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So universities are about to go 0-2 in the fight against a Trump takeover.
Columbia bent the knee almost immediately. It'll be interesting to see how long UPenn holds out.
I wouldn't really call it bending the knee. Schools offer services to students and while making the statement (that trans people are still people) is important denying services to hundreds if not thousands of students (due to lack of funding) who may or may not agree with that position just to make the statement isn't responsible as an institution.
I absolutely agree with their attempt to stand up for students rights, and I also agree with their turnaround. There's a significant and nonzero chance that they could have hurt students even inadvertently by losing that funding and it was responsible of them to think of the entire student body even though the message is very important.
I understand your rationale. And in fact, in 99% of circumstances I begrudgingly agree with it. Sometimes, you have to do what's right for the greater good even if you know it might hurt a few people in the process. But this is not one of those times. And it's not even because of the specific issues being raised (Protests at Columbia, trans athletes at UPenn, etc.).
The reason I'm against it is because by so quickly bending the knee for Trump on these issues is that you're telling your students, community, and alumni that the principles you claim to stand for are up for bid. You're in favor of trans rights -- until trans rights start actually costing you money. You're in favor of the rights of students to protest -- until it effects your funding. What happens when a school promotes support of LGBT issues and then comes in the crosshairs of the Trump Hate Machine? "Sorry guys, but we've gotta kick all the gays out. Trump threatened to pull $100 million in funding if we don't."? Where do you draw the line?
It's one thing to expect that of a regular business. Neither your local mom & pop store nor Wal-Mart are expected to be champions of our freedoms and hold such an important place in our society. Even if I strongly disagree with their decisions, I can understand if they follow where the political and financial winds are blowing. But universities are a completely different beast and play a completely different role in our society.
I also agree, however, you can't unilaterally hurt he student body regardless of their beliefs. They also have rights which need and deserve to be protected. Some students might not agree with the official stance of the University and that's a problem. In the end you're playing with their future too.
It would be different if the entirety of the student body stood up and said "We support this!" no one would have any ground to stand on. But this isn't a "majority rules" type of situation. The school cannot unilaterally make a political stance at the detriment of all students regardless of the student bodies political beliefs. It's just not appropriate.