The Daily Signal - VDH: Elite Universities Final Cave to Trump

Episode Date: July 18, 2025

Elite universities know they’re in the wrong. For years, they’ve been:  Charging upwards of 60% for “overhead” costs for federal research grants. Blatantly violating the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 Civil Rights ruling barring race-based admissions and hiring practices.  Allowing rampant antisemitism on campus. Reliant on international students from illiberal regimes. Facing both mounting pressure from the Trump administration to change their ways, and vocal opposition from their Marxist students and faculty to remain the same, university presidents are starting to fold: So, how do these presidents do it? They're afraid of their students. They're afraid of their Marxist faculty. So what they're doing is, essentially, they're talking to the Trump administration. And they're going to go right back and they're going to say, ‘You know, I did not want to do this. I really did not want to cut a deal. I want to keep going with DEI. I think we have a right to. But I can't. Donald Trump's a tough customer. If I don't cut a deal with him, we're gonna go broke. We'll get no federal funds. We'll get no federal grants. We'll get an even bigger tax on our endowment. So I've got to cut a deal. He made me do it.’ 👉Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1  👉If you can’t get enough of Victor Davis Hanson from The Daily Signal, subscribe to his official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@victordavishanson7273  👉He’s also the host of “The Victor Davis Hanson Show,” available wherever you prefer to watch or listen. Links to the show and exclusive content are available on his website: https://victorhanson.com  The Daily Signal cannot continue to tell stories, like this one, without the support of our viewers: https://secured.dailysignal.com/  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At Desjardin, we speak business. We speak equipment modernization. We're fluent in data digitization and expansion into foreign markets. And we can talk all day about streamlining manufacturing processes. Because at Desjardin business, we speak the same language you do. Business. So join the more than 400,000 Canadian entrepreneurs who already count on us. And contact Desjardin today.

We'd love to talk. Business. Donald Trump is negotiating with the college presidents and elite universities, places like Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UC Berkeley. He apparently wants them to make concessions in order for them to receive federal funds. They're afraid of their students. They're afraid of their Marxist faculty. So what they're doing is essentially they're going to say, I really did not want to cut a deal. Donald Trump's a tough customer. If I don't cut a deal with him, we're going to go broke. Hello, this is Victor Davis Hansen for the Daily Signal.

Donald Trump is negotiating with the college presidents and elite universities in general, places like Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, UC Berkeley. And he apparently wants them to make concessions in order for them to receive federal funds. They are resisting him, at least initially they were, But as this duel enters the public domain, I think the university presidents are kind of worried because they know what they've been doing. We've discussed that. They were overcharging the government, maybe up to 50 percent surcharges overhead on federal grants. They had violated the Supreme Court's 2003 civil rights rulings.

They had racial preferences and hiring, promotion, admissions, separate graduation, separate dorms predicated on one's race. There was an epidemic of anti-Semitism. They were bringing in 300,000 students, most of whom from illiberal regimes in China, China and the Middle East, etc., etc. They don't want that to be known. And yet, if you look at the protest on campus, the students and what the faculty are saying, they don't want to back down. So these presidents are saying, listen, We have limited funds. If we lose billions of dollars from the federal government, that's one thing. If they tax our endowment income, that's another. If we can only charge 15% surcharges on federal grants, that's a third. And we're going to lose four or five, $600 million a year. We've got to cut a deal.

So how do these presidents do it? They're afraid of their students. They're afraid of their Marxist faculty. So what they're doing is essentially they're talking to the Trump administration, and they're going to go right back. and they're going to say, you know, I did not want to do this. I really did not want to cut a deal. I want to keep going with DEI. I think we have a right to, but I can't. Donald Trump's a tough customer. If I don't cut a deal with him, we're going to go broke.

We'll get no federal funds. We'll get no federal grants. We'll get an even bigger tax on our endowment. So I've got to cut a deal. He made me do it. In other words, Donald Trump will prove if these presidents are smart to be a useful vehicle. They will use him as the greater threat so they can tell their own faculty and students who would destroy the university, had their way, that the president has no choice, but now to make moderate reforms on the prompt of Donald Trump or face the consequences later,

which would be veritable bankruptcy. Thank you very much. This is Victor Davis-Hansson for The Daily Signal. Thank you for tuning in to The Daily Signal. Please like, share, and subscribe to be notified for more content like this. You can also check out my own website at victorhansan.com and subscribe for exclusive features in addition.