2mo ago

Trump is eager to defund Harvard, yet publicly subsidized hate groups get a pass

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"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."
I’m 100% I favor of Harvard standing up to trump. But can anyone explain to me why any public money should be spent on this private institution at all?
- They're in the form of grants that give research to help society.
  Imagine if the government wants to know the effects of microplastics on the brain. The grant is a way to hire researchers at universities to answer this question.
  The alternative is just employ scientists full time, but that's expensive. And how do those scientists get trained in the first place? Using grants while in university.
  
  I think what I didn’t understand was that the funding is going to research and not the institution itself. I’m good with that. I just hope that these grants are structured in a way that ensures the public has some ownership of the results.
- They may be a private institution, but a lot of the research and education that comes out of it greatly benefits the public good. I dont think it's inherently bad.
  
  I mean if we are going to spend any money on anything, research and education is about as useful as it gets.

8 comments