The Barbarians Are Inside The Gates
By
Leonard Zwelling
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/opinion/fluoride-rfk-health-teeth.html
This editorial was posted on The New York Times website on April 16. It’s by Zeynep Tufekcl. In short, it discusses the latest ridiculous idea emanating from Secretary of HHS Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He wants to take fluoride out of our drinking water. This has been shown in multiple locations to wreck havoc with dental hygiene. Utah has already done this and undoubtedly, the children of the Beehive state will suffer.
We already know what Mr. Kennedy’s ideas about vaccines can do to the children in southwest Texas. Measles is spreading and two kids have died.
The research infrastructure of America is under attack as the NIH is being dismantled. Good luck with your next grant application! Even the fifth percentile may not get you any money. At several private Ivy League schools whose policies don’t suit Mr. Trump and his minions, the grant money tap has already been turned off. The courts will determine the legality of the funding interruptions, but meanwhile, progress stops.
But let’s look at that a minute. Are these really private schools?
The all have the tax advantage of being called “non-profit,” yet Harvard has $53 billion in the bank. I assure you that the true non-profit clinic on whose board I sit hasn’t seen that much money in its 100 years of existence. Furthermore, despite having all that donated money, Harvard gets billions in federal money every year for research and the associated overhead. How “private” is it if the government (tax payers) are footing all those bills?
There has been this charade that the government and the private universities have been running for the last 50 or so years. The government pretends that it can send money to the private sector without expecting the private sector to abide by the philosophy of the government at the time and the schools pretend that the money comes without strings beyond the Code of Federal Regulations. All the Trump people are saying is that if you want that money, you have to behave and do your educating a certain way and not block out conservative ideas. The schools are outraged that there are new demands being made of them if they want access to the money.
To me, this is a really tough one. We in academia have always assumed that access to federal grant money is our right and it comes with few strings attached other than to follow federal law and do what you said you would in your initial grant application.
Without a doubt, this will be sorted out in court, eventually at The Supreme Court which, despite a few Harvard degrees among the justices, ruled against their alma mater in the affirmative action admission case.
What this is really about is whether or not the government can demand a certain kind of thinking and behavior at schools that receive federal funds. Most of us in academia liked it when we could have the money and say what we thought, too. No more, apparently. And, if the government’s demands are limited to the appropriate handling of antisemitic behavior on campus, that might not be so bad, but you know it won’t stop there. Expect Mr. Trump to be a frequent speaker at Harvard commencement soon.
The barbarians are inside the gates of science and learning. Scientific evidence has given way to two sciences—one for the scientists and one for those who harbor their own beliefs about vaccines, fluoride, and the free expression of ideas.
It’s a dicey time to be in academics, especially on the East Coast and in other blue locations. Let’s see if Harvard can really wrestle Mr. Trump to the ground on this and keep all its billions. Trump vs. Harvard. These are two opposing forces not used to losing.
Place your bets.
