from Hacker News

Federal Government's letter to Harvard demanding changes [pdf]

by moelf on 4/14/25, 6:13 PM with 113 comments

  • by dang on 4/14/25, 6:40 PM

    Related ongoing thread: Harvard's response to federal government letter demanding changes - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43684536

  • by bondarchuk on 4/14/25, 6:33 PM

    The points "Viewpoint Diversity in Admissions and Hiring" and "Discontinuation of DEI" seem inconsistent. Enforcing "viewpoint diversity" is a DEI practice in all but name. Actually, it is even in the name. Also with the merit-based stuff, of course. What if people of merit skew towards certain viewpoints? Then hiring/admissions won't be merit based after all?

  • by jl6 on 4/14/25, 7:59 PM

    > Viewpoint Diversity in Admissions and Hiring. By August 2025, the University shall commission an external party, which shall satisfy the federal government as to its competence and good faith, to audit the student body, faculty, staff, and leadership for viewpoint diversity, such that each department, field, or teaching unit must be individually viewpoint diverse.

    I kind of hope they go through with this just for the comedy. If students and staff have to fill out some kind of viewpoint survey, the only rational strategy is for them to randomize their answers to minimize the chance of being in the group that gets told “sorry, we have too many of your type this year”.

  • by johnea on 4/14/25, 10:02 PM

    I'm amazed this isn't flagged.

    The earnest determination of segemnts of the HN comments "community" to prevent discussion of topics they don't agree with is almost as concerning as the actions of this adminstration.

  • by typeofhuman on 4/15/25, 2:31 AM

    This is such a great move by this administration. The Executive branch has been doing this for a long time across the nation. They use funding to pull strings and execute their views. This latest move is ad absurdum and the whole country will see how ridiculous it is that the President can demand a university (or any other body) do this or that... well guess what folks, you're right, and it has been going on for a long time. Look at the Dept of Education next. It needs to stop. The federal Executive Branch is way too large it is breaking the idea of independent states - incubators of ideas and democracy.