October 3Oct 3 Popular Post Tuition rates can be fixed with one simple bill. In ~2003 Republicans passed a bill that was nothing more than a windfall to the financial industry when they made student loans nearly impossible to discharge in bankruptcy. You can run up massive debt buying cigarettes, cable television, gambilng, and fritos with bean dip and make it all go away if things get bad enough, but get in over your head with student loans and you're fucked forever. Overnight, student loans became the most valuable product lenders can offer, and this is what caused the insane spikes in tuition. Money was made freely available to people too young and too ignorant to handle it, all backed by the federal government. The schools took advantage of the lenders taking advantage of the kids. If this administration is serious about tuition (it's not), that is the only thing that will fix it. Tighten up the money supply, and the rest will follow. Those assholes fucked an entire generation with the bankruptcy reform bill.
October 3Oct 3 Popular Post 6 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said: Those assholes fucked an entire generation with the bankruptcy reform bill. QF emphasis. And if you want to know the biggest thing I criticize Biden about, it's that -- he was a chief architect and proponent of it (Senator from Delaware, bitch-boy for the financial services folks). The bankruptcy reform bill was and remains utter fuckery.
October 3Oct 3 Popular Post 11 minutes ago, SubliminalHorn said: So how do states or anyone fight back? And keep in mind the old order and rules are dead Oh he's not here to address the issues. Just wants to make sure to point out perceived hypocrisy. Obviously there's no defense to what the Trump admin is doing, so they wait to find a surly poster's reaction to criticize. It's literally the only kind of "conservative" perspective we see on this site anymore.
October 3Oct 3 Popular Post By Erwin Chemerinsky Mr. Chemerinsky is the dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley. edit to add: op-ed from nyt Quote On Wednesday, the Trump administration sent letters to nine major universities proposing a “compact.” As The Times reports, the agreement would, among other things, require these universities to freeze tuition rates for five years, limit the enrollment of foreign students and be bound to specific definitions of gender. It would also require them to prohibit anything that would “punish, belittle and even spark violence against conservative ideas.” In exchange, these universities would receive “multiple positive benefits,” including “substantial and meaningful federal grants.” The schools were warned that they were free to go a different route if any of them “elects to forgo federal benefits.” A senior White House adviser indicated that the administration wants to extend this compact to all institutions of higher education. This is extortion, plain and simple. It is not hyperbole to say that the future of higher education in America requires that every university reject it. If any schools capitulate, the pressure will be enormous on all to fold. The only solution is solidarity and collective action against this effort at federal control over higher education. President Trump is trying to circumvent the legislative and judicial branches of our government by presenting this as a deal with schools. Nothing in the Constitution or federal law authorizes the president to do this unilaterally. The Supreme Court has been clearthat Congress can set conditions on federal funds so long as the requirements are constitutional, clearly stated, related to the purpose of the program and not unduly coercive. Mr. Trump’s compact fails every part of that test. A Supreme Court decision in 2012 about the Affordable Care Act explains why Mr. Trump’s proposal is unduly coercive and thus unconstitutional. In that case, the Supreme Court ruled that the A.C.A., also known as Obamacare, was substantially constitutional. But it declared unconstitutional a provision of the law that required states to expand their Medicaid programs or lose all federal Medicaid funds. No state is required to take federal Medicaid money (just as no university has to take federal funds for its research and its programs). Nonetheless, the Supreme Court said that forcing states to make that choice was unconstitutional. Writing for the majority, Chief Justice John Roberts described this as a “gun to the head” and “dragooning” the states. The administration’s proposed compact is similarly impermissibly coercive. Moreover, there is a basic principle of constitutional law — the unconstitutional conditions doctrine — that the government cannot condition a benefit on a recipient having to give up a constitutional right. But that is exactly what the compact would do. When it calls for universities to effectively ban anything deemed to punish or belittle conservative ideas, it tramples the right to freedom of speech. The core of the First Amendment is that the government cannot use its power to discriminate on the basis of the viewpoint expressed. But this provision would do just that in treating conservative ideas differently from liberal ones. And any restriction on belittling an idea is obviously unconstitutional; there always is a right to disagree with an idea, even in strong language. (As with “belittle,” the meaning of “conservative” is vague, leaving the definition up to the whims of members of the administration.) I’ve seen a copy of the compact and note that it would violate the First Amendment in another way: requiring universities to have policies prohibiting “all university employees, in their capacity as university representatives,” to abstain from “actions or speech relating to societal and political events except in cases in which external events have a direct impact upon the university.” It would be hard to come up with a more explicit attempt to restrict freedom of speech. Requiring adherence to the administration’s definitions of gender is clearly another effort to further marginalize transgender students. It also very likely would be illegal, as the Supreme Court has held that the prohibition of sex discrimination in federal laws, such as employment discrimination statutes, forbids discrimination based on gender identity. Beyond the unconstitutional aspects of the compact, there is its odious demand to intrude on the autonomy of these schools. Every aspect of it seeks to dictate decisions that have traditionally been left to each university — a degree of control over higher education that is characteristic of authoritarian countries. As someone who has spent his career as a professor and as a dean, it is chilling to contemplate universities relinquishing their freedom in this way. Indeed, if any of these universities cave, it’s hard to imagine any limit to what the administration might try to demand next. We all learned long ago on the playground that trying to appease a bully only makes things worse. It’s equally hard to imagine how higher education will recover if colleges and universities begin conceding to Mr. Trump’s illegal compact. Chemerinsky literally wrote the text book for Constitutional Law back when he was a prof at USC. Edited October 3Oct 3 by Chopper
October 3Oct 3 Popular Post Shame we have cowards and boot lickers at Texas and that they’ll be the first to fold. Embarrassing
October 3Oct 3 1 hour ago, bschoolprof said: The fact this has so many likes tells you all you need to know about team vs principles. There were 61 posts in a thread about leaders tying funding to ideological litmus tests before you chose to chime in. Remarkable which one jumped out at you as worthy of commentary.
October 3Oct 3 3 minutes ago, Chuckie Finster said: There were 61 posts in a thread about leaders tying funding to ideological litmus tests before you chose to chime in. Remarkable which one jumped out at you as worthy of commentary. I thought it was self evident the Trump admin's extortion was a terrible idea. The hypocrisy was worth pointing out, IMO. Still is.
October 3Oct 3 Popular Post 4 minutes ago, Chuckie Finster said: There were 61 posts in a thread about leaders tying funding to ideological litmus tests before you chose to chime in. Remarkable which one jumped out at you as worthy of commentary. It also reveals a stunningly incomprehensible set of "principles" As long as your the first to take an illegal/unethical action, you're fine. Its the tit-for-tat that they are upset with. To wit: Texas moves forward with Trump's redistricting request to gain five new GOP House seats. A-ok with us! California responds with the same to cancel the advantage. Wait a minute! What hypocrites! They said they were mad about the Texas thing! Trump extorts universities. A-ok with us! California responds that they will withhold grants to those who capitulate. Wait a minute! That's hypocrisy from the Dems! And that's the real issue here!
October 3Oct 3 22 minutes ago, Chopper said: By Erwin Chemerinsky Mr. Chemerinsky is the dean of the law school at the University of California, Berkeley. Chemerinsky literally wrote the text book for Constitutional Law back when he was a prof at USC. My former law professor. Brilliant man who I had the chutzpah to argue with way more than I should have. He was a bit younger in those days, as was I. Still get together once every couple of years. I've been arguing with him over a couple of points in his con law text book since he first published it back in the 90s, but despite seven or so revisions to it he has held strong against making any changes based on my arguments.
October 3Oct 3 3 minutes ago, bschoolprof said: I thought it was self evident the Trump admin's extortion was a terrible idea. The hypocrisy was worth pointing out, IMO. Still is. Sorry but pointing out hypocrisy over the last decade is pure folly as evidenced by those in charge right now.
October 3Oct 3 Popular Post 54 minutes ago, Chopper said: I’ve seen a copy of the compact and note that it would violate the First Amendment in another way: requiring universities to have policies prohibiting “all university employees, in their capacity as university representatives,” to abstain from “actions or speech relating to societal and political events except in cases in which external events have a direct impact upon the university.” It would be hard to come up with a more explicit attempt to restrict freedom of speech. Holy shit. HOLY SHIT.
October 3Oct 3 43 minutes ago, bschoolprof said: I thought it was self evident the Trump admin's extortion was a terrible idea. The hypocrisy was worth pointing out, IMO. Still is. As pointed out earlier, Newsom's post doesn't require adherence to any particular policies of his or any other administration.
October 3Oct 3 It also reveals a stunningly incomprehensible set of "principles" As long as your the first to take an illegal/unethical action, you're fine. Its the tit-for-tat that they are upset with. To wit: Texas moves forward with Trump's redistricting request to gain five new GOP House seats. A-ok with us! California responds with the same to cancel the advantage. Wait a minute! What hypocrites! They said they were mad about the Texas thing! Trump extorts universities. A-ok with us! California responds that they will withhold grants to those who capitulate. Wait a minute! That's hypocrisy from the Dems! And that's the real issue here!This is the conservative way.“Sure, maybe what Trump did is bad. But you know what’s WAY worse? Anyone fighting back.”It’s a time-honored approach to delegitimizing all opposition to the authoritarian. And that’s exactly why it’s being advanced in this thread.
October 3Oct 3 On 10/2/2025 at 10:52 AM, TwiceHorn said: Arizona State is the far less serious of the two schools. On 10/2/2025 at 11:01 AM, royiv said: ASU’s undergrad programs are a mess, but Crow hasn’t yet managed to fuck up the law school. Of the two law schools in Arizona, ASU’s is held in higher regard. I know it's deeply unpopular and a bad word these days, but ASU is our premiere climate science, sustainability, ESG-science and accounting type program in the U.S. If we ever see a world where a new administration takes over and we care about the planet and the intersectionality of the planet and business, ASU will be the place pumping out those leaders. In fact, saw this from the UN conference last week: Quote Arizona State University will use a $115 million donation, the largest in the university's history, to launch a new school focused on conservation and training the next generation of leaders to protect biodiversity and promote global sustainability. The news was announced by ASU President Michael Crow on Sept. 22 at a "Climate Week" event in New York. The Rob Walton School of Conservation Futures, named after the 80-year-old philanthropist donor and former chairman of Walmart Inc., will be part of ASU's Changing Futures campaign. The university's College of Global Futures, which hosted an opening for its $192 million nature-inspired research facility on University Drive during Earth Week 2022, will be renamed the Rob Walton College of Global Futures in recognition of the sustaining funding. https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona-environment/2025/09/22/asu-launches-rob-walton-school-conservation-futures-115m-donation/86087367007/
October 3Oct 3 3 hours ago, Samson's Wig said: The schools took advantage of the lenders taking advantage of the kids. If this administration is serious about tuition (it's not), that is the only thing that will fix it. Tighten up the money supply, and the rest will follow. Those assholes fucked an entire generation with the bankruptcy reform bill. I'm mostly with you on this, but I don't agree that the cause is so linear. Around the same time, and probably in the decade before, our own state government started to drastically cut funding for our state institutions, which caused them to try and find that money elsewhere (tuition). The state government decided along the way that higher education is no longer worth nearly as much of our state funding, and from there, dominoes started to fall. Everything you described also could be called "privatization". They handed over yet another public service to private control in order to line someone's pockets. Capitalism has been gut-deep in higher ed for a bit longer than 2003. I can probably give some leeway to the argument that university budgets have also inflated over the years, especially in construction & building upgrades and staff.... but there's definitely an argument to be had about it. I don't think slashing budgets offsets how fucked the rest of the balance has become. That's one of those things where I think it becomes a recruiting issue. You better keep up with the joneses if you want to continue to be called a "great" school and public ivy or whatever. But...... that was also a few UT presidents ago and before a regime took over.
October 3Oct 3 40 minutes ago, BurdineBandit said: I'm mostly with you on this, but I don't agree that the cause is so linear. Around the same time, and probably in the decade before, our own state government started to drastically cut funding for our state institutions, which caused them to try and find that money elsewhere (tuition). The state government decided along the way that higher education is no longer worth nearly as much of our state funding, and from there, dominoes started to fall. Everything you described also could be called "privatization". They handed over yet another public service to private control in order to line someone's pockets. Capitalism has been gut-deep in higher ed for a bit longer than 2003. I can probably give some leeway to the argument that university budgets have also inflated over the years, especially in construction & building upgrades and staff.... but there's definitely an argument to be had about it. I don't think slashing budgets offsets how fucked the rest of the balance has become. That's one of those things where I think it becomes a recruiting issue. You better keep up with the joneses if you want to continue to be called a "great" school and public ivy or whatever. But...... that was also a few UT presidents ago and before a regime took over. I completely agree, and left out the other prong of state governments taking advantage of the situation by dropping the subsidizing of tuition to almost nothing to avoid bogging down my comment too much. But you're absolutely correct that this is an essential aspect of what happend. State governments felt more comfortable dropping funding, because of what happened after the bankruptcy reform act. They were already reducing prior, but you saw it fall off a cliff after 2003.
October 3Oct 3 https://thedailytexan.com/2025/10/02/ut-system-to-review-proposal-from-trump-administration/
October 3Oct 3 4 minutes ago, Chopper said: https://thedailytexan.com/2025/10/02/ut-system-to-review-proposal-from-trump-administration/ Quote UT System to review immediately rubber stamp proposal from Trump Administration like a bunch of bitchassed bitchasses FTFY
October 3Oct 3 i'd expect trump / texas to soon come up with their own accreditation process for universities / colleges
October 3Oct 3 Popular Post 6 hours ago, bschoolprof said: Nah, you're either for tying grant funding to ideological/political litmus tests or you're not. Surl seems to be fine or outraged by this depending on team and context. I think it's terrible policy either way. No, you're both-siding this bullshit.
October 4Oct 4 2 hours ago, High Plains Drifter said: No, you're both-siding this bullshit. Yeah, Newsom proposes no litmus test other than not capitulating to Trumpco. In some really broad sense, don't capitulate is a policy or sort of litmus test of its own, but not really. Unless you believe the California governor and Newsom in particular has been dictating California university education policy.
October 4Oct 4 Popular Post Newsom tells universities not to agree to restrict staff first amendment rights or share international student info with the feds and he’s the bad guy now?
October 4Oct 4 1 hour ago, TwiceHorn said: In some really broad sense, don't capitulate is a policy or sort of litmus test of its own this is 'so much for the tolerant left' level of inanity.
October 4Oct 4 My kids' school district is going to be turbo-fucked by the state when they take over school operations, and now this bullshit. My oldest still has 5 years to go, and he loves UT, but I imagine that UT 5 years from now is not where we will want him to go (or where he will want to go).
October 4Oct 4 8 hours ago, Brian Fantana said: FTFY Shudup Red Raider. They do this, they will never get a cent from me again.
October 4Oct 4 10 hours ago, Chopper said: https://thedailytexan.com/2025/10/02/ut-system-to-review-proposal-from-trump-administration/ well. look on the bright side...aggy must be CRUSHED 😆
October 4Oct 4 7 hours ago, Js1 said: Newsom tells universities not to agree to restrict staff first amendment rights or share international student info with the feds and he’s the bad guy now? only if you're too simple minded for critical thinking and understanding nuance.
October 4Oct 4 On 10/2/2025 at 9:07 PM, Captainant said: Could you be more specific? Presumably he got a degree somewhere QED eta also bschoolprof presumably is a bschoolprof Edited October 4Oct 4 by Sawbonz
October 4Oct 4 12 hours ago, TwiceHorn said: Yeah, Newsom proposes no litmus test other than not capitulating to Trumpco. In some really broad sense, don't capitulate is a policy or sort of litmus test of its own, but not really. Unless you believe the California governor and Newsom in particular has been dictating California university education policy. At least he ain’t a boot licker like your guy
October 4Oct 4 17 minutes ago, Im_smarter_then_you said: At least he ain’t a boot licker like your guy Que?
October 4Oct 4 9 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said: Que? Your governor is a footlocker for Don *bootlicker Edited October 4Oct 4 by Im_smarter_then_you
October 4Oct 4 27 minutes ago, Im_smarter_then_you said: Your governor is a footlocker for Don *bootlicker Oh, right, but he's not my guy. It's crazy, when Abbott was on the Supreme Court, he was relatively moderate. Kind of a milquetoasty Cornyn type. But he quietly went satanic as AG.
October 4Oct 4 38 minutes ago, Js1 said: Footlocker was funnier Which is why I left it. Damn autocorrect
October 4Oct 4 19 hours ago, BurdineBandit said: I'm mostly with you on this, but I don't agree that the cause is so linear. Around the same time, and probably in the decade before, our own state government started to drastically cut funding for our state institutions, which caused them to try and find that money elsewhere (tuition). The state government decided along the way that higher education is no longer worth nearly as much of our state funding, and from there, dominoes started to fall. Everything you described also could be called "privatization". They handed over yet another public service to private control in order to line someone's pockets. Capitalism has been gut-deep in higher ed for a bit longer than 2003. I can probably give some leeway to the argument that university budgets have also inflated over the years, especially in construction & building upgrades and staff.... but there's definitely an argument to be had about it. I don't think slashing budgets offsets how fucked the rest of the balance has become. That's one of those things where I think it becomes a recruiting issue. You better keep up with the joneses if you want to continue to be called a "great" school and public ivy or whatever. But...... that was also a few UT presidents ago and before a regime took over. The cuts at other flagship state programs is 100x worse because they don’t have a PRF. At schools like UVA or UNC the state barely provides any funds at all. It’s the primary driving factor behind admitting out of state and foreign students: you can pump the sticker price and charge full freight to offset legislature imposed tuition caps for in state students to please the body politic. Maryland is notoriously hard to get in state admission, even as they will let any fool from New Jersey who can cut a full price tuition check. Which is a direct by product of New Jersey decision to starve their public higher education system outside of the Rutgers Campus. Edited October 4Oct 4 by Bateshorn
October 4Oct 4 14 hours ago, Js1 said: Newsom tells universities not to agree to restrict staff first amendment rights or share international student info with the feds and he’s the bad guy now? Gotta really reach for the both sides rationalizations these days.
October 4Oct 4 Newsom tells universities not to agree to restrict staff first amendment rights or share international student info with the feds and he’s the bad guy now? Brutal attacks on our freedom and liberty and the core values of the Republic? Well, I’m not a big fan of those things. I mean, still, Trump has my support because there was a trans vollyball player once, but he could slightly temper his approach on the freedoms and stuff.The people and institutions being subjected to stripping core freedoms, first amendment rights and such, stand up and resist in the slightest? See, both sides do it!It’s not just disingenuous, it’s evil. It’s the equivalent of seeing a Jew struggle to break free from a beating by the Gestapo, and saying “see, if the Jews weren’t so lawless, this wouldn’t be happening.”
October 4Oct 4 27 minutes ago, aggie08 said: Gotta really reach for the both sides rationalizations these days. You could also argue that both are instances of "the state" attempting to influence education policy. But to do that, you have to go hypocrite because you've been saying that the feds (DOE) should have no role in education policy because LoCAl cONtrOl. If the state is to have a role in education policy, it should be the State of California, not POTUS.
October 4Oct 4 3 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said: You could also argue that both are instances of "the state" attempting to influence education policy. But to do that, you have to go hypocrite because you've been saying that the feds (DOE) should have no role in education policy because LoCAl cONtrOl. If the state is to have a role in education policy, it should be the State of California, not POTUS. I recall when republicans wanted to dismantle DOE bc the federal government should be hands off on education.
October 4Oct 4 1 hour ago, Js1 said: I recall when republicans wanted to dismantle DOE bc the federal government should be hands off on education. The golden rule. Rules are for thee, not for me
October 4Oct 4 19 hours ago, High Plains Drifter said: No, you're both-siding this bullshit. I’m shocked—SHOCKED—that a business school professor would have such dumb opinions. Well… not THAT shocked.
October 4Oct 4 30 minutes ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said: It’s been handled guys. I just sent off my sternly worded letter. Comic Sans, double spaced?
October 4Oct 4 1 hour ago, BrickHorn said: I’m shocked—SHOCKED—that a business school professor would have such dumb opinions. Well… not THAT shocked. When I was in grad school at UT during the late '90s, I ended up dropping a real estate course at the B-school because the professor was such an outspoken, bombastic jackass who had no fucking problem voicing his conservative politics. The first day, even before going over the syllabus, the dude was waving a copy of the AAS around and ranting about the "Austin American Socialist." After enduring more of that shit during the second class, I found another class where the professor acted like a professional. Now, you wanna know what I didn't do? I didn't make a stink in class and argue with him. I didn't go bitching to the dean or president and try to get him fired. I didn't start some organization with the intent to harass him or any other professors whose politics I disagree with. I didn't go bitching to my congressional or state rep and have Berdahl/Flawn/Faulkner (whoever was in charge at the time) fired. In other words, I didn't act like one of these kookie konservative kucks like Kirk or that bitch at ATM, because I actually believe in academic freedom and elected to choose a different fucking class. I wonder if @bschoolprof is that same low-class cunt. Edited October 4Oct 4 by bolverk
October 4Oct 4 Popular Post 3 minutes ago, bolverk said: When I was in grad school at UT during the late '90s, I ended up dropping a real estate course at the B-school because the professor was such an outspoken, bombastic jackass who had no fucking problem voicing his conservative politics. The first day, even before going over the syllabus, the dude was waving a copy of the AAS around and ranting about the "Austin American Socialist." After enduring more of that shit during the second class, I found another class where the professor acted like a professional. Now, you wanna know what I didn't do? I didn't make a stink in class and argue with him. I didn't go bitching to the dean or president and try to get him fired. I didn't start some organization with the intent to harass him or any other professors whose politics I disagree with. I didn't go to my bitching to my congressional or state rep and have Berdahl/Flawn/Faulkner (whomever was in charge at the time) fired. In other words, I didn't act like one of these kookie konservative kucks like Kirk or that bitch at ATM, because I actually believe in academic freedom and elected to choose a different fucking class. I wonder if @bschoolprof is that same low-class cunt.
October 4Oct 4 Last night I had that dream where I was in college, and I couldn't find my next class. At least I wasn't naked this time, too.
October 4Oct 4 NYT is nice to point out that we are uniquely embarrassing among the 9 schools that got this compact. Quote The proposal provoked a full spectrum of responses in higher education. Most of the nine schools that received the proposal declined to comment about it in detail. The University of Texas System, however, said it was “honored” that its Austin campus was in the mix. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/us/billionaire-marc-rowan-trump-deal-universities.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
October 4Oct 4 1 minute ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said: NYT is nice to point out that we are uniquely embarrassing among the 9 schools that got this compact. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/03/us/billionaire-marc-rowan-trump-deal-universities.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
October 5Oct 5 13 minutes ago, Chuckie Finster said: 0-1 since receiving this “honor.” AISD going down the shitter further. UT aligning itself with Trump. UT football falling apart.
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