Universities in Nazi Germany and USSR Thought Giving in to Government Demands Would Save Their Independence

Columbia University has been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration.
Columbia University has been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration.
Share
Columbia University has been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration.
Columbia University has been in the crosshairs of the Trump administration.
Universities in Nazi Germany and USSR Thought Giving in to Government Demands Would Save Their Independence
Copy

Many American universities, widely seen globally as beacons of academic integrity and free speech, are giving in to demands from the Trump administration, which has been targeting academia since it took office.

In one of his first acts, President Donald Trump branded diversity, equity and inclusion programs as discriminatory. His administration also launched federal investigations into more than 50 universities, from smaller regional schools such as Grand Valley State University in Michigan and the New England College of Optometry in Massachusetts to elite private universities such as Harvard and Yale.

The Ivy League school said it could not substantiate the planned cuts widely reported by national news outlets

Trump ramped up the pressure by threatening university research funding and targeting specific schools. In one example, the Trump administration revoked US$400 million in grants to Columbia University over its alleged failures to curb antisemitic harassment on campus. The school later agreed to most of Trump’s demands, from tightening student protest policies to placing an entire academic department under administrative oversight – though the funding remains frozen.

Cornell, Northwestern, Princeton, Brown and the University of Pennsylvania have also recently had grants frozen. Harvard was sent a list of demands in order to keep $9 billion in federal funding.

Now, across the United States, many universities are trying to avoid being Trump’s next target. Administrators are dismantling DEI initiatives – closing and rebranding offices, eliminating positions, revising training programs and sanitizing diversity statements – while professors are preemptively self-censoring.

Read the full article on The Conversation.

Massachusetts lawmakers are considering new legislation filed in response to an investigative series by The Public’s Radio that chronicled the lives of child laborers in New Bedford, the nation’s highest-grossing fishing port
On July 5, thousands of Cape Verdeans in Massachusetts and Rhode Island will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the West African country’s independence. Morning host Luis Hernandez spoke with two people from the region who will be honored at a national celebration in Washington, D.C.
This is the eighth year Ocean State Media has awarded a college scholarship worth up to $60,000 over four years
Once thought lost to history, the powerful handwritten declaration by New England Baptist clergy resurfaces—shedding new light on religious resistance to slavery and a pivotal moment in the church’s past