Can't we fund trade schools and Harvard?

NBC's Rory O'Neill

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
From the Newman Roofing Company Sports desk as we switch
gears and go over to the Legacy Retirement Group dot
com phone line and check in with NBC News radios.
Rory O'Neil, Rory boy. I don't think Harvard probably has
had this much price in a long time. The Trump
administration canceling a bunch of federal contracts with Harvard, over

(00:22):
one hundred million dollars. So what kind of contracts are
these that they're pulling.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, so these contracts include things like executive training for
officials from the Department of Homeland Security. There was research
on health outcomes related to energy drinks, a contract for
graduate student research services. This is what will be cut
under this one hundred million dollar round of cuts. And

(00:47):
this is on top of the two point six billion
dollars in federal research grants already being pulled from the university.
And that also comes with this decision by Homeland Security
to essentially end the visas for the thousands of international
students who attend Harvard. So this is a I'd say

(01:09):
they're trying toneecap them, but most people only have two kneecaps.

Speaker 1 (01:15):
Only somebody to go around, and the thought is, and
President Trump has made kind of alluded to this that
he wants to redirect some of that cash to help
fund trade schools.

Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, that's something he suggested on truth Social that instead
he put three billion dollars towards trade schools. Which I'm
not sure a president has that authority. But you know,
Congress hasn't really been challenging the president here very much,
so they might just let him somehow make this happen.
It would be interesting to see how it's done. But
you know, and that's great. I mean, everyone agrees we

(01:50):
need more plumbers, electricians, we need more trade school graduates
mechanics and the metal workers and the light but we
also need someone to cure cancer and we need someone
to invent the next widget in Silicon Valley. And that's
the kind of research that comes out of Harvard. You know,
can't we do both?

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Well, that's the question is, Yes, there's room to do both.
I mean, what how much value does the US government
get between, you know, funding an elite IVY school education
or funding trade schools and skilled labor educations. You know,
what's the return on investment there? To your point, do
we need big brains or do we need people swinging hammers.

(02:28):
I think the answer there is.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Both well, right, and we got to strike that balance.
But you're also asking the question whereas instead we're just
getting speaking of swinging hammers, we're just getting that sledge
hammer approach to Harvard and saying we're going to cut
off three billion dollars. I compare this to Doge, like,
we all love the intent, but you know, can we
be a bit more surgical and smart about how they

(02:52):
go about doing it?

Speaker 1 (02:53):
Yeah, it's I mean we should not be surprised. You
know how the president operates, and it's at times a
bit like a bull in a china shop, but then
a lot of times it's a lot of negotiation type
tactics where it's it's a threat and then we'll scale
it back and maybe it's a little more realistic. So
we shall see how this plays out. Royal O'Neil, NBC
News Radio, Thanks for the time this morning, man,