Rachel Abrams

Title IX, for example.

So basically, you're viewing all of this. I'm just going to narrate a little bit for us here. You are seeing what's happening at Columbia. That's when you decide to write this op-ed in The Atlantic, right? That's correct. And you said that what the Trump administration is doing right now basically amounts to, quote, the greatest threat to American universities since the Red Scare of the 1950s.

So basically, you're viewing all of this. I'm just going to narrate a little bit for us here. You are seeing what's happening at Columbia. That's when you decide to write this op-ed in The Atlantic, right? That's correct. And you said that what the Trump administration is doing right now basically amounts to, quote, the greatest threat to American universities since the Red Scare of the 1950s.

Every American should be concerned. Can you tell us a little bit, why did you decide to write that op-ed, and what did you mean by that quote specifically? Yeah.

Every American should be concerned. Can you tell us a little bit, why did you decide to write that op-ed, and what did you mean by that quote specifically? Yeah.

Right. And so basically to say this another way, the administration may have said that these actions that they're taking are about anti-Semitism and rooting that out on campus.

Right. And so basically to say this another way, the administration may have said that these actions that they're taking are about anti-Semitism and rooting that out on campus.

But it sounds like what you are saying and your point of view is that this is more about this broader beef the Trump administration has with institutions of higher education, specifically with regards to academic freedom, the things that they are teaching and not teaching.

But it sounds like what you are saying and your point of view is that this is more about this broader beef the Trump administration has with institutions of higher education, specifically with regards to academic freedom, the things that they are teaching and not teaching.

And that the government, it sounds like, again, correct me if I'm wrong here, but the government has this enormous leverage, which is research funding. And that is the cudgel with which that they can punish universities for speech or actions or conduct or academics that they do not like.

And that the government, it sounds like, again, correct me if I'm wrong here, but the government has this enormous leverage, which is research funding. And that is the cudgel with which that they can punish universities for speech or actions or conduct or academics that they do not like.

And so I just sort of wonder, would you agree with that, that this is more about academic freedom than maybe some of the other reasons that we have heard recently? Yeah.

And so I just sort of wonder, would you agree with that, that this is more about academic freedom than maybe some of the other reasons that we have heard recently? Yeah.

What does that even mean?

What does that even mean?

You think these things are disconnected?

You think these things are disconnected?

So, OK, I hear what you're saying that academic institutions should be free to decide what to teach, when to teach, how to teach, who to admit, all of that stuff, while also maintaining their obligations to have a safe and equitable environment for students. I hear all of that. But and you wrote a little bit about this in the op ed.

So, OK, I hear what you're saying that academic institutions should be free to decide what to teach, when to teach, how to teach, who to admit, all of that stuff, while also maintaining their obligations to have a safe and equitable environment for students. I hear all of that. But and you wrote a little bit about this in the op ed.

To play devil's advocate for a moment, universities have made themselves, over the last few decades, incredibly dependent on government funding and public money. And that has made them vulnerable because it has given the federal government essentially this one enormous donor incredible leverage over universities.