Steven Pinker on Harvard, Trump and Academic Freedom

45 thoughts on “Steven Pinker on Harvard, Trump and Academic Freedom”

1. Transcript here: https://quillette.com/2025/06/01/the-problem-with-harvard-derangement-syndrome-pinker/

2. Harvard has to either reform of fall. The independence of Harvard is much less important than cleaning the academia of the Marxist domination. If they teach Marxism, they're not entitled to a cent of my money. American society has to see Harvard for what it is: a Marxist dominated cesspool which doesn't want to clean antisemitism and woke teachers. No race based admissions, no antisemitism, no anti-americanism. If Harvard doesn't reform, it must be shut down, as a warning to other universities who might entertain similar ideas. My personal grief is with "professor" (activist) Rochelle Gutierez of University of Chicago who idiotically claimed that "math is racist". I do not trust the University which hasn't immediately fired an imbecile like that.

3. Freedom of speech :
   1. On the streets we have yelling, screaming, hollering, shouting, chanting, drum beating, flag waving, pushing, blocking, intimidating…

   2. On college campuses, we're supposed to have calm, mature, intelligent discussion, discourse, debate….

   Seems like Harvard has replaced 2 with 1

4. Why does Harvard need foreign students or government research money?

   The US is overrun with foreign students for two reasons. The first is that the universities grew to accommodate the baby boom generation (full disclosure, I are one). The second is that foreign students generally pay full freight in cash.

   The plain fact of the matter is that we have too many schools and too many places in those schools. We are already seeing the retrenchment with lower enrollments and some smaller schools shutting down. For another example, look at China. They are graduating record numbers of students and at least half can't find jobs. Many are working as delivery drivers or in low end factory jobs. The other thing (true in both countries) is that, at least in the US. 40% of graduates are in jobs that do not require a degree. That brings up another issue. The number and type of degrees has exploded in the few of decades. This is related to the bulge in the size of the universities mentioned above. Most of these are useless.

   As for research money, why isn't Harvard using its endowment first. The government should only fund research that furthers national priorities. Most, if not all, social science research does not, for example. Look at Harvard's endowment. If they make 5% on the money that equates to $2.5B per year. If you limit the overhead, this is at least what the government gives in grants and contracts to Harvard. Even assuming no further contributions, they could easily fund their research in perpetuity from what they have now. Of course, they would be much more selective now, wouldn't they.

   As for the political bias of the universities, that is a very important issue, and it needs to be addressed.

5. The government distorts in cripples science by funding research contracts in the first place. That does not increase scientific advancement, it prevents it. Go up, and progress stagnates.

6. Defunding is not new. It was used to make schools in the south integrate black students.

   Now defunding is being used to get Harvard to stop violating title vi of the civil rights code against their Jewish students.

   But they simply refuse to comply.

   And as we've come to see, words do matter, especially words calling for the death of Jews worldwide. ie., globalize the intifada.

   If students were calling for death, to black people around the world or even just fat shaming other students, harvard would not put up with it, but when it comes to the Jews, they a non entity to this university. So yes peter garber, Harvard should be defunded. They should get no tax breaks, and they should not be allowed.
   To admit foreign students as they are too irresponsible to vette them properly.

7. Pinker's tell was the wishy-washy support for Claudine Gay. Pretty tough to watch- not a lot changed since original article, you need a stick to make effective change.

8. Institutional welfare payments need to end

9. “I’m not going to shill but I’m going to shill.”

10. The American university academy is a religious cult whose theology is based on left-wing ideology, just like the Russian universities during the Cold War where there was only one correct ideology, in which dissent was a crime and uniformity of thought was imposed from above. The Ivy League universities are at their worst, the public opinion is overwhelmingly against their elitist and arrogant promotion of anti-democratic ideology.

11. Pinker deserves huge credit for providing his "Enlightenment Now" for translation and free distribution in Muslim-majority countries. What we see in today's academics has the vibe of Weimar Germany Academia as described by Leonard Peikoff's "Cause of Hiler's Germany." Why not, then, defend Judeo-Christian Hindu-Dharma and non-Woke Secular civilizations with a rational American to Foreign student body proportion? Better yet, why not creating a followup to de-Nazification with acdemic courses of de-Palestination and de-Wokefication?

12. Progressivism is so dominant across campuses right now that it seems hasty and premature to already be worrying about things going too far the other way.

13. The video fade-in, fade-outs are very annoying, almost nauseating. I mean that literally, not figuratively. Also, it gives the appearance that lots of bits are deleted.

14. What has Harvard produced in past 25 years that has improved the human condition?

15. 12.18 name 10 breakthrough in medicine in 25 years from Harvard.

16. Steven Pinker has to knoyw that Standardized testing is a total scam.

17. Charges of mass antisemitism are a hosx designed to shield Israel from legitimate criticism and the mealy mouthed Steven Pinker famned well knows it.

18. Free speech is great and Harvard needs it, but it is not a progressive university, It only allows free speech to uncle toms.racism is ossified and too deep, this is the problem in lies through commission and omission
    Why does legacy count

19. "Academic freedom" you mean freedom to indoctrinate and endorse antisemitism and anti-American values.

20. It's terrible how Harvard indoctrinates all their students, turning them into woke, DEI loving, Anti-American Progessives. And then??? They infiltrate the highest reaches of our government, pushing their Socialist agenda to destroy America from within.

    Need proof? Ted Cruz, Harvard. Tom Cotton, Harvard. Pete Hegseth, RFK, Jr., Harvard. My goodness, Vivek Ramaswamy wants to be Governor of Ohio! Can you imagine what will happen when he takes all that Harvard Wokeness to Ohio? Even SCOTUS is in danger: John Roberts and, how did Trump miss this…. Neil Gorsuch! We have to purge our government of these dangerous people.

21. You do realize that America has been dealing with the marxist "long march through the institutions for over 50 years right? These leftists have spent that time taking over our universities. Just look at the percentage of the faculty at ANY university. Having 80 or 90 percent leftist faculty is not uncommon. these places have been indoctrinating young people for half a century for gods sake. We finally have a chance to do something about it and you want us to go for half measures? When these people were in control they werre doing crazy shit like forcing faculty into struggle sessions if they hadnt shown sufficient support for "equity". Alot of these schools were open about not hiring conservatives too.. I'm a 2 time obama voter who switched to trump, I'm not some rabid partisan. This was starting to become a big problem while I was in college during the early 2010's. You two are waaay off base here

22. I respected Pinker untul his Monk Debate against Douglas murray. Pinker is a shallow thinker who was not able to match-up to the intellect and knowledge of Douglas Murray. I will never spend a cent towards a book authored by Pinker.

23. Mr Pinker may be a real liberal but his defense of the liberal values in Harvard itself has failed.
    Trump's policies towards Harvard may be misguided or too far reaching. Harvard has itself to blame for that as it itself went too far the other way and the problem with that is that there is no easy way back. The same can be said about quite some other universities all over the so called global West.

24. I feel so sorry for Harvard. They could just come out and say "We admit, hire, promote and run the show on the basis of critical racism. Accommodation is segregated, we like that. Jews, if any come, will be abandoned to the intifada."
    Tell the government to stick their money. Pursue your dreams with Qatar, China, alumni, and $53,000,000,000.

25. Oh. Dear profesor! You just do not prevented that sombody was kick out od Harvard and at the same time you say that there arę procedures…. IT is not working. And people responsible for that face no consequences… IT sad to see, as you try to seat at both sides. Unless you arę conformist….

26. Pinker is overrated. He's out here fighting against much needed change in our higher learning institutions.

27. Harvard is an Anti-American, Anti-Western, Marxist indoctrination camp.

    It is an enemy to the Free People of The West.

28. With reasonably high SAT and GPA minima, Harvard would still have many more applicants than spots. Using a lottery to select from that set is fair, takes some pressure off high school students, and lessens both the big-headedness of the admitted and the heartbreak of the rejected.

29. It's more dramatic them you present. The university's function as a branch of the Democratic Party and were responsible for directly attacking Trump and many others through their censorship projects under the name of misinformation. You present it like, oh sure, it went a little too far. No. It's full on partisan sport.

30. Don't pretend that DEI was ever anything nice, or friendly, or unifying. You know perfectly well it wasn't.

31. If the government funded research that Harvard does is so critical to the survival of western civilization, they why wouldn't it be willing to give up its political alliance with anti-American international student activists?

32. I noticed how this issue/conversation was framed in the introduction – and I wasn't happy. It was a distortion of the situation. Harvard is both "segregationist" and also "racist". It has no right to be or do either – and should not be as this is against its very own mandate. The Govt. has an OBLIGATION to fight against such things – but has limited tools – however it does have the economic "lever". Harvard, having been a beneficiary of Govt. funds for so long now feels aggrieved for such a lever to be used against it – when you are "privileged" then when that privilege is reduced or taken away you feel diminished – no one likes that. Harvard has enough money to survive and thrive despite the Govt. – if it wants to continue to be so bigoted then let it use its own money. However, if it does so then it should be prosecuted according to the law AND – this has NOTHING TO DO WITH Academic freedom!!!

33. Steve – "RESEARCH" could be funded by … drum roll … Harvard Itself… the research does not have to stop… so much unclear thinking in this interview – by both parties. And the "quality" of research – particularly in the humanities – is currently abysmal and ideologically influenced – only some topics get researched and others in only "some way"…

34. Private schools should get no support whatsoever from the federal government, not even Pell Grants for tuition. Public universities and colleges are the 'people's universities'.

35. its easy, follow the rules set by the bill-payer, or pay your own bills…..like everyone else has too

36. Harvard and other major US universities have been taken over by Marxists and their Islamist comrades.

37. What a great and insightful conversation. Thanks for having it online.

38. I think I see a groundswell against this Pinker nonsense.
    HE says 3 stupid things

    1) Government help has boosted tuition greatly. And Bill Bennett pointed that out 40 years ago. So Pinker doesn't get the Economics of aid at all

    2) Free Speech in academia as Pinker would have it is like free speech in the surgery room. You've got it and in any place where you want to exercise it, more power to you.

    3) and how many times does he have to say 'Yeah , that's right" 🙂 as if the interview didn't need him at all 🙂 All the interviewer was doing was reproducing the obvious that you might here in any bar in America 🙂

39. The idea that universities can bring whatever number of migrants into the United States from any place they choose is completely bogus. It is the Federal government which decides such issues under the constitution.

40. Harvard and all the elite university heavyweights are easy targets and most Americans will be against them because most Americans did not or will not attend those universities.

41. Lets get rid of Harvard they are elitists and destructive to national sovereignty

42. I used to admire Pinker. He's so out of touch these days.

43. we have lived under the derangement that Harvard provides a better education than other schools for several hundred years now. a few decades where we shift the money and attention to others won’t be a bad thing.

44. It’s progressive extremism to sum it up.

45. 18:10 Imagine though…only 5%of people are doing so much damage to the society.
    The same 5% from immigration in Europe

    The more we wait, the more dangerous it is.

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