this post was submitted on 15 Mar 2025
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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.

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[–] jonne@infosec.pub 115 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Great job by leadership who thought that not standing up for student protestors would somehow protect them from reprisals.

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 21 hours ago

I hope other universities are paying attention

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 68 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

For being literally Academia, you would think they would be more familiar with history of all fucking things.

Anyone with a brain knows that a bully you try to please will just demand more. Trump's hate cannot be satiated.

[–] jonne@infosec.pub 36 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Because most of those institutions aren't about teaching any more, it's about soliciting donations from wealthy people, building fancy buildings named after billionaires, and managing all that money.

BDS threatens all of that.

[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 2 points 20 hours ago

and most of the donors tend to be backed by israeli groups too, hence the reason why university protests over gaza was crushed so easily

[–] WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world 20 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

The leadership of these colleges are a part of the oligarchy. They proved that when they chose to crush their students civil rights and bend the knee.

Calling most of these corporate whores "academics" is like calling Musk an "engineer". It's complete bullshit. They are the leadership of a for-profit corporation. Their actions sully all of their credentials and authority.

[–] peteyestee@feddit.org 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I mean... It kinda shows how bullshit and soulless it has become. It's like when regular Americans that aren't on the right act like our entire American culture isn't to blame for where we are today.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Individualism and exceptionalism in a society that can't be supported without the efforts of countless others and subsidized by the poorer living conditions of people who don't even live there sounds kind of silly to me.

[–] vividspecter@lemm.ee 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's usually vapid, amoral MBAs that handle the admin side that push this shit not the academics doing the actual work.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 18 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

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.ee 2 points 20 hours ago* (last edited 20 hours ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] SnotFlickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 19 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 2 points 22 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.world -2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

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.

[–] GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 3 points 1 day ago

I think you read that wrong.

[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 1 points 20 hours ago

that is true, some wash out from thier field even with a PHD and become a c-suite as the only resort.