President Donald Trump is escalating his fight with Harvard University, demanding $1 billion in damages over what he calls the Ivy League school&#8217;s &#8220;strongly antisemitic&#8221; behavior.
Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116004776659519984">said</a> late Monday night that &#8220;Harvard has been, for a long time, behaving very badly&#8221; and suggested that the case against Harvard &#8220;should be Criminal, not Civil.&#8221; His comments came as The New York Times published a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/us/politics/trump-harvard-payment.html">report</a> claiming that the Trump administration was dropping its previous demand for Harvard to pay $500 million to settle allegations that the university mishandled antisemitism on its campus.
The president refuted the New York Times report and accused Harvard of &#8220;feeding a lot of &#8216;nonsense'&#8221; to the &#8220;failing&#8221; newspaper.
&#8220;Harvard has been, for a long time, behaving very badly! They wanted to do a convoluted job training concept, but it was turned down in that it was wholly inadequate and would not have been, in our opinion, successful. It was merely a way of Harvard getting out of a large cash settlement of more than 500 Million Dollars, a number that should be much higher for the serious and heinous illegalities that they have committed,&#8221; Trump said.
In a follow-up post, Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116004978871320100">wrote</a>, &#8220;The Failing New York Times story was completely wrong concerning Harvard University. I hereby demand that the morons that run (into the ground!) the Times’ change their story, immediately.&#8221;
Trump has fought with Harvard over multiple issues since the beginning of his second term. In April, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard over the Ivy League school&#8217;s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and allegations of an antisemitic culture. A federal judge blocked Trump&#8217;s funding freeze, and most of the funds were restored after Harvard <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/harvard-sues-to-restore-taxpayer-funding-frozen-by-trump-admin">sued</a>. The Trump administration also pushed to bar foreign students from attending Harvard, a move that was also blocked by a federal judge.
As the months-long fight continued last year, the Trump administration was also negotiating with Harvard leaders on a settlement. Last June, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-teases-mindbogglingly-historic-deal-with-harvard-they-have-acted-extremely-appropriately?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Teases+%E2%80%98Mindbogglingly+Historic%E2%80%99+Deal+With+Harvard%3A+%E2%80%98They+Have+Acted+Extremely+Appropriately%E2%80%99">praised</a> Harvard for acting &#8220;extremely appropriately&#8221; during the negotiations and suggested that a &#8220;mindbogglingly historic&#8221; deal could be made &#8220;over the next week or so,&#8221; but nothing came of those talks.
Much of the criticism of Harvard began after the university was accused of allowing antisemitism to fester on its campus following Hamas&#8217; attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Harvard&#8217;s previous president, Claudine Gay, resigned shortly after she was grilled by Congress in late 2023 over the anti-Israel protests that popped up on college campuses, including Harvard&#8217;s.
On Monday night, Trump lambasted new Harvard President Alan Garber over the negotiations and raised his demand from $500 million to $1 billion.
&#8220;Dr. Alan Garber, the President of Harvard, has done a terrible job of rectifying a very bad situation for his institution and, more importantly, America, itself. He was hired AFTER the antisemitism charges were brought &#8211; I wonder why??? We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University,&#8221; Trump said.
The president added that his administration &#8220;turned down&#8221; an offer from Harvard to put $500 million toward a workforce training program to address some of the federal government&#8217;s complaints.
&#8220;They wanted to do a convoluted job training concept, but it was turned down in that it was wholly inadequate and would not have been, in our opinion, successful,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;It was merely a way of Harvard getting out of a large cash settlement of more than 500 Million Dollars, a number that should be much higher for the serious and heinous illegalities that they have committed.&#8221;
Harvard leaders reportedly want to avoid paying the federal government directly, out of concern that it would harm the university&#8217;s independence. The New York Times reported, however, that Harvard&#8217;s reliance on federal funding could likely force it to cut a deal with Trump.

Donald Trump/Harvard

Trump Escalates Fight With Harvard, Ups Demand To $1 Billion Over ‘Strongly Antisemitic’ Campus

Trump Escalates Fight With Harvard, Ups Demand To $1 Billion Over 'Strongly Antisemitic' Campus

antisemitism

Donald Trump

Harvard

Ivy League

Trump Administration

College ed

Why America’s Colleges Are Far More Fragile Than They Appear, Part II

American Universities

College

Economics

Education

finance

Student Loans

Students

College decay

Why America’s Colleges Are Far More Fragile Than They Appear, Part I

Last week, the White House convened an education roundtable with U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon titled, “Biased Professors, Woke Administrators, and the End of Free Inquiry on U.S. Campuses.”
Secretary McMahon opened the event by <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-secretary-of-education-linda-mcmahon-participates-white-house-roundtable-left-wing-ideological-capture-of-universities">stating</a>, “It was an honor to be at the White House today with this dedicated coalition of students, faculty, institutional leaders, and policy advocates to highlight the issue of woke ideology and the capture of our institutions of higher education. DEI policies have turned universities from free marketplaces of ideas to purveyors of manufactured ideological conformity, chilling free speech and undermining academic rigor.”
She <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-secretary-of-education-linda-mcmahon-participates-white-house-roundtable-left-wing-ideological-capture-of-universities">explained</a>, “We are committed to working with higher education leaders to reverse course from these decades of decline.”
The Secretary highlighted actions taken by the Trump Administration, including dissolving DEI programs, enforcing merit-based practices, and guiding universities to comply with federal law, noting that over 400 institutions have made substantive changes. The U.S. Department of Education is working to incentivize universities to operate with fairness, academic rigor, and civil discourse.
Providing strong, positive leadership, Secretary McMahon <a href="https://www.ed.gov/media/document/secretary-mcmahon-white-house-remarks-12325-112619.pdf">shared</a>, “We want to provide every opportunity for colleges to recommit themselves to principles like non-discrimination, open discourse and neutrality, financial responsibility, resisting foreign influence, and putting students first.” She called for a recommitment to principles of reason, individual excellence, and non-discrimination to create a “golden age” of higher education.
This was the second in a series of higher education roundtables. The first roundtable was held at the White House on November 19, titled “Administrative Bloat and Low-Value Programs: How U.S. Universities are Failing American Families and How They Can Reform.” It addressed higher-education affordability and key components of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, including new caps on graduate loan borrowing aimed at reducing costs and boosting accountability.
Undeniably, the Trump Administration is providing pivotal leadership to reform public higher education. As Eric Bledsoe, Special Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy with a focus on education, explained at last week’s roundtable, “universities serve a public interest and must be held accountable by the public.” Bledsoe also noted that higher education should be about “cultivating mature citizens who are prepared for the workforce.”
It’s common sense 101, and thankfully for the American people, this administration is working overtime to change the status quo and cultivate a return to normalcy in public higher education, which has been overtaken by wokeness.
In October, the “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” was released by the Trump Administration and sent initially to nine institutions. It outlined eight “priorities of the U.S. government in its engagement with universities that benefit from the relationship.” It clearly <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Compact-for-Academic-Excellence-in-Higher-Education-10.1.pdf">notes</a> that “Institutions of higher education are free to develop models and values” other than those outlined “if the institution elects to forego federal benefits.”
The priorities are as follows: equality in admission, marketplace of ideas and civil discourse, non-discrimination in faculty and administrative hiring, institutional neutrality, student learning, student equality, financial responsibility, and foreign entanglements.
The Compact <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Compact-for-Academic-Excellence-in-Higher-Education-10.1.pdf">reads</a>: “The leadership of an academic institute is directly responsible for its strategy, success, and adherence to legal and governmental requirements.” More specifically, each year, the institute’s President, Provost, and Head of Admissions will be required to certify that the university abides by the principles outlined in the Compact.
Violators — whether willfully or negligently — will lose benefits for at least one year. Repeat offenders will lose benefits for at least two years. Additionally, funds advanced to the university by the federal government during the year of violation must be returned. Most <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Compact-for-Academic-Excellence-in-Higher-Education-10.1.pdf">notably</a>, “any private contributions to the university during the year(s) in which such violation occurred shall be returned to the grantor upon the request of the grantor.”
Universities collectively receive hundreds of billions of dollars each year, yet do not deliver soundly on their mission. This much-needed accountability is a major step in the right direction.
As Secretary McMahon <a href="https://www.ed.gov/media/document/secretary-mcmahon-white-house-remarks-12325-112619.pdf">communicated</a> at the most recent White House education roundtable, she is inviting those leading higher education institutions to join her in “creating a golden age of academe — committed to reason, not racial preferences. Merit, not marginalizing the so-called ‘oppressor.’ Individual excellence, not ideological indoctrination.”
University leaders would be wise to get out of the business of indoctrination and discrimination and instead focus on fulfilling their institution’s mission of open inquiry and excellence in academics. Even if they do not align with the Trump Administration, agree with the Compact, or value meritocracy, their institution’s bottom line will be better for it. And most importantly, so will their students and our nation.
* * *
Dr. Keri D. Ingraham is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute, Director of the American Center for Transforming Education, and a Senior Fellow at Independent Women’s Forum.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Universities II. Google Gemini design.

Ending The Woke Monopoly: White House Takes Aim At Higher Ed’s Ideological Capture

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Linda McMahon

Opinion

Public Schools

White House

Woke Culture

Higher education is in a downward spiral of decreasing public confidence from which it is incapable of escaping without outside intervention.
For ideological and political reasons, however, most of higher ed is rejecting out-of-hand the Trump administration’s offers to help move higher ed back towards the center. That may prove to be a historic mistake.
A recent <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2025/10/15/growing-share-of-americans-say-the-us-higher-education-system-is-headed-in-the-wrong-direction/">Pew survey shows</a> 70% of Americans, including majorities across all major demographic groups and both political parties, believe academia is going in the wrong direction. In 2010, 75% of Americans thought college was “very important,” <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/695003/perceived-importance-college-hits-new-low.aspx">according to Gallup</a>, and today only 35% do. This is an all time low.
There are many reasons for the loss of confidence, but part of it certainly is that higher education, particularly at the “elite” level, is a liberal bubble isolated from the mainstream. <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/9/3/faculty-response-liberal/">At Harvard</a>, for example, under 10% of the faculty self-identify as conservative or very conservative compared with <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/655190/political-parties-historically-polarized-ideologically.aspx">approximately 38%</a> of the general public. Over 60% identify as liberal/very liberal compared to only 25% of the general public.
Harvard and other elite institutions do not “look like” America politically. For decades campuses cultivated a <a href="https://criticalrace.org/">Critical Race and DEI culture</a> that prizes group identity over individual merit, orthodoxy over debate, and exclusion over persuasion.
I see it at Cornell. DEI is a worldview that treats people as members of group identity categories and functions with something close to religious fanaticism. Changing the name from DEI to Inclusion and Belonging, as Cornell did, is just a superficial ploy.
<div id="attachment_995745" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-995745" class="size-large wp-image-995745" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2216970707-864x576.jpg" alt="TOPSHOT - Graduates gather as they attend commencement ceremony at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 29, 2025. US President Donald Trump is furious at Harvard for rejecting his administration's push for oversight on admissions and hiring, amid the president's claims the school is a hotbed of anti-Semitism and &quot;woke&quot; liberal ideology. (Photo by Rick Friedman / AFP) (Photo by RICK FRIEDMAN/AFP via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2216970707-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2216970707-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2216970707-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/11/GettyImages-2216970707.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />RICK FRIEDMAN/AFP via Getty Images</div>
While mocking the general public, higher ed depends on that public, in the form of the federal government, which provides <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/G160311A027NBEA">hundreds of billions</a> in federal grants and support annually. Many top-tier research universities rely on federal grants and support for substantial <a href="https://www.urban.org/urban-wire/how-much-federal-funding-do-colleges-and-universities-receive">double-digit</a> percentages of their budgets.
With the change in federal government control from Joe Biden to Donald Trump, a clash over funding and the trajectory of higher education was inevitable.
President Trump’s critics say he is trying to smash higher education. That is wrong. What he is doing, with a bluntness that makes people uncomfortable, is using federal funding, the only lever left to rescue the failing system.
The administration’s new <a href="https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Compact-for-Academic-Excellence-in-Higher-Education-10.1.pdf">Compact</a> for Academic Excellence in Higher Education offers financial incentives and expedited funding for institutions that reform and certify compliance in encouraging diversity of viewpoint, stopping discrimination, and raising merit rather than group identity as the focal point for advancement.
It’s a carrot and stick approach. The reward for moving towards the center is preferential funding treatment. For those that refuse, they can continue in the current system, where scrutiny of civil rights compliance risks loss of funding.
While the Trump administration has encouraged schools to seriously consider and provide feedback on the Compact, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/universities-defiant-trumps-academic-excellence-compact-feedback-deadline-passes">most who have responded</a> have rejected any negotiation.
Instead, academia has embarked on a campaign to demonize the Trump proposal, framing it as “extortion.” While the higher education public relations campaign has had <a href="https://archive.is/2025.10.24-233217/https://www.chronicle.com/article/americans-think-trump-is-overreaching-on-higher-ed">some impact</a> in turning the public against Trump’s Compact, that doesn’t change the reality of public loss of confidence in higher education.
Objections to the Compact center on maintaining academic independence. That’s great in concept, but the reality is that nearly-complete independence has turned higher ed into an unsustainable political bubble.
Up to now, higher ed had almost unlimited funding and independence. All they had to do was not go crazy left. But they couldn’t restrain themselves, and that’s how they got Trump’s Compact.
An adult in the room is needed, and the Trump administration is attempting to play that role.
Most of the Compact’s proposed reforms are necessary. Protect free expression. Enforce existing conduct rules. Make administrators responsible for compliance. Limit practices that have turned American universities into leftist enclaves detached from the nation. The goal is not to impose a conservative orthodoxy but to restore diversity of thought and bring higher ed back towards the center.
Though the original deadline for the first nine schools has passed, the administration <a href="https://x.com/EDSecMcMahon/status/1979323613548364278">continues in discussion</a> with them and others and has signaled openness as well. The universities should engage enthusiastically.
The Compact is not perfect, and there are some provisions that could be negotiated at least on a school-by-school basis. But to reject it out of hand is a sign that higher ed has not yet come to grips with reality.
Under the current system, America’s universities are losing the public&#8217;s confidence and will lose public funding and relevance. The Compact is not an attempt to destroy higher education, it’s an attempt to save higher ed from itself.
* * *
William A. Jacobson is a Clinical Professor of Law at Cornell Law School and founder of the <a href="https://legalinsurrectionfoundation.org/">Legal Insurrection Foundation</a> and its <a href="https://equalprotect.org/">Equal Protection Project</a>.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Widener Memorial Library with Huge Veritas Banners Harvard University Cambridge MA

Trump Extends An Olive Branch To Academia. The Ivory Tower Slaps It Away.

Cornell University

Harvard University

BOSTON (Reuters) — A federal judge on Wednesday ruled U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration unlawfully terminated about $2.2 billion in grants awarded to Harvard University and can no longer cut off research funding to the prestigious Ivy League school.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, in Boston marked a major legal victory for Harvard as it seeks to cut a deal that could bring an end to the White House&#8217;s multi-front conflict with the nation&#8217;s oldest and richest university.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based school became a central focus of the administration&#8217;s broad campaign to leverage federal funding to force change at U.S. universities, which Trump says are gripped by antisemitic and &#8220;radical Left&#8221; ideologies. Burroughs, however, said that the Trump administration used allegations of antisemitism on campuses as “a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”
Three other Ivy League schools stuck deals with the administration, including Columbia University, which in July agreed to pay $220 million to restore federal research money that had been nixed because of allegations the university allowed antisemitism to fester on campus.
As with Columbia, the Trump administration took actions against Harvard related to the anti-Israel protests that roiled its campus and other universities in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
Trump during an August 26 Cabinet meeting demanded Harvard pay &#8220;nothing less than $500 million&#8221; as part of a settlement. &#8220;They’ve been very bad,&#8221; he told Education Secretary Linda McMahon. &#8220;Don&#8217;t negotiate.&#8221;
Among the earliest actions the administration took against Harvard was the cancellation of hundreds of grants awarded to researchers on the grounds that the school failed to do enough to address harassment of Jewish students on its campus.
The Trump administration has since sought to bar international students from attending the school; threatened Harvard&#8217;s accreditation status; and opened the door to cutting off more funds by finding it violated federal civil rights law.
Harvard has said it has taken steps to ensure its campus is welcoming to Jewish and Israeli students, who it acknowledges experienced &#8220;vicious and reprehensible&#8221; treatment following the onset of Israel&#8217;s war in Gaza.
But Harvard President Alan Garber has said the administration&#8217;s demands went far beyond addressing antisemitism and unlawfully sought to regulate the &#8220;intellectual conditions&#8221; on its campus by controlling who it hires and who it teaches.
Those demands, which came in an April 11 letter from an administration task force, included calls for the private university to restructure its governance, alter its hiring and admissions practices to ensure an ideological balance of viewpoints and end certain academic programs.
After Harvard rejected those demands, it accused the Trump administration of retaliating against it in violation of First Amendment free speech protections by abruptly cutting funding the school says is vital to supporting scientific and medical research.
Burroughs in a separate case has already barred the administration from halting its ability to host international students, who comprise about a quarter of Harvard&#8217;s student body.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; editing by Amy Stevens and Lincoln Feast)

Obama-Appointed Judge Blocks Trump’s Freeze On Harvard’s Federal Funding

The following excerpt is taken from “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Slacking-Guide-Ivy-League-Miseducation/dp/1641774592">Slacking: A Guide To Ivy League Miseducation</a>,” by Adam Kissel, Rachel Alexander Cambre, and Madison Marino Doan (Encounter Books)
* * *
Don’t trust the Ivy League to produce well-educated students.
The eight institutions that make up the Ivy League are among the most selective in the United States, and their graduates occupy the elite echelons of American life. Parents often spend $80,000 or more per year for their children to attend Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Penn, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, or Dartmouth and have an opportunity to punch a ticket to the top.
But what really happens there? Do graduates really join “the fellowship of educated men and women,” as Harvard used to assert each year at its commencement ceremony?
Some do. Many don’t.
Like most American colleges, most of the Ivies grant signiﬁcant latitude in the undergraduate curriculum. (Columbia is the only exception.) Students not only choose a major — from as many as ninety options—but they also choose the content of their core curriculum. Core curricula historically guaranteed consistency for undergraduates, reflecting a wise faculty’s determination of the knowledge and academic skills most worth having. Today, however, most general education requirements in the Ivies are so general — some arts here, some sciences there—that they are simply another opportunity for undirected self-actualization. Hundreds of course options can fulﬁll each “requirement.”
These options, moreover, vary tremendously — from serious, rigorous, and open to challenge, to whimsical, activist, and tendentious. This variation is greatest in the humanities and social sciences. For every course seeking to develop a broader or deeper understanding of man, nature, and the cosmos, there are dozens preoccupied with pop culture, identity politics, progressive activism, or hyper-specialization.
<div id="attachment_953731" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-953731" class="wp-image-953731 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-384x576.jpg" alt="Cover Credit: Encounter Books/ Cooley Design Lab. William Shakespeare associated with John Taylor circa 1610." width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes=" (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" />Cover Credit: Encounter Books/ Cooley Design Lab. William Shakespeare associated with John Taylor circa 1610.</div>
Writing requirements are even worse. Putatively about writing, such courses indulge the moral and political conceits of their instructors. At the other extreme, most courses that meet science requirements actually teach science, even though light courses are available for slackers. (At Cornell, the course discussing Disney films to learn about animals is an exception, and Columbia still offers Physics for Poets.)
A generation ago, the critique of Ivy League curricula was that a student could graduate without being required to take any Shakespeare, American history, or Western civilization. That complaint remains well-grounded. Today, the situation is worse: Can a serious student find even one core course on Shakespeare or America worth taking?
By not providing a content-rich core curriculum — a set of required courses in the arts and sciences — but instead allowing students to choose from a wide range of courses to fulﬁll vague distribution requirements, most of the Ivies risk having students graduate with what the American Council of Trustees and Alumni calls a “thin and patchy education, with no guarantee that they have mastered a core set of facts or skills.” Absent strong curricular requirements, universities cannot guarantee that students “learn what they need to know to be informed citizens, effective workers, and lifelong learners.”
Fortunately, a strong education remains available to Ivy students in most areas of general education. They will have to work for it and get wise advice. But by far, Ivy League students are offered, and thus receive, a truly substandard education by any reasonable measure. Dante or Cardi B? Every educated man and woman ought to know the difference.
* * *
This excerpt from “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Slacking-Guide-Ivy-League-Miseducation/dp/1641774592">Slacking</a>” is published by permission from Encounter Books.
Adam Kissel is a visiting fellow for higher education reform in the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation. A graduate of the University of Chicago and Harvard, he served in the first Trump administration as deputy assistant secretary for higher education programs. 
Rachel Alexander Cambre teaches for Belmont Abbey College’s new Master of Arts in Classical and Liberal Education program. She holds degrees from Washington and Lee University and Baylor University and has held teaching and research postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton University and the University of Virginia.
Madison Marino Doan is a senior research associate in the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation. Her work focuses on affordability and accountability reform in higher education and K-12 education choice initiatives. She graduated summa cum laude from Lamar University in economics and finance.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Yale University campus

From Dante To Cardi B? The Collapse Of Ivy League Curricula

From Dante To Cardi B? The Collapse Of Ivy League Curriculums

Books

Brown University

Columbia University

Dartmouth College

Princeton University

University of Pennsylvania

Yale University

Columbia University suspended or expelled more than 70 students, some of whom took part in the anti-Israel <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/masked-anti-israel-activists-take-over-columbia-u-library-during-finals-no-one-expels-them">library takeover</a> in May and others who were involved in last year&#8217;s tent encampment on the New York City campus, the New York Post <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/07/22/us-news/columbia-finally-punishes-anti-israel-rioters-over-violent-library-takeover-slaps-students-with-multi-year-suspensions-expulsions/">reported</a> on Tuesday.
Around 50 of the anti-Israel students will be suspended for between one and three years, according to the Post, which cited multiple sources familiar with the matter. The majority of the suspensions are for two years, while only a &#8220;handful&#8221; of students were expelled.
The Ivy League school was in the national spotlight during the spring of 2024 as an anti-Israel demonstration-turned-riot rocked the campus. The punishments for the tent encampment and the library takeover were doled out on Monday following a review from Columbia University&#8217;s Judicial Board.
“Our institution must focus on delivering on its academic mission for our community. And to create a thriving academic community, there must be respect for each other and the institution’s fundamental work, policies, and rules,” a Columbia spokesman said in a statement. “Disruptions to academic activities are in violation of University policies and Rules, and such violations will necessarily generate consequences. The speed with which our updated UJB system has offered an equitable resolution to the community and students involved is a testament to the hard work of this institution to improve its processes.”
On May 7, anti-Israel protesters, many of them wearing masks and keffiyehs, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/masked-anti-israel-activists-take-over-columbia-u-library-during-finals-no-one-expels-them">stormed</a> Columbia&#8217;s main library and occupied it for five hours while students tried to study for their final exams. The protesters chanted “Intifada revolution” and “from the river to the sea,” phrases calling for the destruction of Israel. Some of those who took part in the library takeover defaced walls and marked tables with tape. Two public safety officers were injured in the library storming. Columbia officials called in the New York Police Department to handle the protest, and more than 80 people were arrested, according to the <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/05/09/us-news/columbia-students-describe-shocking-library-takeover-after-masked-protesters-chanted-pro-hamas-slogans/">Post</a>.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
RIGHT NOW AT COLUMBIA: Masked anti-Israel students just broke into the library during finals week. 
Columbia Public Safety unsuccessfully attempted to stop them. <a href="https://t.co/vBfkQFlwUW">pic.twitter.com/vBfkQFlwUW</a>
&mdash; Eden Yadegar (@edenyadegar) <a href="https://twitter.com/edenyadegar/status/1920196848523833405?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
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WATCH: Anti-Israeli protesters have stormed the Butler Library at Columbia University and are now occupying it. 
Make an example of these people. <a href="https://t.co/asiA8YMm3U">pic.twitter.com/asiA8YMm3U</a>
&mdash; RedWave Press (@RedWave_Press) <a href="https://twitter.com/RedWave_Press/status/1920208253494964262?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 7, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The suspensions and expulsions announced on Tuesday come as the Trump administration pressures Columbia and other Ivy League universities to crack down on antisemitism on their campuses. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump cut $400 million in federal grants and contracts to Columbia as the Education Department <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgwg1w3409o">accused</a> Columbia of ignoring &#8220;relentless violence, intimidation, and antisemitic harassment.&#8221;
After the federal funding cut, Columbia <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/columbia-university-agrees-to-trumps-demands-to-ban-masks-empower-campus-police">agreed</a> to do more to push back against radical anti-Israel demonstrations and radicalization on campus, such as empowering campus police and banning masks worn for anything other than health reasons.

NYPD Columbia library protest

Columbia Hits Dozens Of Students With Suspensions, Expulsions For Anti-Israel Campus Takeovers

New York City

U.S.

A recent <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08751-3__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!2LALwW8yKFqPNNaA4xXEG09tMo1LJOZHia3Jgm7nU6ZE2ryt10HNdFNWxTyNT2EeduoQsiTJDKD96FyneHnhD7cM$">study</a> published in the academic journal Nature has been making headlines, claiming that if it were not for major oil and gas companies producing energy between 1991 and 2020, the world would be $28 trillion richer.
Study authors Christopher Callahan, a Stanford University postdoctoral scientist, and Justin Mankin, a Dartmouth College geography professor, authored the study, which was never peer-reviewed and uses a laughably absurd methodology developed by activists whose goal is to do the pseudo-science grunt work for climate change lawsuits against energy producers.
Single events <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg1/chapter/chapter-11/__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!2LALwW8yKFqPNNaA4xXEG09tMo1LJOZHia3Jgm7nU6ZE2ryt10HNdFNWxTyNT2EeduoQsiTJDKD96FyneCyPoFvO$">cannot</a> be attributed to climate change. Nevertheless, the study goes far beyond the ridiculous in its attempt not only to pin blame solely on individual energy producers but to attach a specific dollar amount to each company. Using dubious assumptions and their unsound “end-to-end” methodology, the authors cooked up an implausible correlation between individual companies and singular weather events alleged to have been caused or exacerbated by global warming. The bogus conclusions are then broken up into specific price tags and assigned to various energy producers.
Chevron, for example, is accused of being responsible for “heat-related losses” totaling $3.6 trillion from 1991 to 2020. Damages assigned to ExxonMobil amounted to $1.91 trillion during the same period, while the tally for Saudi Aramco came to $2.05 trillion. Together, the study blames the world’s energy producers for $28 trillion in damages. It would be an understatement to say that neither the study, nor its underlying assumptions, nor its conclusions should be accorded any credibility.
Given the elaborate contortions necessary to arrive at the study’s obviously preconceived conclusions, one might wonder what the motivation was to concoct it in the first place. The authors leave an enormous clue in their acknowledgements, in which they lavish <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08751-3*Ack1__;Iw!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!2LALwW8yKFqPNNaA4xXEG09tMo1LJOZHia3Jgm7nU6ZE2ryt10HNdFNWxTyNT2EeduoQsiTJDKD96FyneHYs_i-c$">praise</a> upon individuals associated with the notorious law firm Sher Edling LLP for their help with the study. Sher Edling was created for the sole purpose of waging lawfare with the intent to financially destroy energy companies. While Sher Edling has worked with states and municipalities in initiating dozens of lawsuits attempting to set climate policy in courtrooms, none to date have been successful.
If just one of the firm’s lawsuits succeeds, it is expected to take up to a 30% chunk of an award estimated to be in the billions of dollars. Because the firm is <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024.10.07-Sher-Edling-Memo.pdf__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!2LALwW8yKFqPNNaA4xXEG09tMo1LJOZHia3Jgm7nU6ZE2ryt10HNdFNWxTyNT2EeduoQsiTJDKD96FyneMLb-kWH$">bankrolled</a> by millions of dollars in dark money funneled through far-Left organizations, its attacks are limitless — and so is its ability to buy studies supporting its conclusions and the fat payday they covet. Sher Edling has acknowledged commissioning made-for-litigation studies before. Named partner Vic Sher described working with scientist-for-hire Richard Heede during a 2017 talk at UCLA. That study, much like the new Nature research, purports to connect major energy providers with specific emissions activity.
A more honest study would have acknowledged the truly beneficial role that energy plays in our economy and everyday lives. We depend on fossil fuel energy for everything from the quality of our lives to our national security. It is so dependable that we rarely even consider that everything we eat, wear, buy, or sell depends on energy. It’s there to take us places and to cool and heat our homes. Smart devices, paint, asphalt, and plastic containers are just a few objects in our daily lives made from petroleum. The study would be more credible if it concluded the truth: that fossil fuels have contributed trillions of dollars in value and made human flourishing possible.
Several legacy news outlets — many of which <a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/justthenews.com/politics-policy/energy/media-provide-no-scrutiny-study-claiming-oil-companies-made-world-28__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!2LALwW8yKFqPNNaA4xXEG09tMo1LJOZHia3Jgm7nU6ZE2ryt10HNdFNWxTyNT2EeduoQsiTJDKD96FyneDRJ0tH9$">accept funds from anti-fossil fuel advocacy organizations</a> to write about global warming — reported on the Nature study while failing to note its utterly discrediting connection to Sher Edling. As we move into the warmer summer weather, we can expect more such studies and uncritical news stories.
Studies lacking basic integrity like the one published in Nature are why President Trump’s recent executive order “<a href="https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/restoring-gold-standard-science/__;!!PxibshUo2Yr_Ta5B!2LALwW8yKFqPNNaA4xXEG09tMo1LJOZHia3Jgm7nU6ZE2ryt10HNdFNWxTyNT2EeduoQsiTJDKD96FyneCG8TS0c$">Restoring Gold Standard Science</a>” is so timely and important. That standard holds that reproducibility, rigor, and unbiased peer review must be maintained. It demands that federal decisions be informed by only the most credible, reliable, and impartial scientific evidence available. Absolutely nothing about the Nature study meets the gold standard of science.
* * *
The Honorable Jason Isaac is the Founder and CEO of the American Energy Institute, a trade organization that unapologetically champions free markets and American energy. Previously, he served four terms in the Texas House of Representatives.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.
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Senate Lawmakers Return To Capitol Hill After The Weekend

Made-For-Court Climate Study Completely Fails Science Gold Standard

Climate Change

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Global Warming

Oil and Gas

Oil companies

The Trump administration’s decision to pull federal funding from Harvard and other top-tier schools sparked outrage in the elite corridors of the American academy.
But this move has a clear silver lining: it could benefit less prestigious, significantly smaller, but certainly deserving schools across America.
From the end of World War II through the Cold War, brand-name institutions lobbied for, and were awarded, a<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/us/trump-universities.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> disproportionate share</a> of federal research dollars. That left capable regional universities vying for the leftovers.
It’s about time that this inequitable dynamic changed. Federal research money needs to go where it can yield the most significant and widespread benefits, and doesn’t always mean <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/04/30/us/university-funding-research.html?unlocked_article_code=1.FU8.Ck9n.8e6TwmBDHKOH&amp;smid=url-share" target="_blank" rel="noopener">schools in large cities along the coasts</a>.
According to federal data, over a third of <a href="https://usafacts.org/articles/what-do-universities-do-with-the-billions-they-receive-from-the-government/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">federal R&amp;D funding</a> was spent by just 20 colleges. That means most of America’s smaller schools have been ignored or overlooked, many of which enroll first-generation college students and are located in rural or underserved locales.
When the same recipients are trusted with the bulk of federal dollars year after year, we lose out on the fresh perspectives, crucial specialized research, and real-world problem-solving that a more even-handed distribution of funds would make possible.
Are there instances where a tiny institution like the College of St. Benedict in Minnesota (enrollment: 1,400) receives federal research money?  Yes, it happens: the school was awarded $<a href="https://static.csbsju.edu/documents/CSB%20Business%20Office/CSB%202023%20Audited%20Financial%20Statements.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">1.8m in 2023</a>. But that’s the exception, not the rule.
An upgraded distribution policy of federal research funding could unleash a torrent of invention by regularly redirecting dollars to less prominent schools nationwide, including historically black colleges and universities, Historically Hispanic Institutions, and technical colleges.
When a school in Wyoming or Mississippi wins a grant that would ordinarily go to one of the dominant and expected recipients, it’s not only that school’s students who benefit. It means constructing new labs, hiring new faculty, creating possible societal benefits for Americans’ health, and potentially stimulating economic benefits for American industries.
Supporters of funding reallocation, of which I am one, argue that it creates a fairer research landscape in America where the upsides aren’t locked in with the same annual recipients.
Every university in America should have a shot at discovery, not just those on the short list.   Reconsidering where federal research dollars are spent could inspire an exciting realignment that allows more American institutions to contribute to science, technology, and innovation advances.
Dr. David Lenihan is the CEO of <a href="https://phsu.edu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Ponce Health Sciences University</a>, a fully-accredited medical school with campuses in St. Louis and Puerto Rico. 
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Supreme Court Rules Affirmative Action Is Unconstitutional In Landmark Case With Harvard And UNC

Coastal Elite Schools Aren’t The Only Ones Who Deserve Federal Funding

Federal Funds Freeze

medical school

research

The Trump administration announced on Tuesday that it is stripping an additional $450 million in federal grants from Harvard University after $2 billion in federal funding had already been frozen.
The &#8220;Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism&#8221; said the additional freeze comes after the Ivy League school &#8220;repeatedly failed to confront the pervasive race discrimination and anti-Semitic harassment plaguing its campus.&#8221; The new cuts are to grants handed out through eight different federal agencies.
&#8220;Harvard’s campus, once a symbol of academic prestige, has become a breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination. This is not leadership; it is cowardice,&#8221; the task force wrote in a <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/anti-semitism-task-force-statement-on-additional-harvard-grants.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a> announcing the additional cuts. &#8220;And it’s not academic freedom; it’s institutional disenfranchisement. There is a dark problem on Harvard’s campus, and by prioritizing appeasement over accountability, institutional leaders have forfeited the school&#8217;s claim to taxpayer support.&#8221;
The task force added that Harvard, which was founded in 1636 to train clergymen, &#8220;faces a steep, uphill battle to reclaim its legacy as a lawful institution and center of academic excellence.&#8221;
Harvard is in the middle of a legal challenge to the Trump administration&#8217;s funding freeze. The president has gone after the university for allowing anti-Israel protests and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs on its campus. Last month, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-calls-harvard-an-anti-semitic-threat-to-democracy?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Calls+Harvard+%E2%80%98An+Anti-Semitic%E2%80%A6Threat+To+Democracy%E2%80%99" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called</a> Harvard “Anti-Semitic,” “Far-Left,” and “a threat to Democracy.”
&#8220;The place is a Liberal mess, allowing a certain group of crazed lunatics to enter and exit the classroom and spew fake ANGER AND HATE. It is truly horrific!&#8221; Trump said.
Harvard has pushed back against the funding freeze and the Trump administration&#8217;s demands for more oversight over the university. Harvard filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration in April, arguing that the federal government is executing “a pressure campaign” that “violates Harvard’s constitutional rights.” The school&#8217;s president, Alan M. Garber, shot back at the Trump administration, writing, “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
As Harvard continued to fight Trump&#8217;s demands, it <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/harvard-renames-dei-office-amid-funding-battle-with-trump-admin?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Harvard+Renames+DEI+Office+Amid+Funding+Battle+With+Trump+Admin" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> last month that it was rebranding the Office of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Belonging, changing the name to “Community and Campus Life” and focusing on “expanding cross-cultural engagement programs, supporting first-generation and low-income students, and creating more opportunities for dialogue across differences.” Harvard’s chief diversity officer position was also renamed and will now be called the Chief Community and Campus Life Officer, according to <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/4/29/harvard-oedib-renamed/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Harvard Crimson</a>. The DEI office rebrand was the first step that appeared to align with Trump&#8217;s demands.

Harvard Loses Another Massive Chunk Of Federal Funding

Politics

A student at Brown University is facing disciplinary charges for emailing thousands of non-faculty employees in a “Doge-like” email asking, &#8220;What do you do all day?&#8221;
Alex Shieh created a database of 3,805 administrative employees to attempt to understand why the Ivy League has become so expensive after the latest tuition hike brought annual costs for students up to $93,000.
Shieh’s email attempted to identify three particular jobs: &#8220;DEI jobs, redundant jobs, and bulls*** jobs,&#8221; but in the end, Shieh only received several dozen largely profane, belligerent responses from irate bureaucrats in addition to possible repercussions from Brown.
&#8220;Brown is retaliating against me for exposing that the exorbitant tuition costs are going to a bloated bureaucracy, not educating students,&#8221; Shieh <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/media/brown-university-student-who-angered-non-faculty-employees-doge-like-email-faces-punishment-from-school">told</a> Fox News.
&#8220;Because Brown can’t outright punish me for calling out their hypocrisy, they are instead accusing me of committing obscure conduct violations that are not applicable to my situation, in order to scare other students from speaking out,” he added.
Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/politics/brown-university-gop-crosshairs-after-students-doge-like-email-kicks-off-frenzy">sent</a> a letter to Brown University Friday morning urging the school to &#8220;reconsider any disciplinary action&#8221; against the Brown sophomore, first reported by Fox News.
&#8220;Reports indicate that Mr. Shieh engaged in a journalistic act of contacting university administrative employees to inquire about their roles and responsibilities. This action, it appears, stemmed from his perspective as a student paying a substantial tuition fee and experiencing concerns regarding university facilities, leading him to question the allocation of administrative resources,&#8221; Nehls <a href="https://nehls.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/nehls.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/05.02.2025-rep-troy-e-nehls-letter-to-brown-university.pdf">wrote</a>.
&#8220;Penalizing a student for what appears to be an attempt to understand the university&#8217;s administrative structure raises serious questions about the institution&#8217;s commitment to open inquiry and the tolerance of dissenting viewpoints.&#8221;
The congressman demanded information on how Brown uses its $7.2 billion endowment, which boasts a 10% annual return, to reduce student costs.
Annual expenses to attend Brown for 2025-2026 are estimated at nearly $96,000, including tuition, fees, food, and housing. Nehls previously introduced legislation that would significantly increase excise taxes on larger colleges&#8217; endowment funds from 1.4% to 21%.
Brown University spokesman Brian Clark denied free speech was the issue, writing in a statement to Fox News, &#8220;At the center of Brown&#8217;s review are questions focused on whether improper use of non-public Brown data systems and/or targeting of individual employees violated law or policy.&#8221;
The controversy emerges as Ivy League schools face scrutiny from the Trump administration over both tuition rates and anti-Semitism concerns.
Shieh’s concerns regarding inflated college bureaucracies are <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulweinstein/2023/08/28/administrative-bloat-at-us-colleges-is-skyrocketing/">reflected</a> in a larger trend amongst universities, as according to Forbes, “Between 1976 and 2018, full-time administrators and other professionals employed by those institutions increased by 164% and 452%, respectively,” and “the number of full-time faculty employed at colleges and universities in the U.S. increased by only 92%, marginally outpacing student enrollment which grew by 78%.”
Shieh is planning to bring his campaign to other Ivy Leagues such as The University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University, and Cornell University &#8220;to expose wasteful expenditures there&#8221; and release &#8220;an online tool to demand that schools cease and desist DEI.&#8221;

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University Student Faces Discipline For Emailing 3,800 Staff: ‘What Do You Do All Day?’

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