White House convenes meeting with more than a dozen agencies to brainstorm new measures to fight the greatest scourge facing the nation

essentialsaltes said:

The Trump administration is escalating its campaign against Harvard University — and looking for new ways to bring the storied institution to heel.

The White House convened officials from nearly a dozen agencies on Wednesday to brainstorm additional punitive measures, according to one administration official and a second person familiar with the meeting, who were granted anonymity to share details. The administration official said that forthcoming actions are expected from the State, Treasury, Health and Human Services and Justice departments, among others, and could happen as early as next month.

The Culture Wars heat up!

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Not that I care much one way or the other but like some others I do think there are legal means to shift at least part of Harvard's policies. It involves going through the accreditors. In their case, the New England Commission of Accreditation and their parent non-profit the Council of Higher Education Accreditations. One of the criteria to maintain accreditation is that the mission, and policies of any school must be fulfilled.

"We have committed to creating and sustaining the conditions that enable all Harvard College students to experience an unparalleled educational journey that is intellectually, socially, and personally transformative."

Some of the criteria:
"The Northeast Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) assesses institutions based on whether they demonstrate compliance with certain standards. These standards revolve around areas such as institutional mission, governance, academic programs, resources, and student support."

The standards are of course somewhat subjective. Does Harvard comply with their Mission (I'll assume vision too) and the student support that Jewish students need? Seems they have failed to create and sustain the conditions for Jewish students to learn and allowed a hostile environment.

Here it is from one Senator. He seems to go right to the sanctions but they need to line up the objections with factual events and failures, not just political rhetoric.

sanderabeer said:

NECHE is an independent body. It's not a governmental entity. As such, the administration has no direct control over it. They might try to assert control by pulling recognition for the NECHE by DOEd or CHEA. The biggest thing that would be lost here would be access to federal funds for students (e.g., grants, loans, etc.). And then there's a matter of the programmatic accrediting (e.g., ACCSB, ABET, etc.).

If they manage to bowl through all that, I suspect an accrediting body from another country would be more than willing to accredit Harvard.

In the end, I hope Harvard sticks to their guns and sticks it to the Trump administration. Ideally, other schools would start stepping up as well. It's time to start kicking the bully where it hurts the most, his ego.

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The thing is, some of what Trump wants may endanger their accreditation.

RileyG said:

Why?

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To bring everything under the president’s direct control. Like the Project 2025 handbook spells out.

RileyG said:

Thankfully, he’s 78 and won’t be president forever. We have term limits, after all.

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That’s sort of the point of the whole project. By the time he’s done, Trump won’t need to be president ever again.