. . ."Shipman’s willingness to talk with McMahon, as reported by the New York Times, showed a smarter path than the usual preening one sees in the Ivory Tower. There’s a message in there for the dons of Big Education: You think you own it. You did own it, but not anymore."
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"There’s a reason why Claire Shipman, acting president of Columbia University, cut a deal with Secretary of Education Linda McMahon last week.
"Elite universities like to pose as protectors of free speech, but nobody believes that anymore.
"For decades, they’ve served as taxpayer-subsidized echo chambers.
"Then, in March, the Trump administration canceled $400 million in Columbia contracts and grants because, McMahon argued, Jewish students faced intimidation and antisemitic harassment during post-Oct. 7 campus protests that shuttered classrooms.
"The protests did not do Columbia proud. Many students apparently believed they could deface university property, get up close and personal with public safety officers, harass Jewish students and pay no penalty for their uncivil behavior.
"Because they thought they were above the rules, activists occupied public spaces ahead of school finals and transformed campus quads into trash heaps.
"Progressives thought there would be no penalty, and until President Donald Trump returned to the White House this year, they were right.
"Under a deal announced last week, Columbia has agreed to pay $200 million to the federal government, eliminate race-based preferences and end DEI programs “that distribute benefits based on race,” and discipline student offenders for severe disruptions on campus.
"Trump’s decision to withhold federal funding to Columbia — and then restore it — enraged the ACLU, of course.
" 'The government may not threaten funding cuts as a tool to pressure recipients into suppressing such viewpoints,” said a statement signed by bipartisan constitutional scholars and posted on the ACLU website. “This is especially so for universities, which should be committed to respecting free speech.”
"Yes, universities should be committed to respecting free speech. Too bad they instead have been committed to stacking the deck to the far left with DEI policies that favor like-minded, left-wing academics, and routinely exclude conservative viewpoints." . . .
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