• @KnitWit@lemmy.world
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    1906 months ago

    Thanks for the 4 years tuition though!

    I could see them barring them from walking for their degree, but to hold it completely is messed up. Bullshit that ‘the corporation’ overruled the faculty vote.

    • @spamfajitas@lemmy.world
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      616 months ago

      The fun thing is that people say “I graduated” or “I’m graduating” but it’s technically more correct to say “I am being graduated (by the university).” I might be mixing it up a bit, but the idea is that the university always has the final say over whether or not you get that important piece of paper at the end.

      One of my teachers in high school taught us this, but I never actually thought I’d see it in action. It’s cruel.

      • @Croquette@sh.itjust.works
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        376 months ago

        Which is bullshit. If you got the grades and paid your tuition, a university should not be able to withhold your degree. They can ban you from the graduation ceremony, but that’s it.

        It is crazy that a university hold such power over someone.

        • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          Harvard doesn’t give grades. You either pass, fail, or pass with honors, more or less entirely at the whim of your professors.

          It’s much more of a social club than a school, and being denied a degree is more akin to having your country club membership revoked than your credentials refuted.

          It’s almost pro-forma, as the real benefit of attending Harvard is rubbing shoulders with the children of billionaires. The goal is to find someone willing to become your financial patron, not to hold a piece of paper confirming that you did all your homework.

          If these kids are on the outs with the school board, they’ve already been blacklisted by anyone that matters.

  • @some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    656 months ago

    Look, the most important voices are the non-scholastic billionaire donors. Why would you care about the opinions of those engaged in pedagogy? This is a business, not a school!

  • Veraxus
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    566 months ago

    Vile. I hope those students sue those bigoted, genocidal pigs into the dirt.

    • @FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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      286 months ago

      Ah, technically no grounds for lawsuit. Protesting on the institution’s private property was against their code of conduct. Hopefully people start withdrawing support for Harvard, leading to declining business.

      • @Maggoty@lemmy.world
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        106 months ago

        Lol bullshit. This board decision is literally unprecedented. Even in the face of previous student protests. It’s a complete rug pull after a massive time and financial investment. I can’t remember the name right now but that’s 100 percent actionable in US courts.

        • @FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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          6 months ago

          It certainly doesn’t sound actionable, but if it is grounds for lawsuit because the faculty was overruled then I would be very supportive.

          Whether the board have overruled faculty before or not doesn’t change the code of conduct which existed even before the protests, or the institution’s ability to make decisions on ending business with students over their actions on the institution property. The fact that the school haven’t acted against students in previous protests says nothing of their authority to do so.

          • @Maggoty@lemmy.world
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            26 months ago

            Found it, it’s called Promissory Estoppel. Basically the University has not done this before and that creates a reasonable expectation, both because of a lack of precedent and because the majority of their marketing is that people who do the work and pay the money will get a degree.

            • @FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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              16 months ago

              That term refers to a defense of breaking a contract’s terms, so I suppose you could use it to describe students breaking the code of conduct with the expectations that it wouldn’t be enforceable as long as the students can demonstrate resulting financial harm in court.

        • @Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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          176 months ago

          Yeah, but you’d be profiting from a platform that has repeatedly enabled genocide and other human rights violations, election fraud and the like. And Zuckerberg shows no sign of ever letting them stop as long as it continues to drive engagement and therefore be profitable.

          Do you really want that blood money?

          • @stanleytweedle@lemmy.world
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            56 months ago

            Every dollar you earn or spend has blood on it, not to mention the blood dripping from whatever device you used to write that comment. Kind of selective to shit on facebook stockholders like they’re uniquely culpable for the harm unregulated capitalism facilitates.

            • @Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              Not uniquely, but worse than most, since FB knows the problems, knows exactly how to fix them and actively chooses not to in order to maximize profits.

              Not to mention that I happen to consider things like genocide and ethnic cleansing the worst of all crimes, which makes abetting those worse than the crimes of most other companies.

              Fact is that Facebook is one of the most powerful entities in the world, more powerful than many if not most countries and they’re knowingly abusing that power for profit.

              There’s nothing weird about holding them more accountable than for example a company with shoddy wages and working conditions. That’s of course unacceptable too, but it’s nothing compared to the atrocities of Facebook.

              • @stanleytweedle@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                since FB knows the problems, knows exactly how to fix them and actively chooses not to in order to maximize profits.

                Yeah FB is totally unique in that regard- lol.

                They’re just big and public and make a lot of news that you’ve heard about. Dig deeper into the financial system and you’ll find you live in a blood fountain theme park and you’re covered in it too. But I know some people can’t feel good about themselves without feeling morally superior to someone else so I guess if shitting on FB stock in particular is what you need who am I to deny you ;)

                • @Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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                  26 months ago

                  Again: genocide. Ethnic cleansing. Huge scale election fraud. Basically contributing to the demise of civilized society on hundreds if not thousands of occasions.

                  I know that basically all big companies are awful in one way or the other (usually several), but there is such a thing as differences in scale and there’s no doubt that FB is one of the worst of the worst.

          • Echo Dot
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            46 months ago

            If you’re basing your financial decisions on moral standings there’s going to be a lot of companies you can’t invest with. I’d argue that in order to be successful you have to unfortunately invest with unsavory people and companies.

            Some of the most profitable companies in the world will be Banks that hid Nazi gold, companies who underpay their workforces, and manufacturers who use child labor in China.

            Obviously I wouldn’t invest with them, but I also don’t have any money to invest. You find me a morally aware investment banker, should be a fun search.

            • @Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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              76 months ago

              If you’re basing your financial decisions on moral standings there’s going to be a lot of companies you can’t invest with

              Obviously.

              I’d argue that in order to be successful you have to unfortunately invest with unsavory people and companies

              Whereas I’d argue that that’s a poor excuse for knowingly profiting off of suffering.

              Some of the most profitable companies in the world will be Banks that hid Nazi gold, companies who underpay their workforces, and manufacturers who use child labor in China.

              Which is why people who value ethics higher than wealth hoarding try to not do business with those companies when it’s avoidable.

              You find me a morally aware investment banker, should be a fun search.

              By definition impossible since stock trading is inherently immoral as it’s a fake wealth casino for the rich with (usually negative) real world consequences for everyone else.

              • Echo Dot
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                6 months ago

                I’d argue that that’s a poor excuse for knowingly profiting off of suffering

                It’s not an excuse it’s a justification

                I feel like you’ll miss him the point. You’re expecting people who don’t share your values to share your values. Why would they do that?

            • @Dasus@lemmy.world
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              36 months ago

              I’d argue that in order to be successful you have to unfortunately invest with unsavory people and companies

              “I know that I’m gonna have to do sns support non-ethical things. Straight up genocides even. But I personally don’t care, because I want money so I can pretend that ‘I’ve made it’”

              You find me a morally aware investment banker, should be a fun search.

              " Hey, I’m just in the slave trade because it’s so damn profitable. I would love doing it morally, but you try to find me a moral seller of slaves! "

              • Echo Dot
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                16 months ago

                Yeah that’s exactly what they think. I’m only pointing it out I don’t agree with it.

      • @FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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        16 months ago

        Imagine an alternate timeline where you owned 12% of Facebook in 2003. Everything that happened still happens, except now you have money and some other facebook investor has a little less.

        • @UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          I mean, over a career, that’s practically trivial. The $300-500k you pay in tuition can quickly be recouped when your starting salary is in the $200-400k range and only goes up from there. You’ll be doing far better as a Harvard grad than a trade school apprentice. And if you’re an aspiring SCOTUS judge or Fortune 500 CEO, there’s few places that offer you better prospects. After that, the sky’s the limit. 1000% ROI is conservative.

          But just getting into Harvard requires a certain exceptional resume and social standing. Bush getting into Yale and Kennedy getting into Harvard are less the exception than the rule. The MBA is just the way you signal to people not immediately familiar with you that you’re “in the club”.

          But if you run off and spit in the face of American Imperialism, clearly someone at the Harvard admissions board made a mistake.

  • Onno (VK6FLAB)
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    346 months ago

    I can just see an alumni from another institution waiving their fees just to go after Harvard for this “decision”.

  • @Warjac@lemmy.world
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    236 months ago

    So they aren’t being given their first amendment rights… Oh boy I can’t wait to see how this plays out at other companies.

    • @the_joeba@lemmy.world
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      336 months ago

      Harvard isn’t a government funded organization, so the first amendment doesn’t apply. Hopefully the students find a way to sue based on the college’s own rules though.

      • @FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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        106 months ago

        Well, technically, they do receive some government funding but the terms of the funds being allotted don’t include adherence to the first amendment. It’s not an entity controlled by state or federal government directly.

        • @girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
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          56 months ago

          Then all gov’t funding should stop immediately.

          If a business doesn’t want to follow the Constitution, it gets zero tax dollars.

          Btw as a Canadian I’m amazed that private businesses have this option at all. It makes no logical sense.

          • Dran
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            6 months ago

            Businesses “follow the constitution” here. The nuance is that the first amendment (freedom of speech) explicitly only applies to consequences from government. As a private corporation, the people running Harvard have the right to their own speech, in this case: a policy denying graduation, without consequence from the government.

            I in no way endorse the speech that Harvard is expressing, but I do have the right to impose my own consequences on them for it (I.E not supporting things they do financially, disparaging them in an online forum like Lemmy, etc). The constitution prevents the US government from punishing Harvard for these actions in the same ways, unless a law has explicitly been broken.

          • @FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today
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            26 months ago

            Okay but if a dude spends his stimulus package on a down payment for a vehicle then does the Government get to tell him how to use it? Government funding doesn’t equal control in the USA, the terms of the funds were agreed upon long before it was received.

      • @Warjac@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        I should like to think the law sees this a violation of the right the students have. Because to me if a private organization that has the power to give you a degree as you’ve paid for it’s services and proven yourself as competent and that degree is recognized by employers, the government etc. Then it should have no right to impose it’s values on people while withholding the end product of their use of services provided in the first place.

        Anything otherwise would imply the organization can supercede the government. That would mean cases like this could come from other organizations that prop up would-be government functions and cause a ton of chaos.

        I would understand if the protest was a major violation of the rules or it was intended to be a riot or some such other violent event but if my source for what happened is correct then that’s not the case and this whole thing is a petty squabble coming directly from the board of Harvard.

  • @KnitWit@lemmy.world
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    206 months ago

    My read on the article was that this was the corporation tipping their hand on how that process was going to play out, but I could certainly be wrong. read to me like the faculty voted for them to graduate, but this was the board vetoing that and affirming that they were still to be dealt with, and that the consequences were going to be grim. Hopefully that’s not the case.

  • @boatsnhos931@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Harvard must not be what it used to be, a little strategy would have told them to keep up their efforts but lay low until they get the degree. Don’t worry, this conflict will be around long enough for your kids to act like maniacs with you. Sticks and stones may break my bones but idgaf about your down votes!

    • @explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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      76 months ago

      Once they get the degree:

      a little strategy would have told them to keep up their efforts but lay low until they’re financially independent.

      Over and over until

      a little strategy would have told them to keep up their efforts but lay low until their kids get their degree.

      • @boatsnhos931@lemmy.world
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        16 months ago

        Or don’t, it’s their tuition and time that was wasted. Not mine.If you want to look at it like that maybe they never should have went at all. Is that what you want to hear? Keep running into walls your entire life so I can have entertainment.

          • @boatsnhos931@lemmy.world
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            16 months ago

            Never went to college is what I was referring to. It’s ironic that they are here protesting for countries that aren’t as friendly towards protests even during non war times, ain’t it fellow intellectual? Don’t think about that though, Muslim countries are super straight to live in. There’s no one that is alive to disagree.

            • @explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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              36 months ago

              You’re jerking yourself off over your own misconception. They’re protesting for the Palestinian people (including women and children), not Hamas.