Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Joining us now is Neede to Arnold, who is a
guy that's been working on a number of issues with Politico,
including articles about you know, what's happening currently with DEI
and also what's going on with colleges and where we are.
The protest to his work has been in you know,
the Washington Examiner of Wall Street Journal USA today, And
joining us now is need to welcome in.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Thanks for being here, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So glad to have you listen. I really appreciate you
being on with us to talk about this. And you
know this, this whole thing on campus has got a
lot of people fired up here, you know, with these
academia people allowing this to fester and get to the
level where it's gotten really dangerous now. And Donald Trump
has basically said, look, knock it off, clamp down on this.
(00:46):
We can't do this anymore. There are kids that are
in fear there. Jewish kids can't go to class without
being worried and full of anxiety. Your thoughts on what's
taking place right now and Trump's you know, targeting these
colleges to get their act together.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, so, I think a lot of the scrutiny that
universities A lot of the scrutiny is well deserved, and
they invited it themselves. You know, it's not just uh,
you know, anti semitism or DEI. You know, there were
racial preferences in college admissions. Uh. You know, universities were
(01:22):
allowing pokes papers, junk papers, you know, uh, where they
weren't really studying serious issues. And so I think it
points to a larger problem that you know, because they
were beholden to progressive ideologies, they were willing to overlook
merit and standards. Uh. So you know, the Trump administration
(01:43):
has been targeting various colleges uh for perceived non compliance. Uh.
But what I argue in my Politico article is, especially
what we've seen with Harvard, Uh, the way they're going
about it isn't correct. You know, your pursuit might be righteous,
but that doesn't mean you get to cut legal corners.
(02:05):
And the way the administration has gone about holding Harvard accountable,
oftentimes they're not following the proper procedures, the laws you
know that are set out to hold these universities accountable.
And I think that's going to stop Buyer.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Well, the DEI in woke wave that swept this nation
from the Joe Biden administration for four years. Was not
a good thing in hindsight. It wasn't a good thing
as it was happening, and the country recognized it and
finally said, enough is enough, We're not doing this anymore.
It was getting dangerous. You're putting the wrong people in
place for jobs that could be potentially dangerous to consumers
(02:44):
just based on you know, not merit, and just based
on sex or sexual orientation or color of skin. It
was just, you know, it was backwards. It shouldn't have
been going on. Now when you talk about the legal
way to do this versus way you think President Trump
is doing this, He's getting a lot to push back
on deportation with the courts and ways to go about it.
In Congress needs to be involved in a lot of
(03:04):
things that the president on's done, and you're right, his
ideals on this may be one hundred percent on track here,
but yeah, he's learning that. You know, there is some pushback,
but the great negotiator seems to, you know, get his
way at the end of the day, as we just
saw recently with the judges making another decision to open
(03:25):
the door for him to continue on the teriffs for now.
So how do you suggest he you know, gets this done? Well, yeah,
what is in the way, What do you think he's
doing that's not legal? And what is the legal process
for trying to clean this up?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Well, I think it is about paying attention to the
details of the law. And you know, specifically with Harvard,
you know, there there are two letters that were sent
to Harvard, one on April third and one on April eleventh.
The April third letter had all these sorts of demands
for Harvard. You know, we need you to fix THEEI,
fix anti semitism on Key campus. And you know, it
(04:03):
was it was a it was a list of demands
that were also sent to the University of Pennsylvania and
Columbia and they complied. However, an April eleventh letter further
escalated things, you know, and they they went well beyond
their authority. You know, I think the one of the
one of the clarifications they gave, which received a lot
(04:24):
of backlash, was requiring admissions and hiring based on someone's viewpoint. Uh.
And you know, the intention stated was to try to
balance out views on campus. You know, campus is typically
lean very liberal, and it's about balancing. But this actually
goes against the law, goes against the First Amendment. But
(04:45):
there was another issue too. It was just about you know,
even there's also an issue of just how the federal
funds for scientific research was revoked. You know, when when
you find a problem with the university, you actually have
to give them a chance to comply. You have to
(05:06):
first tell them, here's what you did wrong, here's how
you apply.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
But let me let me, let me stop you right there,
let me stop you right there. See the entitlement aspect
to this whole discussion, discuss me. The fact that Harvard
thinks they're entitled to these the fact that Harvard, listen,
the fact that the Harvard thinks they're entitled to federal
funds just because they've been getting for years is ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
So I think they're going to argue to get federal funds.
I mean, that's going to be like, that's their incentive.
But the way you go about revoking federal funds, you
actually have to demonstrate that what they did was wrong.
They need to be given a chance to comply. If
they don't comply, that's when the administration can revoke funds.
(05:51):
That is clearly written in the law, and I think
Harvard is just holding the universe or the administration into account.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Well even if they even if they do comply, I
still think that taxpayers ought to have something to say
about where their dollars are going. I'm paying federal tax,
federal income tax. I don't necessarily want some of my
money going to these elite universities. You know, there's nothing
to do with my world. And if you're going to
act like that and go against my values, you know,
(06:21):
then then I'm done with them. I mean, forget comply.
Let's just find out a way that you know, they
they got these fifty billion dollar endowments, you know, go
do that. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I mean, there's a bit of a misunderstanding of how
these federal dollars are used. It's not the same as
state appropriations that go to universities, which is about their
operating funds. A lot of the federal dollars are usually
coming from the National Institutes of Health, during National Science Foundation,
which is supporting scientific research. You know, this is something
(06:53):
that I would say benefits so many people. A lot
of the research that's being conducted is looking into, you cures,
for chronic.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Pain or chance right now, there's some great causes there.
I totally understand that. But you know, when it comes
time to you know, cleaning up where our money is
going and what's going on and what the priorities are. Uh,
you know, opinions are you know, in the thousands on
what we ought to be doing with it. But if
the administration is involved in federal funding of universities, I
(07:24):
think that there's got to be some direction coming from
the federal you know government on how they carry themselves
on these universities. And if you're going to continue to
do di I practices or you're going to continue to
allow people to ramp up protests to the point of
violence and death, then you know it's time to shut
them down. Well, I appreciate your thoughts this morning. Thank
you so much. Need to arnold with political it's
Joining us now is Neede to Arnold, who is a
guy that's been working on a number of issues with Politico,
including articles about you know, what's happening currently with DEI
and also what's going on with colleges and where we are.
The protest to his work has been in you know,
the Washington Examiner of Wall Street Journal USA today, And
joining us now is need to welcome in.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Thanks for being here, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So glad to have you listen. I really appreciate you
being on with us to talk about this. And you
know this, this whole thing on campus has got a
lot of people fired up here, you know, with these
academia people allowing this to fester and get to the
level where it's gotten really dangerous now. And Donald Trump
has basically said, look, knock it off, clamp down on this.
(00:46):
We can't do this anymore. There are kids that are
in fear there. Jewish kids can't go to class without
being worried and full of anxiety. Your thoughts on what's
taking place right now and Trump's you know, targeting these
colleges to get their act together.
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Yeah, so, I think a lot of the scrutiny that
universities A lot of the scrutiny is well deserved, and
they invited it themselves. You know, it's not just uh,
you know, anti semitism or DEI. You know, there were
racial preferences in college admissions. Uh. You know, universities were
(01:22):
allowing pokes papers, junk papers, you know, uh, where they
weren't really studying serious issues. And so I think it
points to a larger problem that you know, because they
were beholden to progressive ideologies, they were willing to overlook
merit and standards. Uh. So you know, the Trump administration
(01:43):
has been targeting various colleges uh for perceived non compliance. Uh.
But what I argue in my Politico article is, especially
what we've seen with Harvard, Uh, the way they're going
about it isn't correct. You know, your pursuit might be righteous,
but that doesn't mean you get to cut legal corners.
(02:05):
And the way the administration has gone about holding Harvard accountable,
oftentimes they're not following the proper procedures, the laws you
know that are set out to hold these universities accountable.
And I think that's going to stop Buyer.
Speaker 1 (02:23):
Well, the DEI in woke wave that swept this nation
from the Joe Biden administration for four years. Was not
a good thing in hindsight. It wasn't a good thing
as it was happening, and the country recognized it and
finally said, enough is enough, We're not doing this anymore.
It was getting dangerous. You're putting the wrong people in
place for jobs that could be potentially dangerous to consumers
(02:44):
just based on you know, not merit, and just based
on sex or sexual orientation or color of skin. It
was just, you know, it was backwards. It shouldn't have
been going on. Now when you talk about the legal
way to do this versus way you think President Trump
is doing this, He's getting a lot to push back
on deportation with the courts and ways to go about it.
In Congress needs to be involved in a lot of
(03:04):
things that the president on's done, and you're right, his
ideals on this may be one hundred percent on track here,
but yeah, he's learning that. You know, there is some pushback,
but the great negotiator seems to, you know, get his
way at the end of the day, as we just
saw recently with the judges making another decision to open
(03:25):
the door for him to continue on the teriffs for now.
So how do you suggest he you know, gets this done? Well, yeah,
what is in the way, What do you think he's
doing that's not legal? And what is the legal process
for trying to clean this up?
Speaker 2 (03:39):
Well, I think it is about paying attention to the
details of the law. And you know, specifically with Harvard,
you know, there there are two letters that were sent
to Harvard, one on April third and one on April eleventh.
The April third letter had all these sorts of demands
for Harvard. You know, we need you to fix THEEI,
fix anti semitism on Key campus. And you know, it
(04:03):
was it was a it was a list of demands
that were also sent to the University of Pennsylvania and
Columbia and they complied. However, an April eleventh letter further
escalated things, you know, and they they went well beyond
their authority. You know, I think the one of the
one of the clarifications they gave, which received a lot
(04:24):
of backlash, was requiring admissions and hiring based on someone's viewpoint. Uh.
And you know, the intention stated was to try to
balance out views on campus. You know, campus is typically
lean very liberal, and it's about balancing. But this actually
goes against the law, goes against the First Amendment. But
(04:45):
there was another issue too. It was just about you know,
even there's also an issue of just how the federal
funds for scientific research was revoked. You know, when when
you find a problem with the university, you actually have
to give them a chance to comply. You have to
(05:06):
first tell them, here's what you did wrong, here's how
you apply.
Speaker 1 (05:09):
But let me let me, let me stop you right there,
let me stop you right there. See the entitlement aspect
to this whole discussion, discuss me. The fact that Harvard
thinks they're entitled to these the fact that Harvard, listen,
the fact that the Harvard thinks they're entitled to federal
funds just because they've been getting for years is ridiculous.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
So I think they're going to argue to get federal funds.
I mean, that's going to be like, that's their incentive.
But the way you go about revoking federal funds, you
actually have to demonstrate that what they did was wrong.
They need to be given a chance to comply. If
they don't comply, that's when the administration can revoke funds.
(05:51):
That is clearly written in the law, and I think
Harvard is just holding the universe or the administration into account.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
Well even if they even if they do comply, I
still think that taxpayers ought to have something to say
about where their dollars are going. I'm paying federal tax,
federal income tax. I don't necessarily want some of my
money going to these elite universities. You know, there's nothing
to do with my world. And if you're going to
act like that and go against my values, you know,
(06:21):
then then I'm done with them. I mean, forget comply.
Let's just find out a way that you know, they
they got these fifty billion dollar endowments, you know, go
do that. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
I mean, there's a bit of a misunderstanding of how
these federal dollars are used. It's not the same as
state appropriations that go to universities, which is about their
operating funds. A lot of the federal dollars are usually
coming from the National Institutes of Health, during National Science Foundation,
which is supporting scientific research. You know, this is something
(06:53):
that I would say benefits so many people. A lot
of the research that's being conducted is looking into, you cures,
for chronic.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Pain or chance right now, there's some great causes there.
I totally understand that. But you know, when it comes
time to you know, cleaning up where our money is
going and what's going on and what the priorities are. Uh,
you know, opinions are you know, in the thousands on
what we ought to be doing with it. But if
the administration is involved in federal funding of universities, I
(07:24):
think that there's got to be some direction coming from
the federal you know government on how they carry themselves
on these universities. And if you're going to continue to
do di I practices or you're going to continue to
allow people to ramp up protests to the point of
violence and death, then you know it's time to shut
them down. Well, I appreciate your thoughts this morning. Thank
you so much. Need to arnold with political it's
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