"I was never fortunate enough to attend Harvard. Yet after the school’s stunning surrender to President Trump’s $500 million shakedown on Monday, I’m not sure the nation’s most venerated university has much to teach anyone. Back in April, Harvard President Alan Garber drew praise from civil society groups for urging the university to “stand firm” against Trump’s brazen extortion scheme. Harvard’s resolve didn’t even last the summer. Harvard’s elite administrators may think it’s easier to simply pay off the strongman at their gates, but giving the bully your lunch money only invites him to demand more. Harvard’s full-on retreat is the latest in a string of high-profile payments the White House has extracted from institutions it views as left-leaning, and its half-billion-dollar protection payment won’t be the biggest or the last. With a $53 billion endowment and towering cultural standing, Harvard had plenty of resources to challenge Trump’s lawless demands in court and in the press. Instead, university leaders kept the cash and sold out the students, teachers and administrators who had been counting on them to take a stand."