When wealthy donors oust university presidents over how they answer congressional questions; a frighteningly dangerous precedent

America's prestigious universities play a big role in determining who gets into America's wealthy elite.

- Robert Reich

A degree from Harvard, Penn, or MIT (to take three examples) is a meal ticket to a lucrative job on Wall Street or a corporate law firm and to the richest and most influential people in the land.

But as America becomes increasingly stratified by wealth, those tickets are easily abused.

Universities that give preference in admissions to the children or grandchildren of major donors serve to widen inequality even further.

Universities that allow major donors to influence what is taught or expressed on campus could be seen to suppress ideas that threaten the wealthy which could chill freedom of expression and fuel social resentment.

Which brings us to the latest imbroglio.

Last Tuesday, the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, and MIT tried to give precise answers to questions from members of Congress about whether their university cultures had encouraged hostility toward Jews-hostility that has surged since Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel's attack on Gaza in response.

In their opening remarks, all three denied it and repeatedly condemned antisemitism.