As Trump & Co. continue to threat (and withold Govt. money) and get colleges to bend diversity programs to his likings?
The California Democratic Governor has moved to counter in his state.
Newsom continues his getting in Trump’s face….
Gov. Gavin Newsom doubled down on a threat Friday to pull funding from California universities that sign onto a pact proposed by Donald Trump, calling the president’s efforts to make in-roads to higher education a “code red” for the state.
Newsom, answering questions at University of California, Berkeley after he signed legislation to spur science research, said that there is “no choice” for schools that receive the proposition from Trump but to reject it.
The University of Southern California was the only California school among a group of nine institutions that were approached this week with the proposed deal: make changes to admissions procedures, faculty hiring, and policies around gender identity, among other demands, in order to get priority access to federal funding grants. The quid pro quo is the latest gambit in a multi-pronged scheme by the Trump administration to assert a level of control over the country’s colleges, which the president sees as having become bastions of unchecked liberal thought.
“Do the right thing,” Newsom said. “What’s the point of the system? What’s the point of the university? What’s the point of all of this?”
In an all caps statement on Thursday, Newsom called the proposal “radical” and threatened to pull state funding immediately from schools in the state that opt to sign on. He said that California will “not bankroll schools that sell out their students, professors, researchers and surrender academic freedom.”
Newsom’s comments Friday were in line with the increasingly heated warnings and expressions of exasperation the governor has issued in recent months as he tries to rally a response to the dangers he says Trump poses.
“What the hell is going on?” Newsom said on Friday. “It’s not a choice, and the fact that I thought I needed to even send that message is rather shocking, because some people think it is. It’s not. We don’t have a country. It’s bigger than the university system.”
Newsom’s threat to pull funding also comes as UC officials continue to negotiate with the Trump administration over a $1 billion settlement demand to restore more than $500 million in research funding cut from UCLA over allegations of antisemitism on campus…..
Note…
Will Newsom’s actions spread to other state Governor’s?