Harvard University rejects Trump admin's demands, risking billions in funding

It sounds like the Trump administration is upping the stakes even more.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/17/trump-administration-threatens-harvard-with-foreign-student-ban

So in additional to losing funding, they may lose their overseas students as well.

 

So in order to protect zionist students, the US government will:
1. Remove independently awarded research funding
2. Deport foreign students (sounds like it is including Israeli students)
3. Remove non-profit status from University

 

Well it isn't to protect them seeing as a number of Jewish students were actively engaging in these “antisemitic” protests against Israel. Jewish students are not a monolithic group.

Either way, my point is this is not to protect any group of students, it is to attack higher education as a whole.

 

Even you don't believe that.

Fine, if you want to be a patsy - be a patsy. After all, if a country starts rounding people up in extralegal concentration camps, it can only end well for the Jews, right? Right?

 

You're making a dramatic leap here. Yes, the possibility of persecution against Jews is historically cyclical — but you're straying far from what actually happened on U.S. campuses in 2023 and 2024.

Let’s keep it simple:
If university leadership had done more to uphold basic standards against harassment and intimidation, we likely wouldn’t be having this conversation. Responsibility matters.

You're also conflating different kinds of evil. Need I remind you of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem’s collaboration with Hitler? That was a convergence of two evils — and history shows us that such alliances are real and dangerous.

Since you mentioned your church in one of the other posts, then you're likely familiar with the NT Book of Revelation and the OT prophecy that in the end times, believers will come under attack. That includes both spiritual and literal threats.

And speaking of historical patterns — take a look at the Book of Esther. There are lessons there, too.

• In Esther 9:7–10, the ten sons of Haman were killed during the Jews’ defense.
  
  
• Then in Esther 9:13, Esther requests they be hanged again — which most understand meaning that their already-dead bodies were to be publicly displayed.
  

Some modern thinkers see this as a prophetic foreshadowing:
In 1946, ten top Nazi war criminals — ideological descendants of Haman — were hanged after the Nuremberg Trials. One of them, Julius Streicher, reportedly shouted: “Purimfest 1946!” right before his execution.

And there’s more:
In the Hebrew scroll of Esther, certain letters in the list of Haman’s sons are written unusually small — ת ש ז — which together spell 5707, the Hebrew year corresponding to 1946–47, the year of those hangings.

Coincidence? Perhaps.
But patterns like this are worth noticing — not to sensationalize, but to stay aware.

 

No dude, you're making a leap here: implying that what the government is doing to the universities in 2025 has a link to what happened in 2023 and 2024 that's more than just pretextual. It seems blindingly obvious to me that is totally not the case. What I'm trying to make you think about is, given how the government is actively workshopping the denial of due process for, at the moment, "HAMAS supporters", "gang members", and random international students with speeding tickets, how they tried to build a concentration camp in Texas and use Gitmo for "deportation force", before finding a convenient facility in El Salvador - how likely it is that they will stop there if not stopped? And when was it actions like these spared Jews? Historically?

I beg to differ. No matter what Harvard did in 2024, the admin would still have attacked universities, and in all likelihood would still find a way to rope you in as a patsy. I would link Vance openly stating "Universities are the enemy", along with long, long, long history of anti-intellectualism on the Right going back decades and decades - but will it convince you? Probably not.

 

Every knee must bend to the Will of Trump.

 

I understand where you're coming from, but I think we need to consider the broader context. Nationalism, as we see it rising today, is often a reaction to the growing influence of unchecked progressive liberal policies. If a more conservative Democratic Party had been in control, it's possible the current political climate wouldn't be as intense as it is in 2025.
The reality is that for decades, conservatives have perceived universities as "liberal factories," whether that perception is justified or not.

While Harvard's actions in 2024 certainly fueled the situation, It's possible that the administration's broader audit on universities in a smaller impact
was inevitable, and it would have likely played out to some degree regardless of the events of the previous year. As we see, everything is affected by the new policies.

 

That is exactly correct. Trump is deporting innocent immigrants. In order to try to make his illegal actions more palatable to the public he calls them terrorists and gang members. Yet, they don't produce a shred of evidence supporting their assertions. They are just lies which is demonstrated by the fact that they are fighting tooth-and-nail to avoid having to show any evidence in court. Now it is immigrants that they lie about. Next it will be citizens, then political rivals. Oopsie another political rival disappears but it wasn't us it must have been something else.

Lerner won't believe this kind of truth because he doesn't want to believe that it is true that they are purposely targeting colleges to follow the authoritarian play book. Perhaps others might like to see what Stanislav is referring to though?

 

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
- George Orwell, 1984.

 

Nationalism, as we see it rising today, is often a reaction to the growing influence of unchecked progressive liberal policies. If a more conservative Democratic Party had been in control, it's possible the current political climate wouldn't be as intense as it is in 2025.

 

Reporter: “Americans are seeing prices rise, they’re seeing it on their bills. How long can they expect that pain to last?”
Trump: *calls the reporter “fake” and says prices haven’t gone up*

 

What "progressive liberal policies" are you referring to?

 

I see. It's the fault of the Democrats!!!!!

1. Higher education is being attacked because of those god damn bastard Democrats!
2. Law firms are being attacked because of those same god damn bastard Democrats!
3. Those god damn bastard Democrats are forcing the poor innocent Trump administration to ship folks off to hell hole prisons outside the USA with no due process!
4. It's the fault of those god damn bastard Democrats when the Trump administration attacks the judicial system when courts don’t rule in the government’s or Trump’s favor. Judges must be personally attacked threatened with illegal violence, impeachment and simply ignore judgements.
5. Media sources are being cut off from access to news sources and threatened with prosecution when reporting news unfavorable to Trump or his administration because of those god damn bastard Democrats!

Wow, I didn't realize it was the fault of the Democrats. Thanks for explaining that to me.

 

I think you're right that the current situation is a result of the dynamics within both parties.
Yet, because the Dems policies themselves may not be conservative enough, I believe they’ve created an environment where the current administration can easily push its agenda.
In many ways, the Dems have made it easier for the current administration to implement its vision by enabling some of these policies.
The rise of nationalism, authoritarian tactics, and the targeting of universities can’t be divorced from the broader political landscape that both parties have shaped over time.
While the Dems didn’t necessarily intend for this outcome, their policies undoubtedly contributed to loss of the elections and where we are now.

 

I'm calling bullsh1t here. Obama administration's policies were, if anything, on a moderate side. Biden's were checked by polarization, Joe "DINO" Manchin and Kirsten "Lady Judas" Sinema. Economic policies, for the last forever, favor corporations. I'll give you the immigration crisis, but even there Dems were far from radical and hobbled by the GOPnik obstruction. If you mean the culture war issues, had "liberal policies" been so unchecked why does the Right makes up fake moral panics like "trans athletes" and "furries pooping in a litter boxes in schools"? They would have used real problems.

It can alternatively be argued that the rise of authoritarian populism is due to stagnating living standards and income inequality brought by policies that are too conservative rather than too progressive, mainly from Republicans but also from excessively moderate Dems. And even if you have issues with Democratic policies, it is not an excuse for lying on behalf of the Trump admin.

 

Dems lost the elections on issues, what swayed the majority to vote GOP?

 

Trump's retaliation and retribution is how the radical MAGA wing controls and keeps the rest of the GOP under the radical's thumb.

Republican Senator Murkowski on threat of Trump retaliation: 'We are all afraid'
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/republican-senator-murkowski-threat-trump-retaliation-we-are-all-afraid-2025-04-17/