Political bullying, admitted as that by Trump. The university has sued on First Amendment grounds, but I read the blurb of another piece in the Times, an op-ed, that Harvard is beat and knows that it's beat. I don't know the op-ed's reasoning because it was behind the Times' pay wall and I refuse to pay for the Times, but one can take an educated stab: Does any entity, person, public or private, have a right to a federal government contract? Obviously not. That doesn't make what Trump is doing any less appalling, but the courts are not going to see this as a conflict in rights, the First Amendment vs ___?, because Harvard does not have a right to a federal government contract. You could look at it the other way: Harvard is now more free to exercise free speech because it is no longer entangled with Big Brother!
What this is costing Harvard is staggering: $4,150,000,000. That's four BILLION one hundred fifty million bucks. Colossal as that is, and it would drive scores of other universities combined to shutter permanently, it is dwarfed by Harvard's endowment: $53,000,000,000. The lost contracts and tax increases amount to 7.73% of Harvard's endowment. That's money already in the bank, not "income". If the government suddenly took 7.73% of my savings, I'd be pissed. But it's money earning me interest in the bank, it's not what I live on.
This is a blow that no person or entity should have inflicted upon it, but God, if there is one entity that can suffer the blow it is the most lavishly endowed university in the world.
Harvard will be fine.
