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The actual letter explains they can regain status by ratting out their students. It will quietly be done, although likely in a way that make it look as if Harv
by ty6853 1y ago
The actual letter explains they can regain status by ratting out their students.
It will quietly be done, although likely in a way that make it look as if Harvard hasn't.
- yongjik 1y agoMaybe, but I doubt it. Trump is not a mafia boss - time after time he showed that his words cannot be trusted. If Harvard makes a concession, there's no guarantee that Trump will "forgive" it. Look how China is dealing with Trump. Trump announces tariffs, China returns Boeing planes, tariffs somehow comes down.
- cozzyd 1y agoIt's too bad Barron was too dumb to enroll at Harvard so his admission couldn't be rescinded
- nicoburns 1y agoAs a sovereign nation, China is in a somewhat different position than Harvard which is subject to US law.
- thaumasiotes 1y ago> Trump is not a mafia boss - time after time he showed that his words cannot be trusted. If Harvard makes a concession, there's no guarantee that Trump will "forgive" it. > Look how China is dealing with Trump. Trump announces tariffs, China returns Boeing planes, tariffs somehow comes down. Doesn't this example make the opposite of your point?
- yongjik 1y agoThe point I'm trying to make is: if Trump bullies you, and you make a concession, Trump will feel no obligations to pay you back and may bully you further. China played hardball (up to some degree - I'm sure there were backstage talks), and that apparently made Trump "respect" China more.
- jaybrendansmith 1y agoPenn should support Harvard and publicly revoke Trump's degree. Bullies only understand force.
- QuarterReptile 1y agoWhat force does that possibly employ? When you revoke the degree of a sitting president, that costs him...?
- staticautomatic 1y agoIt costs him the only thing he cares about: his ego
- QuarterReptile 1y agoI see two risks with your analysis. First, you generally underestimate a person if you try to distill his personality into one negative trait (or, for that matter, if you select a bunch of negative traits but assume no positive.) Second, he's still the president, so I don't see what pull the Penn degree has vs. that.
- jaybrendansmith 1y agoJustice.
- mcphage 1y ago> The actual letter explains they can regain status by ratting out their students. Trump's history has shown that if you cave into his demands, he doesn't leave you alone—instead he starts demanding even more, since he knows you'll fold.
- _aavaa_ 1y agoClassic schoolyard bully behavior.
- throwawaymaths 1y agocan you give an example?
- magicalist 1y ago> can you give an example? https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2025/04/09/nih-freezes-millions-more-funding-columbia https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elec...
- throwawaymaths 1y agothanks!
- Larrikin 1y agoEverything Columbia University did and what they got in return.
- throwawaymaths 1y agoi was hoping for an example out of this particular domain (because i cant think of one), but it'll do.
- stevenwoo 1y agoApple just got warned if they don’t bring manufacturing to USA they will be hit by company specific tariffs after Tim Cook bent the knee twice with personal pleas to lower tariffs for a bit and million dollar personal donations.
- dionian 1y ago'ratting out' how? this implies they did something wrong
- bilbo0s 1y agoDoesn't matter anyway. Pretty much a guarantee that Harvard will choose to stay the course. This is the quintessential organization that thinks along the lines of, "100 years from now Harvard will still be Harvard. And Trump will be one of the answers on a middle school history exam". Expect escalation.
- ty6853 1y agoRatting out in my mind means informing authorities in a way that something negative might be expected to happen to the subject. For instance, I don't think smoking weed is wrong, but if I go tell an officer you have weed in your car, I have ratted you out despite nothing 'wrong' happening.
- Aeolun 1y agoIf you provide information to an actor when you have a clear indication that said actor will then take disproportionate action against the one on which you provide information, how is that not wrong?