How Colleges Can Fight Back

What Next | Daily News and Analysis

Slate

News, Daily News, News Commentary, Politics

4.6 • 2.3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2025

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Trump administration is using federal money—and the withholding thereof—as a way to bring universities like Columbia and Penn to heel. But institutes of higher education have not yet begun to fight, and when they do, they’ve got strong legal arguments against incursions on their academic freedom. Guest: Lee Bollinger, president emeritus, Columbia University Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access to What Next and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the What Next show page on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/whatnextplus to get access wherever you listen. Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, and Rob Gunther. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:42.2	This episode is brought to you by Vanta, stressing over cybersecurity, whether you're a startup,
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1:22.6	Two months in, if I had to sum up Donald Trump's approach to governing, I know exactly how I'd do it.
1:28.2	I'd say in a second term, this president is not just using money as a tool.
1:30.5	He's using it as a weapon.
1:43.2	You can see this philosophy playing out internationally, as the administration considers aid to Ukraine or tariffs over Mexico. Domestically, officials are threatening money for
1:46.5	subways and farms and clean energy projects. And then there are the universities.
1:54.2	Happening right now, the Trump administration says it is pausing more than $100 million
1:58.4	in federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania.
2:01.6	The government warned Colombia earlier this week that it was reviewing its federal contracts,
2:07.1	citing potential violations to the Civil Rights Act.
	...

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