genetic testing for cancer susceptibility, and racial disparities in cancer outcomes, she earned the Samuel Martin Health Evaluation Sciences Research Award for “her research program that seeks to elucidate the complex relationships among the social environment, health care use, and health outcomes.” In 2006, Armstrong was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation for her records of scholarly achievement in biomedical research.

        By 2011, Armstrong and Mitchell Schnall received a five-year, $7.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute to create the Penn Center for Innovation in Personalized Breast Cancer Screening.

        they probably couldnt hack it in thier field so they end up as a administrator.

        Sure, Jan. Also, it’s “couldn’t” and “their.”

    • vividspecter@lemm.ee
      31·
      17 hours ago

      We don’t have to exaggerate and make shit up to justify how we feel. That’s what the MAGA fucktards do.

      I’m not making shit up, this is just my experience dealing with academia (and not in the US to be clear). But thanks for informing me that the situation is different at Columbia University.

    • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.worldEnglish
      24·
      1 day ago

      A ton or CEO’s have STEM degrees. A ton of prominent academics in history were terrible assholes. Being an “academic” doesn’t guarantee that someone is not a dangerous, selfish narcissist, or a fascist.

      Why are you defending leaders who attack student protesters civil rights, and bend the knee to fascists? That should hold more weight than their credentials ever should.