Harvard will not comply-- well, at least that's what Garber has to say.

First Garber saves himself and then, it's time to bend the knee

Alan Garber is smart & tactical. It's important to understand that at the start. Today, Harvard University announces that it will not comply with the Trump administration's demands to eliminate DEI and other moves to limit antisemitism on campus. As such, Harvard stands to lose billions of dollars in federal funding.

Ultimately, I am confident that Harvard will comply. They will comply because I think Alan Garber agrees that dei has gone crazy on Harvard campus. I think he agrees that viewpoint diversity is in crisis. I suspect he agrees that the treatment of Roland fryer and Martin kulldorf was inappropriate. I bet he is sick of incessant protests. And he knows, Harvard cannot afford to lose the money.

But Garber is smart enough to know that he can't look like he agrees too easily. If the faculty at Harvard smell that he is capitulating too quickly, he will be fired instantly. You saw that happen at Columbia.

He has to give the appearance of fighting back. And that is what Harvard did today. But make no mistake: Harvard will yield. All universities will.

The last few weeks have highlighted that universities are a giant welfare program funded by the taxpayer. Instead of trying, even a little bit, to represent the views of Americans, they went completely insane, and preferentially, almost exclusively, represent the views of a deranged minority on the far left. It's far beyond the humanities. It permeates biomedicine. It's the reason why you would reprimanded for saying 2-year-olds shouldn't wear a cloth mask. Because the people with power in the University have become left-wing ideologues who turned off their brain, or, even if they are not, they know they have to Shepherd so many such people.

The Trump administration has correctly deduced that they have all the power. These universities are completely addicted to this cash. Without the cash, taken from plumbers and bus drivers, they will go belly up in a matter of months.

They can sue all they want in court. But if the Trump administration merely delays the payments, files appeals, and otherwise relies on the machinations of government delay— that will be enough to cripple universities.

Anyone who works at University who was forced to write DEI statements or forced to take DEI training (akin to indoctrination) knows that Universities have gone too far. The American people don't care about the suffering of academics who didn't care about school closure or the other major expert lies. Thus Trump has the perfect moment to apply maximal pressure. And notably, universities have no way to pressure Trump back. It's entirely asymmetric.

For these reasons, and because I believe Garber is smart, I think he is trying to thread the needle of complying with Trump, while keeping his job at Woke University. An initial strong statement was needed to save himself. And now, the slow, and eventual capitulation begins. To be perfectly honest: many of these reforms are needed to make sure the set point of Universities mirrors the set point of America.