President Trump’s unprovoked attack on higher education was a call to action which has been answered by Harvard and leaders from over 100 other schools. It has also taught an important lesson: giving in to Trump’s attacks is not a sustainable strategy for any organization.
Several leaders of the nation’s top law firms appeared to capitulate to Trump’s demands only to find that he is reportedly reneging from formal commitments and demanding more. Even schools such as Columbia, who attempted to concede to Trump’s demands found those agreements failed. History has long taught us that such appeasement doesn’t work when concession is seen as weakness—or even as surrender.
The recent assaults by the Trump administration on American colleges and universities were exemplified by the demands issued to Harvard University in an April 11 letter. Harvard rejecting Trump’s demands was followed by the freezing of $2.2 billion of…
