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.
this post was submitted on 19 Mar 2025
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Just pointing out that UPenn is his alma mater. He went to the Warton School of Business and one of his professors called Trump the dumbest student he ever had.
Well that probably explains why he decided to randomly pick on UPenn. He doesn't care about the trans athletes. His fee-fees were hurt.
The funniest thing is that the Warton School was one of the first Ivies to get serious about computers. Before they had a separate computer department it was all part of Warton School. With his daddy's money Trump could have ended up hiring Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, but that would have required a tiny amount of brain cells
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Replace "trans students" with "black students" in your justification and ask yourself if you still believe doing what is good for the majority (not "the entirety") is the most important directive.
This is exactly how fascism works. "First they came for..." and all.
"First they came for the socialists" yada yada.
It's nice to be privileged so you can ignore the sufferings of others, but eventually it will reach everyone.
Columbia bent the knee
Why do you think that Columbia was "fighting" trump in the first place. They had been trying to deport and ban criticism of Israel for decades, they finally had the opportunity and they are glad of it.
trump is a dictator.
He’s a useful idiot for many.
The real agenda is to bring down higher education in general. The whole Trans athletes thing is a smokescreen. The fascists consider higher education to be a stronghold of woke liberalism. If if weren't trans athletes, it would be some other excuse to make the cuts.
Remind me again of how many transgender college students have recently been arrested for having sex with a minor?
lol UPenn literally does not need anyone's help.
Go ahead you dipshit.
Their endowment could nearly cover tuition for all students in interest alone. (Cost would be 1.9B, interest on their endowment is over 1.1B. not that 800M is chump change but like... They're doing pretty damn fine)
This headline seems to further scare us. UPenn barely feels this. This is theater.
Researchers at these Universities do indeed need the money
False. They need grants, which are totally separate from this.
Source: academia.
UPenn is not going to feel this.
At all.
People said the same thing about Columbia. Took them days before they bent the knee.
UPenn’s endowment is larger (22.3 billion vs Columbia’s 14.8) but I agree with you, UPenn will bend
As someone who just lost a coworker to Upenn, their endowment is pretty massive. If it only takes 175m to change their policy on a deeply held belief, then it will be a massive stain followed by mass protests.
Again, people thought the same about Columbia. $400 million vs. an endowment of just shy of $15 billion. Shouldn't have been enough to change their policy on deeply held beliefs either but Columbia couldn't bend the knee and start rescinding protestors' diplomas and kowtowing to Trump fast enough.
I think there's a good argument that Colombia wasn't changing a deeply held belief. They were looking for reasons to punch the hippies who were angering their donors right from the start.
You may be correct. I hope you're not.
Again, Columbia has had ties to Israel since forever.
No they didn't. Columbia has had ties to Israel since forever.
And UPenn has way more scratch.
Nah, it will, when administration fires a bunch of workers and then gives themselves a raise for accepting the ultimatum.
They're going to cave instantly and bend the knee. They may not need it, but they're definitely going to do everything not to lose it, including kowtowing to fascists.
Time will tell. I can't predict the future but I doubt this, big time.
We can be doomers all we want but... Columbia and UPenn aren't the same thing here.
Trump has already said he would tax endowments. First cut funding, then continually raise taxes on the endowments. He has the tools to destroy universities and no one is going to stop him.
Yes. Very good luck trying to tax endowments without having every billionaire want him dead.
Not gonna happen.
What are they going to do about it?
Edit: let me be clear, would they be angry and want to get revenge, or will they too put pressure on the school to stop woke programs? You can see the easy path here....
If Russia and our current trajectory is any indication literally, defenestration.
This is the ONLY thing i agree with Trump on - dont allow men to compete in women sports just because they identify as women.
All you have to do is make a life altering choice, be ridiculed by half of society in your most formative years, take drugs that forever reshape your body, and YOU TOO CAN WIN AT SWIMMING!