School Bully

Earlier this week, I described an alternative March Madness in which more than 60 universities were competing, not for a basketball title, but for the funding to thrive in an era when they’re being targeted by the federal government: A Method to the Madness. “Autocrats — both left-wing and right-wing — always attack universities.” The latest attack comes in the name of transgender involvement in sports. NYT (Gift Article): White House Plans to Pause $175 Million for Penn Over Transgender Policy. “The move would intensify the government’s campaign against transgender people’s participation in public life and escalate a clash with elite colleges.”

+ The big question is how elite colleges will respond. WSJ (Gift Article): Columbia Is Nearing Agreement to Give Trump What He Wants. “Trustees have been huddled for days. Progress has been one step forward, two steps back, with some board members deeply concerned the university is trading away its moral authority and academic independence for federal funds. Others have argued the school has limited options because it relies on federal money.” (If the deepest pocketed schools bend, the rest will break.)