Young column: If Harvard caved to the tyrant

He tried this once before – running a university — or whatever he called it: “wealth institute,” “entrepreneurial initiative.” Argh.

In 2011, over lawsuits asserting the institution’s bogus-ness, over a swarm of complaints by defrauded students, over investigations by the state of New York, it shut down.

And it was on to another con.

Now the man who has put the “mousse” in “Mussolini” thinks his less-than-1.5 percent margin of victory in November was an urgent plea from the masses to take over America’s universities.

Upon threat of losing millions of dollars, Columbia caved to a set of his demands.

However, the oldest, most prestigious, most accomplished learning institution did not.

Harvard has — in all due respect and in requisite decorum — given the bloviating, law-abusing tyrant the middle finger.

Reacting to such impertinence, he who thinks he’s the only self in “self-government” threatened to retract Harvard’s tax-exempt status.

That’s patently illegal, dating back to Dick Nixon’s dirty tricks, but Tricky Donnie has demonstrated to innumerable judges that “patently illegal” is what he does best.

I doubt most Americans know what the White House told Harvard it must do to avoid federal control. The letter from the strong-arms from the Department of Anti-Woke Oppression – formerly Department of Education — reads like it was Scotch-taped in all-caps from magazine headlines.

The demands are loftily framed as, ahem, a “civil rights” matter triggered by, ahem, “antisemitism” on campus.

Interesting. A president who broke bread at Mar-a-Lago with a Holocaust denier and who pooh-poohed anti-Jew chants by tiki-torchers in Charlottesville brands a university as soft on antisemitism whose president is Jewish.

The most pertinent testimonial: Over 100 outraged Jewish Harvard students signed a letter to say they were being used by the White House as “cover for a litany of absurd demands.”

Absurd, yes. These brilliant students know this matter isn’t about Jews. It’s about the No. 1 objective of this White House: “owning the libs.”

Hence it has ordered “viewpoint diversity” in every department” at Harvard – to be closely monitored by the government — and “a critical mass of students who will provide viewpoint diversity.”

Wait. Wasn’t “diversity” an official curse word? So confusing. Do we enroll based on merit or give extra weight to MAGA parrots?

Making federal funding contingent on telling colleges whom to hire and whom to admit is akin to telling Elon Musk, who receives a ton more than Harvard, to adopt one poor black child for each child he spawns.

Well, good on the university for refusing to cave. Please, Harvard, sue the bastards.

Having the university under the control of the Great Con Artist would lend itself to curious class offerings, stuff that would make a Harvard education more like a seminar for retirees in the Poconos:

Business and finance – “Bankruptcy for profit and fame.”

Sociology – “Studies in racial homogeneity.”

History – “Slavery and other human progress.”

Diplomacy – “Authoritarian regimes and other human progress.”

Finance – “The Tax Code: Ah, don’t bother.”

Medicine – “What the scientific method gets wrong.”

Political science – “From your criminal indictment to Election Night.”

Philanthropy – “How to do a charitable foundation that doesn’t do charity.”

Philosophy – “Great minds behind the Great Replacement Theory.”

Earth science – “Making the most of global warming.”

Communication – “From Joe Rogan to Jake Paul: Great influencers of the 21st Century.”

Engineering – “Joining forces to meet the crisis of the stingy shower head.”

Government – “Democracy — just a passing phase.” Longtime newspaperman John Young lives in Colorado. Email: jyoungcolumn@gmail.com.