The article critiques the populist argument against Harvard, which is criticized for its vast endowment and tax-exempt status. Under Donald Trump's administration, higher education faces funding cuts and restrictions, including a $100 million federal contract cut with Harvard. The author notes a paradox where conservatives support government intervention in academia, a stance at odds with traditional beliefs in academic freedom. The left's previous restrictions on speech and the right's newfound stance against academic independence reveals how tactics may backfire politically, affecting both sides in the broader discourse on free expression and the role of government in education.
The irony of the current moment is that conservatives are cheering all this on, that they are thrilled the federal government is at last attempting to violate the tenets of academic freedom.
All weapons wielded by one side can, of course, eventually be turned on that same side. The left has learned this the hard way over the past year, finally beginning to understand why the values of free speech and free expression had been such fundamental parts of the liberal project for so many decades.
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