Moving Into Summer with Harvard, Yale, and Columbia on our Minds
If this was the winter of their discontent, will it be made summer by their tempered suns?
We are taking a brief break (until July 23, perhaps the 30th) to decide what the best stories of 2023–24 were—and do some minor celebrating about how far Paideia Times Weekly has come since last fall, when we started talking about moving the Quarterly to Substack. We hadn’t planned to be born as the Middle East exploded and college campuses ran amok. But here we are, some 30 issues along already, a speed oddly appropriate to the times. I want to thank our loyal subscribers who made the dash with us. How was it?
Before our brief summer break, however, I want to also offer you a hint (another one) about what one of our major stories of the year will probably be: our poor higher ed punching bags in the Ivy Leagues. It’s tough being the best. A recent survey finds fewer than 10 percent of Americans think that Ivy leaguers are “better workers.” But it’s also good to remember, as William “God and Man at Yale” Buckley once said, “there are plenty of places to get a Yale education.” Maybe so, but not every college has a Skull and Bones club.
And so we send you off to your continuing summer R&Rs with three tantalizing stories from Elizabeth “EJ” Janice this week about—what else?—the Ivys!
Enjoy. And do let me know what your favorite college stories, subjects, writers, professors, students, presidents, and trends of 2023–24 are. Enjoy the issue. See you in a few weeks. Albest, Peter Meyer
Source
Americans Unimpressed with Ivy Leagues (RealClear Education)
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Three Columbia Deans Placed on Leave Following Texting Scandal
Three deans at Columbia University have been placed on leave after they reportedly were caught mocking a campus panel on antisemitism in a group text-message chat. Dean Josef Sorett informed staff that Susan Chang-Kim, Matthew Patashnick, and Cristen Kromm, all associate deans and administrators at Columbia, were on leave “pending an investigation.” The incident took place at a panel discussion about Jewish life held during alumni weekend. The administrators exchanged crass messages, including vomit emojis, in response to the mention of an op-ed about rampant antisemitism on campus that Columbia rabbi Yonah Hain wrote last fall, as well as a text accusing one panelist of “taking full advantage of this moment” for “huge fundraising potential.” An audience member sitting behind Chang-Kim, Columbia’s vice dean and chief administrative officer, took photos of text exchanges on her phone. The screenshots soon went viral. “I’m going to throw up,” Chang-Kim wrote to her colleagues about an hour into the panel. “Amazing what $$$$ can do,” replied Kromm, the dean of undergraduate student life. Chang-Kim also exchanged texts with Sorett. The dean allegedly responded with “LMAO” (“laughing my ass off”) to a text calling Columbia Hillel director Brian Cohen “our hero.” Sorett is cooperating with a university investigation and still serves as dean. ---Elizabeth Janice
Sources
Columbia administrators caught mocking antisemitism panel via text messages now on leave (College Fix)
Columbia University Puts 3 Administrators on Leave (Inside Higher Education)
Three Columbia University deans placed on administrative leave over disparaging texts (Fox News)
‘Amazing what $$$$ can do’: New Text Messages Show Columbia Deans Sneering at ‘Privilege’ of Jewish Students (Washington Free Beacon)
3 Columbia Deans Placed on Leave Over Conduct at Antisemitism Panel (New York Times)
Further Reading
Columbia suspends top officials over antisemitism event texting (Times Higher Education)
This week in 5 numbers: Columbia employees placed on leave (Higher Ed Dive)
3 Columbia University employees placed on leave after leaked text exchanges (Higher Ed Dive)
3 Columbia University administrators put on leave over alleged text exchange at antisemitism panel (NBC News)
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Shortstack: Ten Commandments, Protecting Professors from AI, A Farewell to Academe, $1.6 Trillion in Student Debt, and more….
California’s proposed law against AI replacing human professors: (University World News) The state legislature of California has sent to Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk a bill that prevents the state’s 116 community colleges from replacing instructors with bots or generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT.
How will Louisiana's Ten Commandments classroom requirement work? (Los Angeles Times) Unless a court halts the legislation, schools have slightly more than five months before they will be required to have a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments in all public school K-12 and state-funded university classrooms.
Farewell to Academe: (The Atlantic) After 42 years of academic life—not counting five years spent getting a Ph.D.—I am hanging it up.
Geopolitical tensions dim prospects for US-China exchanges: (University World News) Reports of Chinese students being turned back at United States airports despite having valid student visas, and recent remarks by senior US administration officials on the need to move away from over-reliance on Chinese researchers have signalled what some academics see as a “ratcheting up” of the science and technology rivalry between China and the US.
US universities fear new Supreme Court ruling on regulations: (Times Higher Education) Apparent elimination of longstanding regulatory process leaves higher education experts expecting more costs, complexities and confusions
Student Loan Borrowers Owe $1.6 Trillion. Nearly Half Aren’t Paying: (New York Times) Millions of people are overdue on their federal loans or still have them paused — and court rulings keep upending collection efforts.
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Harvard Task Forces Find ‘Climate of Intolerance’ for Jewish and Muslim Students
Two Harvard University task forces paint a disturbing picture of life on campus for Jewish, Muslim, and Arab students, finding they are harassed, bullied, and discriminated against. The task forces, one that studied antisemitism and another that covered anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias, released separate reports. The antisemitism task force calls the situation for pro-Israel students “dire” and cites reports of faculty discriminating against or harassing students because they are Israeli or pro-Israel. It also cites an ideological “litmus test” that prevents pro-Israel students from participating in certain extracurricular activities. The investigation into anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bias found that the freedom of expression of Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students has been broadly suppressed, with many students feeling the words “Palestine” and “Palestinian” are taboo on campus. A group of Harvard students is now suing the university, claiming the campus “has become a bastion of rampant anti-Jewish hatred and harassment.” A spokesperson for the students said the Ivy League university can protect Jewish students “in the same way that they protect gender pronouns.” ---Elizabeth Janice
Sources
Harvard Finds Jewish and Muslim Students Were Harassed, Bullied and Discriminated Against (Wall Street Journal)
Harvard Task Forces Find Climate of Bias for Both Jewish and Muslim Groups (New York Times)
Harvard slammed for ‘smoke and mirrors’ anti-Semitism response: ‘They actually make things worse’ (Fox News)
Further Reading
Jewish Groups Bring 19th-Century Weapon to Legal Fight against Antisemitism at Columbia: The KKK Act (National Review)
At Stanford, 2 Reports on Bias Show Extent of Divide Between Jews and Muslims (New York Times)
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Criminal Charges Dropped for Columbia Protestors & Yale Hid Millions in Qatari Funding
Criminal charges have been dropped for dozens of pro-Palestinian protesters who were arrested after occupying a building at Columbia University last spring. Prosecutors said that 31 people who overtook Hamilton Hall on April 30 would no longer face trespassing charges because there was limited evidence against them. The protesters covered security cameras after entering the building; therefore, there wasn’t any footage showing they damaged university property or harmed anyone, according to the Manhattan district attorney’s office. A new report alleges that Yale University failed to disclose millions of dollars in Qatari contributions—in violation of federal law. Yale reported receiving $284,668 from 2012 to 2023 from Qatari donors, a far cry from the total sum of at least $15,925,711 that the university actually acquired, according to the investigation, which was conducted by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy. “Enforcement of the legislation is lax, to say the least,” Charles Asher Small, executive director of ISGAP, told the National Review. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch. When our terror-friendly adversaries pour money into our colleges and universities, it’s safe to say they want something in return.” ---Elizabeth Janice
Sources
Charges Dropped Against Dozens of Pro-Palestinian Protesters at Columbia University (Wall Street Journal)
Yale University Failed to Disclose Qatari Contributions in Violation of Federal Law, New Study Finds (National Review)
Further Reading