‘The cost of the government’s attack on Columbia’
Christopher L. Eisgruber at The Atlantic
The “rise of the American research university in the 20th century depended” on “strong principles of academic freedom,” says Christopher L. Eisgruber. Recent “events have raised legitimate concerns about antisemitism at Columbia,” but the “government can respond to those concerns without infringing on academic freedom.” The “principles of that freedom do not give faculty or students the right to disrupt university operations,” but the “government is using grants that apply to Columbia science departments as a cudgel to force changes.”
‘We should stop acting as if Big Pharma is the big villain in American health care’
Erick Erickson at The Boston Globe
“It is easy to vilify” Big Pharma, says Erick Erickson. Americans “get expensive medical bills and regularly battle insurance companies for drug approvals.” In “reality, virtually every doctor wants patients to make lifestyle changes, but many patients just want the pill.” This is “not the fault of drug makers. We are the problem when we would rather take the injection or the pill.” A “free-market system could and should provide a saner, more streamlined, and affordable system.”
‘Gonzaga’s moment in the NCAA tournament is finally near’
Alex Kirshner at Slate
“Eventually, the Gonzaga Bulldogs are going to win the NCAA men’s basketball tournament,” says Alex Kirshner. But the “reasons to believe in Gonzaga this March are stronger than a writer’s childish desire to subject a long-dead horse to more beatings.” They “enter March Madness as by far the most underseeded team in the tournament relative to their true ability.” This “time, this year, Gonzaga is poised to win the NCAA Tournament.” They are “now deeply underrated.”
‘Mr. Musk, please defund the Legal Services Corporation’
Phillip Linderman at The American Conservative
As “Elon Musk and his DOGE team throw open the books to uncover corrupt and wasteful spending across the massive federal bureaucracy, they must not overlook the obscure Legal Services Corporation,” says Phillip Linderman. This agency “doles out hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to a country-wide network of activist ‘poverty’ lawyers.” It is “Great Society radicalism that Congress should have zeroed out,” and is a “pass-through for money to go to a network of left-wing legal activists.”