Okay. Then let the financially struggling medical school fire staff, close down research programs, and hang on for dear life. But, HMS will have its principles even though closed for business. (Only the lawyers will win.)
2 Likes
Personally, I think Harvard with its billion dollar endowment will manage to keep its med school.
Here is what that concerns me with a kid who is planning on Med School⊠they are a biochem major with a 3.9 GPA, who is doing research at a flagship public university. Their research funding will be eliminated, there wonât be many med schools to apply to because once their funding is eliminated they will close.
Good news⊠Canada has a shortage of healthcare workers, so their med schools are looking to clean up the brain drain. There are med schools in Britain and Ireland. There are even med schools in Europe that have a curriculum wholly taught in English. Boards are the same if kid wants to practice in US. And none of it involves graduating with a half million in debt. Their job would be doctoring, not dealing with insurance. Plus, Iâm moving to Europe, so happy to have kid closer
1 Like
They can fight, deal with some near-term pain, hope that he backs down (not a bad bet; see: the China tariffs), and bide their time for the next administrationâhe wonât be President forever!âor they can agree to operate under the thumb of an aspiring dictator, subject to his every whim, forced to ânegotiateâ away all of their values and independence.
Principles matter. Seeing institutions like Harvard stand by their principles is inspiring to others that might be inclined to cave. The University presidentsâ letter followed Harvardâs decision to fight. Other institutions are making supportive statements. This is how civil society survives.
8 Likes
2 Likes
80% of Harvardâs endowment is restricted as a result of the specific uses required by the donors. In other words, these dollars are not available for Harvardâs general fund, not available to pay the bills in areas of shortage, and not available to balance the budget.
Harvard does not need or want your sympathy. Harvard is a major medical research institution. It is the health of the nation which suffers from this kind of irresponsible disruption.
Four years ago, my wife was diagnosed with an advanced type of cancer which was a death sentence in a previous generation. But she is here today because of advances in treatment which were developed at Harvard Medical School.
My sympathy goes to the other victims of disease whose lives will not be saved because the research which could have saved or extended their lives has been shut down.
13 Likes
Youâre objecting to the development of new treatments which extend life??? Which of those patients would give those years back which they have received as the result of life extending treatment?
Since you asked, ovarian cancer is one disease where Harvard has made major breakthroughs and women are living longer as a result.
7 Likes
Hep C. I remember my patients dying of Hep C. What gruesome deaths! And the old attempts at treatments: miserable, unreliable, dangerous. Now thereâs a cure. Itâs like Poof! Youâre cured!
H. Pylori. I remember my grandmother nearly dying of a severe ulcer perforation. Now itâs cured in 2 weeks.
10 Likes
Oh, or remember when you would have a mom pregnant with identical twins, and she would call at 17 weeks saying she had âpoppedâ over night and was âso tightâ and a chill would run down your spine because you knew that wasnât cute, it was TTTS, and it was either going to end with her holding 2 dead babies in the bereavement room, or her making the impossible decision to occlude one cord to maybe salvage the other twin which might go on have a lifetime of disabilities? But now you can rush her in for Solomonization, and she gets 2 living healthy babies?
(Gosh, I shouldnât go on, this will give me nightmares. I would never want to return to the way I had to practice 30 years ago)
9 Likes
This thread is a microcosm of public engagement with science. âWho needs experts and professionalsâŠwhenâs the last time they did something great?â Oh, brother. HMS losing funding is a tragedy for progressâŠan unnecessary interruption in the kind of work that takes decades to build, and yes this work comes to fruition as a reduction in human suffering worldwide (and in the USA). Ugh.
12 Likes
And its corollary- âGet the government out of my lifeâ. Usually uttered by someone whose entire existence is thanks to the government- SNAP, Medicaid/Medicare, grandchildren in a federally funded Head Start program, subsidized housing. Or their middle class counterpart- went to college thanks to the GI Bill, was able to afford to buy a house due to one or more federal programs, relied on FEMA when a tornado blew said house down, and is now complaining that their flood insurance rates are âtoo d%^& highâ now that they actually reflect the market price of an actual flood, and not the artificially low price of a federally paid for flood plan.
I agree with your scientific assessment- this is a tragic and totally self-inflicted form of insanity.
9 Likes
Like they had a choice?
Remember when Elise Stefanik called 3 Ivy League presidents to testify before Congress? It cost them their jobs. Thereâs a reason why they called those 3.
The administration was going to find an excuse to target symbols of the âintellectual eliteâ regardless of what issue they identified as the battle cry of the moment. Harvard didnât pick this fight and thereâs no way they were going to avoid it. If it wasnât one contrived issue, it would be another.
Looking for compromise in this situation would simply invite further rapacious behaviour by the aggressors in this instance.
5 Likes
100%. The very real problem that they use as an excuse for this is not solved by this either, so itâs a lose-lose.
2 Likes
The challenge is who is to say itâs only 4 years? And that there wonât be future demands even in this administration.
Iâve never known the executive branch to give back power once it has it - no matter who the president is.
Based on statements of the administration, this appears to be punishment for viewpoints and conclusions that faculty at Harvard (and other institutions) have reached. Which would be counter to the First Amendment.
If the administration kept it narrow to a civil rights complaint on behalf of Jewish students, it would hold up to scrutiny, b/c it seems likely that some universities did not protect Jewish students civil rights adequately. But this does not appear to be the case with these threats.
4 Likes
They didnât keep it narrow for a reason. The safety of Jewish students was never the real issue for the administration. That was simply a convenient topic for them to seize upon.
6 Likes
Thatâs my impression.
If I were a president of a university, I think Iâd only offer to review the way campusâ allow protests that protect students rights to attend classes without being harassed but also protect free speech rights of the students protesting. There is room for clean up there, but I think Iâd just leave it at that.
1 Like
Yes.
What Iâve never understood is why there was no college president went to the protests, mingled with the students, and engaged them in conversation. Or at least sent a designee in her place. Even Richard Nixon famously did this during the anti-war protests during his administration. Probably for safety and security reasons, he went into the âtrenchesâ at 5:00 in the morning to engage the students and exchange points of view. If a president of the country could do that during one of the countryâs most volatile times and after a series of assassinations, why has a university president been unable to do that today?
3 Likes
I agree⊠there should have been more engagement from the university with the protestors, and I think there was a missed opportunity there.
1 Like
To be clear, Canada is welcoming medical researchers and practitioners, not prospective medical students. It is incredibly competitive to get admitted to med school in Canada due to a lack of spots (why they arenât expanded I have no idea) and high demand. While itâs extremely challenging to get a spot as a domestic student, itâs nigh on impossible as an international as most spots are primarily reserved for in-province domestic applicants. Domestic students who are unsuccessful in getting a spot are themselves looking to alternative countries like in the UK and US to get an admit.
My older son has a number of highly talented friends who have been admitted but a few more that have so far been unsuccessful. Fingers crossed that second time is the charm.
4 Likes
Maybe due to lack of cadavers. Cost.