Bye Bye Educating the Best and the Brightest to Research our Future

Bye Bye Educating the Best and the Brightest to Research our Future

Let’s start with the above and very clear and spectacular chart from the June 22nd York Times… just looking at funding for medical and other scientific research from various federal agencies. The numbers are anything but startlingly high. Many of these, particularly those focused on medical research, are on the chopping block. Conspiracy and Antivaxxer King, HHS head the unqualified Robert Kennedy, Jr. is prepared to lead as the GOP’s slice and dice anti-science executioner… and spend fewer dollars on more medically inane programs.

This is made particularly easier by pretending this is part of Donald Trump unjustified “antisemitism” attack on the biggest, most elite research-driven hospital in his ugly sights: Harvard, one of the greatest producers of relevant medical research in the world. Even with its massive endowment – but much of that endowment can only be used under very limited donor restrictions – Harvard is struggling under Trump’s assault, even as it generates legal victories (like Trump’s attempted ban on foreign students), step-by-step.

As the July 2nd Wall Street Journal points out, look at the federal research funding cuts, “By our estimate, Harvard would face a budget shortfall of about a billion dollars a year if President Trump follows through on all of his plans and threats spanning research funding, tax policy and student enrollment. That grim math helps explain why the university has taken steps toward negotiating after months of defiance… The Trump administration on Monday [6/30] told Harvard the university had violated federal civil-rights law over its treatment of Jewish and Israeli students, risking further funding. Asked about the pressure on Harvard’s finances, a senior White House official said the school will receive no money ‘until it ends its discriminatory and deeply embarrassing practices. The private sector is welcome to step in and support Harvard….

“The Journal’s estimate, based on publicly available data, is for a worst-case scenario in which Harvard loses all federal research funding, federal student aid and its ability to enroll international students, and Congress hikes its annual endowment tax to 8% [literally taxing donations!].

“A sustained shortfall of that magnitude would severely strain Harvard’s ability to manage its $6.4 billion annual operating budget. Though Harvard has a $53 billion endowment, more than 80% of the money is subject to donor restrictions, meaning it can’t be touched to patch budget gaps without inviting lawsuits… ‘They’ve got enough money to keep going for a while, but eventually they’re going to have to make substantial cuts,’ said Robert Kelchen, a professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, who studies education finance. ‘You would change the future of the institution.’

“The Trump administration has sought to make Harvard a poster child in its fight against institutions it says haven’t taken concerns about antisemitism and diversity programs seriously. Harvard has said it is working to promote intellectual openness in the classroom and to enroll students willing to engage across perspectives. Talks between the two sides were under way as recently as mid-June, according to a social-media post by the president.”

We’re watching Trump utilize the excuse of antisemitism and eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion policies to force his overall MAGA cultural agenda across the United States, from the University of California system and even to nearby University of Virginia: “In a stunning development that’s igniting fierce political backlash, University of Virginia President Jim Ryan resigned Friday [6/27] under pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which alleged the school had failed to fully dismantle its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs — a demand tied to a sweeping federal crackdown on higher education.

“The New York Times first reported Ryan’s resignation, citing DOJ claims that the institution had merely rebranded its DEI efforts instead of eliminating them. The university’s Board of Visitors accepted his resignation, with Ryan expected to officially step down by Aug. 15… Ryan said in a letter to the UVA community published late Friday that while he is motivated to fight for his beliefs and the university, he cannot oppose the federal government due to the potential impact on the institution... ‘To do so would not only be quixotic but appear selfish and self-centered to the hundreds of employees who would lose their jobs, the researchers who would lose their funding, and the hundreds of students who could lose financial aid or have their visas withheld,’ Ryan said in the letter, released Friday [6/27] afternoon…

“In a statement following Ryan’s departure, a White House spokesperson didn’t mention Ryan by name but said President Donald Trump’s administration is working hard to eliminate DEI from society and put college leaders who oppose that mission on warning. ‘That sham virtue [diversity, equality and inclusion] signaling of DEI has no place in our country, and the Trump administration is working tirelessly to erase this divisive, backward, and unjust practice from our society,’ said Harrison Fields, a spokesperson for the White House. ‘Any university president willingly breaking federal civil rights laws will be met with the full force of the federal government, and it would behoove every school in America to prioritize the civil rights of every student and end DEI once and for all’… Ryan’s departure has sparked outrage on campus and across Virginia.” Virginia Mercury, June 27th.

Why does this “demonize unwanted minorities,” purge their cultural values from any institution that relies on government funding at any level and then “cleanse” these institutions into a marginal existence… sound so familiar? Ah, it was a pattern Hitler mastered so well in the 1930s and beyond. You have to wonder why so many American heroes died in WWII fighting the very strategies that Donald Trump believes are the bedrock of future America.

I’m Peter Dekom, and even if you believe in such diabolical crushing power against America’s institutions, the very driving force that made the great economic power it is today, do you really believe the nation would be better off if medical research funding continues to be slashed in order to give tax cuts to the richest in the land?