Harvard or Trump Out of Its (Ivy) League?

Wealthy Harvard richly deserves federal penalties, even limited receivership, for its disgraceful abandonment of Jewish students, but telling any Ivy League school what legit class to teach or revoking its tax exemption is a bridge too far …

So, suggested recent WSJ editorials. According to the editors, “Many of [the Trump Administration’s] demands on the school exceed a president’s power under the Constitution. For example, they argue, by trying to “micro-manage” the private university when it ordered Harvard to reduce “governance bloat, duplication or decentralization.” Or by ordering the school to review “all existing and prospective faculty … for plagiarism” and ensure “viewpoint diversity” in “each department, field, or teaching unit.” As for the revoking of the universities’ tax-exempt status as “educational institutions,” the editors point out that it’s only been done once before, i.e., against Bob Jones University for alleged discriminatory racial policies; and cited legal experts opined that applying that case here based on poor protection of Jewish students and/or over nebulous woke DEI policies would not likely be well received by the Supreme Court.

We’ll see. The most likely outcome of this Ivy League comeuppance lies somewhere, then, in the middle. As the WSJ rightly conceded, “… the feds have a duty to enforce civil-rights laws, and Harvard failed to protect Jewish students during anti-Israel protest … [in addition} … Some of the [Trump] demands are within the government’s civil-rights purview, such as requiring Harvard to discipline students who violate its discrimination policies.” Might it be added that these Ivy League universities likely need some ongoing federal oversight since they blew their credibility and trustworthiness as revealed by the ugly violence on their campuses and their wink wink responses. The question is whether to follow Lincoln & “let ‘em up easy” or Teddy & “Carry that big stick for a purpose.”

Davd Soul