One of the main reasons why you dump bad news on a Friday is that you don’t want a lot of pickup so it goes away faster than dropping it on a Monday when more people are following the news. That’s especially true for a news dump the Friday after Thanksgiving.

So, that was probably on the mind of Northwestern’s senior administration when they dropped the news that they became the latest university to give up their autonomy to Deranged Moron Old Person Donald Trump. They paid the bribe, yes, BRIBE to the U.S. Treasury to end investigations of “anti-Semitism” and restore their funding.

The 75 million dollars was the second biggest payout to the Trump administration, second only to the 200 mil that Columbia paid out for the privilege of caving to Trump. That these are both among the nation’s best journalism schools makes this personally infuriating to me as a guy with a journalism degree. I will add that this wasn’t something the faculty of Northwestern was actually pulling for. It didn’t do all that well when it was put to a faculty vote, to say the least.

And oh by the way, there was also this:

And one more other thing I’m seeing now, that Northwestern unsurprisingly didn’t mention in its statement, effectively banning gender affirming care at NU school of medicine

— Matthew Eadie (@mattheweadie.bsky.social) 2025-11-29T02:32:08.942Z

From our elite punditry to our elite institutions, it sometimes feels like they are constantly itching to throw trans folks under the proverbial bus. So, this is no surprise. It also shouldn’t be a surprise when it turns out this won’t end the administration’s harassment of the university. Because, once again, this really isn’t about anti-Semitism or creating an open campus.

To quote writer Te-Nihisi Coates on this matter, “Y’all are punks.” You are not going to be remembered well…just ask your history professors how time treats those who cave. Any flowery speech you give in the future about leadership, well, at least some of us will remember this time and how it makes your words meaningless (or worse).

Not to mention, this has opened a can of worms that the Very Serious and Prestigious Leaders of Our Revered Institutions do not, or will not, understand. Just ask the University of Oklahoma.

Oklahoma University has placed a grad student instructor on admin leave for failing a psychology paper on gender for citing *the Bible* as a source of empirical evidence.In response, OU has placed on instructor on admin leave citing, get this, the FIRST AMENDMENT.Universities are cooked.

— Nathan Kalman-Lamb (@nkalamb.bsky.social) 2025-12-01T12:28:39.435Z

Along with “being the worst people on the planet,” another value statement of the current GOP/MAGA movement is “if they give you an inch, take a mile.” They cannot be appeased, ever. Not until you are destroyed. That’s the goal, not fucking anti-Semitism.

This is the student’s mother, by the way. Huh, wonder if this has anything to do with her podcast or being an “entrepreneur.”

As folks have noted in the replies, the student's mother is something of a MAGA public figure (and lawyer).This is obviously a purposeful stunt to attack a trans graduate student, which is sick af and must be opposed on the grounds.It is simultaneously an assault on university pedagogy.

— Nathan Kalman-Lamb (@nkalamb.bsky.social) 2025-12-01T15:12:36.452Z

So, this is clearly a case where a student turned in bad work and used some whiny “I’m being targeted for my beliefs” excuse to avoid any consequence. The right hates consequences. From knowing a few Penn State faculty, the idea that a GOPer/right-wing student would do something like this is not exactly new, but I imagine it will become much more common.

I would be remiss to not show how the faculty member being targeted (she is now suspended) was being reasoned and nuanced in her response, which no doubt angered the student.

idk not to mention how very nuanced and normal the actual response here was

— gwen howerton (@kissphoria.bsky.social) 2025-11-29T15:45:15.348Z

“But in an academic course such as this, you are being asked to support your ideas with empirical evidence and higher-level reasoning.” My goodness, this is generally frowned upon in our current society by anyone to the right of Joe Manchin/Rahm Emanuel (both sides have good opinions, do not question them!), but to an Oklahoma right-wing Christian, this probably was enough to make them roll on the floor speaking in tongues while chewing on their own limbs.

And now they have been emboldened by some (definitely not all) senior university administrators to up the pressure and damage they are doing to American higher education. Good job, dummies.

The last word goes to Vampire Weekend.