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Steven's avatar

"However, the administration’s actions towards Harvard pose a far greater threat to higher education and the principles of academic freedom than any of the sins committed by Harvard itself."

Bluntly, this is BS. The patient is dying of cancer and you're criticizing the chemo as worse than the disease. HARVARD, as is, is a far greater threat to higher education and academic freedom than anything this administration is doing.

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M Makous's avatar

Agree. The academic monoculture of Harvards pervades nearly all institutes of higher learning. (FIRE's mission attests to this.) It has metastasized to lower levels of education, most of the news media, medicine, and significant portions of the political class. The sins of Harvard must be viewed in this context. They are a large brick in a nearly impermeable wall of ideologic McCarthyism.

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Knight Templar's avatar

French researcher Ernest Renan defined Aryan and Semitic over 150 years ago.

A Jew didn't want to be compared with others who speak Semite languages, and referred to Renan's research as ant-Semitic.

Anti-Jew is not sufficient to be ant-Semitic.

Maybe this is one reason why Harvard should have its federal funding cut.

Clearly, Harvard is no longer a haven of elite academics and students.

Just a bunch of whining old men (and women) who are made of lead and used the Harvard name to gild with gold or silver plating.

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Vicki C.'s avatar

I always appreciate your Substack, but concerns that Trump is threatening academic freedom are a bit much considering that Harvard itself hasn’t engaged in it for years.

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