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A university president makes a case against cowardice

(www.newyorker.com)
450 points pseudolus | 16 comments | 03 Apr 25 12:29 UTC | HN request time: 0.639s | source | bottom
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low_tech_love ◴[04 Apr 25 12:55 UTC] No.43581600[source]▶
Some personal highlights:

"They’re excellent schools, and they have excellent scientists, and if one of Vice-President Vance’s kids is sick, he’s going to want the doctor to have gone to one of these schools; he’s not going to want them to have gone to Viktor Orbán’s university."

"People have said to me, “Well, you take all that money from the government, why don’t you listen to them?” The answer is, because the money doesn’t come with a loyalty oath."

"I don’t have to agree with the mayor to get the fire department to come put out a fire. And that’s what they’re saying to these international students: “Well, you came to this country. What makes you think you can write an op-ed in the newspaper?” Well, what makes you think that is, this is a free country. "

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1. jgalt212 ◴[04 Apr 25 17:07 UTC] No.43585190[source]▶
> The answer is, because the money doesn’t come with a loyalty oath

But it does come with some reasonable level of consideration and appreciation.

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2. turtlesdown11 ◴[04 Apr 25 17:28 UTC] No.43585430[source]▶
"you didn't say thank you!!!"
replies(1): >>43586444 #
3. sigmar ◴[04 Apr 25 17:32 UTC] No.43585485[source]▶
You don't know how they feel, so what you're saying is "they have to show/express appreciation," which is synonymous with a loyalty oath.
replies(1): >>43586512 #
4. dfxm12 ◴[04 Apr 25 17:34 UTC] No.43585506[source]▶
Why do you think this?
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5. croes ◴[04 Apr 25 17:41 UTC] No.43585592[source]▶
The government pays to get good universities which attract smart foreign who come to the US to study on these universities.

Maybe the government should appreciate them not the other way around.

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6. skeaker ◴[04 Apr 25 17:43 UTC] No.43585605[source]▶
Being paid what you're owed doesn't necessitate gratitude.
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7. humanpotato ◴[04 Apr 25 18:29 UTC] No.43586111[source]▶
Consider that any competent manager will value polite debate and constructive criticism far more than the empty words of "yes" men.

Guess which category "reasonable ... consideration and appreciation" falls into.

Put another way, if you read North Korean state media, you will find that they always have a reasonable level of consideration and appreciation for their government.

8. jgalt212 ◴[04 Apr 25 18:57 UTC] No.43586409[source]▶
Yeah, I agree. The government appreciates, or should appreciate, the good uses its taxpayers' money is put towards. As to the other intractables above, appreciation and loyalty are very far from the same thing.
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9. jgalt212 ◴[04 Apr 25 18:59 UTC] No.43586428[source]▶
Because it's a transcation and there are two parties to the transaction. And for these transaction to occur in a repeated fashion neither side should feel they are being taken advantage of.
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10. ◴[04 Apr 25 19:01 UTC] No.43586444[source]▶
11. margalabargala ◴[04 Apr 25 20:20 UTC] No.43587224[source]▶
For those who disagree with this, when was the last time you thanked your boss for your paycheck?
12. standardUser ◴[04 Apr 25 20:26 UTC] No.43587289{3}[source]▶
I don't think anyone feels taken advantage of. I think most people involved in academia value the complexities and jagged edges that come with an international student body. And the outcome - the preeminent education system in the world that keeps the US at the cutting edge of science and technology and has for nearly a hundred years - is indisputable.
13. mlinhares ◴[04 Apr 25 21:10 UTC] No.43587633{3}[source]▶
I don't think it ever crosses these people's minds that some other country PAID FOR these people's education and they are now USING that education elsewhere for the profit of a foreign nation.

All my high school and college education was at free schools/colleges in my home country, paid for by taxpayer money. All incredibly competitive places, with very high maintenance costs compared to the other colleges around, not a single US dollar was invested in me and here I am paying taxes and improving this place.

The bargain the US gets from this is one of the biggest reasons it can do what it does, the investments it makes are compounded by the work of the people that it never put a dime for.

14. hekette ◴[04 Apr 25 21:33 UTC] No.43587820[source]▶
It is their right to be there. They do not have to show appreciation and the current government should never be one deciding these what is appreciation. Bowing to authority is exactly the opposite of what education is about.
15. kristjansson ◴[04 Apr 25 23:00 UTC] No.43588650[source]▶
What about e.g. writing an op-ed expressing one's views conveys a lack of consideration and appreciation?
16. tashi ◴[05 Apr 25 00:28 UTC] No.43589171{3}[source]▶
One of the problems with trying to apply the Objectivist view to a situation like this is that often experts need to tell their patrons true things they don't want to hear. I'll leave any sociological or economic examples aside and say, to pick a couple that Ayn Rand herself didn't believe, that smoking causes cancer and air pollution is bad for the human body. If the patron doesn't want to believe this new fact they have been told, they might feel taken advantage of. They might feel that if a science department got public funding only to come to those conclusions, that the scientists should be fired.