It Was Only A Matter Of Time: Duke Is In Trump’s CrosshairsBy
By
Leonard Zwelling
This is just a brief extra to the usual blog.
This was sent to me by a reader. My alma mater, Duke University (we have five Duke diplomas in my family), has been added to the list of academic targets of the Trump Administration for using racial preferences in hiring and other examples of DEI.
As readers know, I am not a fan of DEI, but I also understand its value in some circumstances. That is not the point.
The point is that President Trump is extorting money from elite universities and they are paying so as to free frozen federal monies that support research at the universities.
It may well be that the President of the United States can overrule the will of Congress to allot these funds given that the funds are distributed by executive branch agencies like the NIH. The question is what is the wisdom of doing this? If the Trump Administration thinks that universities have broken civil rights laws, it should take the schools to court, not dock their research funds. That makes no sense and only weakens science in America, but perhaps that is what the President and his MAGA followers want.
It is my sincere hope that all the schools would resist this war on knowledge, but most are paying the ransom money. Columbia started that ball rolling.
The BW and I have focused our support to Duke this year on the Medical Scientist Training Program and the Dean’s Innovation Fund that supports critical research projects. Our names will not be on the projects to which we have donated. One hundred percent of the money we donated will go to offset the funds held up by the Trump Administration.
I do not believe that Trump’s war on elite universities will end with the first round of extortion. Like all bullies, he will come back for more.
Duke. Just say no.
