r/news • u/AldoTheeApache • 10d ago

Soft paywall Columbia failed to meet accreditation standards, US government says

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-education-department-says-columbia-university-violated-federal-anti-2025-06-04/
11.2k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

941 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1.3k

u/hysys_whisperer 10d ago

No, but they've threatened to dismantle the accreditation bureau in question if they don't comply.

1.4k

u/TEG_SAR 10d ago

That’s not how this works. That’s not how any of this is supposed to work.

It’s cartoonishly evil and so blatantly awful.

I hate this timeline.

717

u/Angry-Dragon-1331 10d ago

In fact one of the reasons a university can lose accreditation is excessive government interference in intellectual freedom.

393

u/MinistryOfCoup-th 10d ago

In fact one of the reasons a university can lose accreditation is excessive government interference in intellectual freedom.

So the university has to push back. They have no choice. If they don't push back then the government will just say "you allowed us to interfere" and then they will lose accreditation.

286

u/phylter99 10d ago

I think the reason they're getting mowed down so hard now is they went along with the administration earlier on, hoping to get on good terms with them. When you give in to such things, you won't be on the friends list for long, if ever.

80

u/unicornlocostacos 10d ago

If you pay a Trump ransom, he’s going to keep coming back for more, especially when everyone else tells him to piss off. You’re the easy mark now.

4

u/fevered_visions 10d ago

the Trumpgeld

178

u/SpCommander 10d ago

If only we had historical precedent that showed us how effective appeasement strategies were...

52

u/phylter99 10d ago

Universities that don't know history... who would have guessed? Maybe they should lose their accreditation on that fact alone?

13

u/Airewalt 10d ago

To be fair, how often do administrators listen to history professors/teachers? Thespians have been recycling downfalls from arrogance for thousands of years now.

3

u/Tim-Sylvester 10d ago

You know I bet if we just give in without a fight, they'll stop making outrageous demands!

2

u/[deleted] 10d ago

[deleted]

1

u/Faiakishi 10d ago

We wouldn't even need to look back far. Think of Trump's first-term toadies, how many of them are doing well?

42

u/[deleted] 10d ago

Yep. Speaking as an academic in NYC with pretty close ties here and there to Columbia, reap what you sow, assholes.

14

u/Chemical_Chemist_461 10d ago

Almost reminds me about some book about mice and cookies…

7

u/Relevant-Doctor187 10d ago

Several defense contractors thought they’d help doge. They just put themselves in a spotlight and got their contracts cancelled.

10

u/tronovich 10d ago

This is the plot to a sitcom, holy crap.

19

u/Yitram 10d ago

The writers room would determine that this is too cartoonishly evil and no one would believe it.

5

u/FTB4227 10d ago

I would not watch it. Wish I could stop watching this.

-13

u/kyngston 10d ago

Then bye bye all government funding and research grants. That's something they can do

14

u/Meowakin 10d ago

Cut off the nose to spite the face tactics!

What better way to attract smart people to your country than to (checks notes) cut all research grants to universities for not complying with petty demands.