3 ms·

Any idea why Columbia in particular? Dozens of universities had protests of varying kinds, and they fell over themselves trying to comply. Does something make C

Any idea why Columbia in particular? Dozens of universities had protests of varying kinds, and they fell over themselves trying to comply. Does something make Columbia stand out? Or was it an arbitrary pick to be an example?

avs733 2y ago
A working theory is a grudge from a long time ago over not buying land from trump. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/nyregion/trump-columbia-university-400-million.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/nyregion/trump-columbia-u...
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
plegresl 2y ago
Decades Ago, Columbia Refused to Pay Trump $400 Million A quarter-century ago, the university was looking to expand. It considered, and rejected, property owned by Donald Trump. He did not forget it. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/nyregion/trump-columbia-university-400-million.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/nyregion/trump-columbia-u...
someothherguyy 2y ago
From the article: > Brown University and Princeton University have also had their NIH grants frozen, and the agency is reviewing its funding to Harvard University as part of a broader Trump administration review of some $9 billion in federal funding to the Massachusetts school.
hayst4ck 2y ago
https://snyder.substack.com/p/antisemitism-and-antisemitism https://snyder.substack.com/p/antisemitism-and-antisemitism But why was Columbia put first? It is in New York. More than twenty percent of its undergraduate students are Jewish. No matter the experiences or attitudes of these students, their university suddenly losing four hundred million dollars is unlikely to improve their education and life chances. Columbia students can speak for themselves. My guess is that Columbia was selected as the symbolic first target less because of the presence of antisemitism than because of the presence of Jews. And I think that this is something that actual American antisemites will immediately have grasped. The city of New York is coded for antisemites as Jewish. The antisemites in America, seeing Columbia and New York punished, will see Jews being punished -- and they will be pleased by this. The same goes for universities as a whole. Universities are often understood by antisemites to be Jewish. The attempt to bring universities to heel will be met by antisemites with approval. If that sounds wild, 4 prominent republicans have Sieg Heiled. Including musk, and Trump's first chief strategist Bannon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E9pXCuJnbc&t=10s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E9pXCuJnbc&t=10s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VfYjPzj1Xw&t=18s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VfYjPzj1Xw&t=18s
- userbinator 2y ago
  ...and at the same time, the other side has been continuously complaining about the US government's support of Israel. I don't think this is the answer.
- Noumenon72 2y ago
  You underestimate antisemites if you think they won't be aware of whether the people the government is punishing at Columbia are the antisemites or the Jews. Rather, there are two kinds of antisemites and the racist kind is fine with cancelling the woke kind.

avs733 2y ago

A working theory is a grudge from a long time ago over not buying land from trump. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/nyregion/trump-columbia-university-400-million.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/nyregion/trump-columbia-u...

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

plegresl 2y ago

Decades Ago, Columbia Refused to Pay Trump $400 Million A quarter-century ago, the university was looking to expand. It considered, and rejected, property owned by Donald Trump. He did not forget it. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/nyregion/trump-columbia-university-400-million.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/nyregion/trump-columbia-u...

someothherguyy 2y ago

From the article: > Brown University and Princeton University have also had their NIH grants frozen, and the agency is reviewing its funding to Harvard University as part of a broader Trump administration review of some $9 billion in federal funding to the Massachusetts school.

hayst4ck 2y ago

https://snyder.substack.com/p/antisemitism-and-antisemitism https://snyder.substack.com/p/antisemitism-and-antisemitism But why was Columbia put first? It is in New York. More than twenty percent of its undergraduate students are Jewish. No matter the experiences or attitudes of these students, their university suddenly losing four hundred million dollars is unlikely to improve their education and life chances. Columbia students can speak for themselves. My guess is that Columbia was selected as the symbolic first target less because of the presence of antisemitism than because of the presence of Jews. And I think that this is something that actual American antisemites will immediately have grasped. The city of New York is coded for antisemites as Jewish. The antisemites in America, seeing Columbia and New York punished, will see Jews being punished -- and they will be pleased by this. The same goes for universities as a whole. Universities are often understood by antisemites to be Jewish. The attempt to bring universities to heel will be met by antisemites with approval. If that sounds wild, 4 prominent republicans have Sieg Heiled. Including musk, and Trump's first chief strategist Bannon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E9pXCuJnbc&t=10s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E9pXCuJnbc&t=10s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VfYjPzj1Xw&t=18s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VfYjPzj1Xw&t=18s

userbinator 2y ago
...and at the same time, the other side has been continuously complaining about the US government's support of Israel. I don't think this is the answer.
Noumenon72 2y ago
You underestimate antisemites if you think they won't be aware of whether the people the government is punishing at Columbia are the antisemites or the Jews. Rather, there are two kinds of antisemites and the racist kind is fine with cancelling the woke kind.