This article originally appeared in the National Post. Below is an excerpt from the article.
By Christopher Dummitt, June 10, 2025
The plight of American universities right now — Harvard in particular — is a striking example of everything that can go wrong with the politicization of education.
The Trump administration seems determined to undermine the very capacity of elite universities to exist. They are cutting funding, slashing the money to research granting agencies, cancelling international student visas, and justifying the whole thing because of allegations of antisemitism and political bias. Harvard is the sacrificial victim, but everyone is supposed to get the lesson: get into line politically or suffer the same fate.
Despite the very real threat of antisemitism in these places — the attacks on Jewish Americans have been many, and the problem is real — Trump is acting the role of a political thug. He’s like a mafioso boss shaking down one restaurant owner, so that all the other businesses in town get the message.
What’s also true, though, is that the institutions of higher learning in the United States (as in Canada) are politicized. They make for good targets for Trump’s populist anti-elite ethos not only because they are elite universities, but also because they have advertised themselves as such, and have acted as places of left-wing social justice activism.
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