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Speaking of which:

What’s going on at Columbia? What’s the state of the resistance there?

Columbia just •rescinded• degrees they’d granted. This wasn’t even just a politically motived expulsion, which would already be utterly horrifying. They ••revoked diplomas•• already granted.

That means if you get a degree from Columbia, you might suddenly, at the political whim of any random president, not have a degree anymore. All that money you paid, all that work you did? Poof! It can disappear overnight!

Can you imagine?! Can you imagine what that does to the expected value of a Columbia degree??

If I were a prospective student, I would really think twice about accepting an offer from Columbia now. Nope nope nope.

And if I were a current student, an alum, faculty…well, I’d be out for administrators’ heads on pikes (figuratively speaking), because everything I’ve invested in that place is going up in smoke.

An elite college degree is an investment with a payoff horizon of 20 or 40 or 60 years. It’s costly — not just in money, but in time, energy, years of life. People are only willing to invest in it because they believe the investment will endure.

If a Columbia degree is like a cheap roof that might just leak or collapse at any time, what’s their case? “Give us four years of your life, drain your savings, go into debt! Everything you worked for •might not• suddenly collapse!! Our degrees are just cheap paper anyway, right??”

Yes, strategies like this from @jhlibby:
https://newsie.social/@jhlibby/114179160299839205

You don’t even have to sue them out of existence. You just have to make the administration believe that they •could• face a devastating lawsuit.

Make them more afraid of complying with fascists than they are of fighting fascists. Make compliance existentially dangerous.

Now •there’s• a good question from @n1xnx.

A good question, and a possible avenue for applying pressure.

https://tilde.zone/@n1xnx/114179272234120261

@inthehands @n1xnx Considering what the accreditation boards have already let slide in Florida, North Carolina, etc. I am sadly convinced that threats of loss of accreditation are toothless against major institutions.

@jenniferplusplus @inthehands Not to diminish any of this, but it looks like the degree revocations are temporary, and for “students” (not alumni), with some kind of process for reinstatement. I can’t tell if this means they’ve revoked the potential to earn a degree, or revoked already-earned undergrad degrees from current graduate students, or what. But these details seem to have been overlooked by everyone posting about it.

https://communications.news.columbia.edu/news/university-statement-regarding-ujb-determinations

@dwineman @inthehands I'm not sure how that detail changes the fundamental dynamic, though? It sounds like a veneer of process laid over arbitrary self proclaimed authority.

@jenniferplusplus @inthehands The only thing it would change in my mind is the notion that it devalues a Columbia degree because they can claw it back once you’re no longer affiliated with the university, perhaps studying somewhere else or years into your career. Instead it seems to apply only to current CU students. It’s possible that those students are already under a code of conduct that allows this to happen.

But yes, either way it’s a very bad line to see crossed.

@dwineman @inthehands that doesn't make any actual difference, though. This is a power they gave themselves, and used arbitrarily. Whatever restriction they've self imposed can also be self removed. It's just an illusion make this seem more palatable to you.