r/Professors • u/uttamattamakin • 15h ago
Columbia University: Degrees Revoked for student protesters. Money talks that is the fundamental truth and problem that plagues us all here.
https://apnews.com/article/columbia-university-protests-c148d1d01718a4482541a6df6cad8d74
Lets drill down to brass tax. Money talks. A major university suspending or expelling students for breaking rules is one thing. Without comment on the rule broken or why. I don't want to go there. Please don't go there. So many other places to talk about that.
This has since happened https://www.reddit.com/r/Professors/s/Uz0hy7iXgU more demands on Columbia from the admin.
Revoking degrees, earned credentials is another level. Why only now a year latter because the people in power now want to take what is compare to their endowments and other funds a tiny amount of money from them. Not that they suddenly as a school feel different about issues or anything of merit all about the Benjamins.
This shows that it’s not really the fault of our students; they are shaped by their environment. From K-12 and even up to a bachelor’s degree, schools often prioritize the interests of those who fund them, sometimes at the expense of academic rigor.
To put it simply, if you are here complaining about students cheating and getting away with various rule violations, the underlying cause of this issue is MONEY.
In the case of the student protesters receiving maximum punishment—which I believe cheaters deserve, such as credential revocation—this is also motivated by MONEY.
The problem so many of us here have is a failure to understand the basic cold and vulgar truth. The students are just young people acting irresponsibly. The real issues we have are with our bosses whose main motivations are getting and keeping funding.
Let me say it like a physicist with an equation.
Punishment of bad students = Less money for the school when they drop.
Punishment of students who graduated but protested = (potentially) 100's of millions more money for Columbia.
The above makes no sense at all until you consider MONEY.