That commitment extends even to views that many of us find objectionab — Harvard University

"The facilities for student dining, athletic activity, and classroom learning that existed 30 years ago at Harvard University were Spartan compared to the opulent facilities that today’s students enjoy. Harvard has no option but to keep ratcheting up its attractiveness and, therefore, its cost structure in order to compete successfully against the likes of Stanford and Yale."

"Americans across the political spectrum are realizing that for-profit universities and media outlets are anything but “independent,” despite what they might claim in press releases. That’s driving a historic collapse in public trust for the media and higher education — and making it easier for Trump to divide and conquer what were once the nation’s most-trusted safeguards of free expression and critical thought. It’s hard to blame the 56 percent of Americans who have lost confidence in higher education as a positive force in our culture. After all, if the best-funded independent university in the world can’t or won’t defend itself against blatant Republican authoritarianism, what good is its alleged independence? From the beginning it’s been clear that Harvard didn’t actually violate any laws, but institutions seen as left-leaning by the MAGA movement don’t need to do anything wrong to be targeted. Just ask Columbia University, which sent Trump a $221 million payoff after he threatened to cut off their federal funding, or Paramount, whose browbeaten executives gave Trump $16 million for airing news that offended him. But the size of Harvard’s payment boggles the mind. Half a billion dollars. For what?"

"Harvard has ruined more niggers than bad liquor."

"Our founders praised the free press and free academic inquiry as on par with free elections in safeguarding the republic. Some, including Pennsylvania’s Dr. Benjamin Rush, Virginia’s George Wythe and New Jersey’s John Witherspoon, were themselves respected academics and classroom professors. They spoke with passion about protecting universities from federal pressure because they understood that the first act of an autocrat is to exert state control over the production of ideas. What’s unfolding at Harvard represents perhaps their worst nightmare — an American president trampling the intellectual freedom of his own people. As Trump’s pressure campaign against higher education shows, that threat is just as real today as it was when Rush used his academic post at the University of Pennsylvania to promote controversial ideas like the emerging science of vaccination. Prominent academics today are right to wonder whether their universities will stand behind them if their research angers the White House. The result will be a chilling effect that makes our country less intellectually dynamic and more susceptible to Trump’s dangerous illiberalism."

"This is the feeder school to the halls of power. Theres good stuff happening there but, by and large, the culture is one of nepotism and cronyism, and the most overpriced, overprivileged frat clubs imaginable."

"In the 160 years since the end of the Civil War, American institutions have largely fulfilled their job of protecting our republic by serving as vibrant, free spaces of intellectual thought, cultural criticism and political accountability. Harvard’s massive concession to Trump is a sign that the long era of American academic independence is drawing to a close. The cost of freedom — academic or otherwise — is constant vigilance. Harvard gave up the perception of its independence without a fight. More serious universities should resist the urge to follow their humiliating lead."