Please don’t ever fall under the too-limited belief that “propaganda” is confined to news stories that alter the truth in order to make you believe something. No, propaganda’s ultimate goal is to get you to give up on the idea of truth altogether, at least a truth regarding important parties, no truth that you’ll ever hear. By that very means, the Trump administration again engaged in one of its propaganda plays when doing something clearly to punish an entity openly, harshly, without real explanation or excuse, for an entirely legal action. More propaganda. In so doing, the administration gets the nation “used to” such action as the new normal, the new truth, that it’s all okay.
Today, the Trump administration pulled Columbia University’s accreditation as the next move in an ongoing fight between the two parties. The administration proved without a doubt that it was singling Columbia out for punishment solely due to the Ivy League school’s “DEI practices” in allowing free speech, including criticism of the administration and Israel. Unapologetic government action done with the obvious intent to punish the party is not normal in the United States (though it is elsewhere) and it is damned dangerous.
So how does one tell an Ivy League university – one of the world’s greatest educational institutions – that it doesn’t qualify as a “school” with respect to degrees conferred, or that it doesn’t qualify to access federal student aid? If you are the Trump Administration, it is easy. As reported by Newsweek:
The United States Department of Education (DOE) determined that Columbia University has violated a federal civil rights law, the DOE said Wednesday in a press release. The notification comes after the DOE opened an investigation into the University in February.
Apparently, the administration wants style points for elan in punishing Columbia for violation of federal civil rights law, generally intended to diminish racial bigotry and prejudicial practices, but in this case, used to assert that criticism of conservative opinions about Israel equates to anti-Semitism. This – as shown below – is absurd as applied to civil rights law.
“The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) today notified Middle States Commission on Higher Education (the Commission) that its member institution, Columbia University, is in violation of federal antidiscrimination laws and therefore fails to meet the standards for accreditation set by the Commission,” the release said.
The administration based its decision on its pro-Israel stance that affords no room for concern about Palestinians. The decision involved the Gaza-related demonstrations at the University and alleges the school “acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus.” Saying it was unlawful and immoral. Perhaps the school did not do enough to protect Jewish students. Perhaps it did. But it isn’t so wanting that it warrants losing accreditation. That should be reserved for schools that might allow open anti-semitism on campus, not simply advocating a pro-Arab political position – which is what happened here.
In reality, this is to punish demonstrations against the administration’s policies, and that is where propaganda really comes in. They want people to believe that A) The administration will take action against anyone that opposes it too loudly, anything from deporting someone, to taking away accreditation, to – it is coming, arrests, and B) They want the country lulled into thinking it is normal, or at least not all that outrageous, so C) It will happen in broad daylight out in the open without any equivocation, as if it is okay to punish your dissenters.
This is the Trump administration and it will continue to take such extreme actions on many different fronts, whether it is punishing law firms that take up causes against Trump personally, or it is the networks that host shows that are too critical of Trump (Calling to end broadcast licenses/rights), whether it is having brown skin and a Spanish accent, or being a liberal columnist – all and more are now at risk for “punishment” of the type normally only associated with, well – Latin American dictators, or someone like Putin (Though, fortunately, it looks as though Trump has a line that he won’t cross, at least not yet). A person has yet to fall down two flights of stairs.
Columbia will get its accreditation back. The question becomes whether the school has to bend policies and kiss the administration’s ass before or as a condition of doing so. Trump and his allies certainly want Columbia and other “elitist” schools to be very compliant and accommodating to the administration. Propaganda is also used to inflict punishment – after all, if one is willing to hide the truth, why not tell some scathing lies about someone or some place you don’t like?
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Columbia has to figh — they have to take the Harvard road. Otherwise they will wind up like the law firms that caved to Trump — losing all credibility. Their professors and students will start drifting away. Trump wants to bring all the universities down to the level of his late, unlamented Trump “University.”