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.

  • vividspecter@lemm.ee
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    9 hours ago

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

    • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      9 hours ago

      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.

      • WhatAmLemmy@lemmy.world
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        5 hours ago

        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.