It gives me a sense of assurance to see that courts have a major role in halting Trump’s movements, as I have always believed they would carry out. A case in point is the recent obstruction implemented by numerous federal judges, even though the Supreme Court hasn’t yet intervened. Recently, a judge of an appellate court blocked Trump from using a significant tool, the Alien Enemies Act, to deport people without giving them an opportunity to present their case.
President Trump’s effort to employ an old law from the 18th century to displace immigrants he deems part of a violent group from Venezuela was struck down by a federal appeals court last Tuesday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, headquartered in New Orleans, undertook a first-time review of the fundamental principle whether the President had correctly applied the law, namely the Alien Enemies Act, in the furtherance of his deportation agenda.
Even though the verdict, delivered by a split three-judge panel from one of the nation’s most conservative benches, marked a setback for the ruling administration, it does raise the likelihood of the issue being taken up by the Supreme Court. The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 was at the forefront of Trump’s initial strategies to summarily deport a set of Venezuelan immigrants, whom he alleged were members of the street gang, Tren de Aragua.
Earlier this year, in March, the President passed a proclamation that leveraged the vast powers provided by this law to apprehend and deport members of an aggressive nation throughout times of declared war, invasion or predatory incursion. Nevertheless, the panel from the appellate court, in a 2-1 ruling, did not agree with his proclamation that the U.S. was actually being invaded by Tren de Aragua. It also dismissed the idea that large-scale immigration was akin to a military violation of U.S. borders.
Judge Leslie H. Southwick, speaking on behalf of the majority from the panel, proclaimed, ‘Illegal migration into this country, even on a larger scale, spurred by other nations, should not be considered as an equivalent to an organized armed force causing disturbance or harm to the U.S.’ She also clarified, ‘There is no evidence to indicate that this mass immigration represents an armed, organized force.’
This judicial verdict may give rise to legal and political implications given Trump’s history of utilizing claims about ‘immigrant invasions’ to justify his use of exceptional laws such as the Alien Enemies Act, and to craft a larger anti-immigration narrative. Recently, a magazine article by our ex-provost Daniel Diermeier, now the President of Vanderbilt, was published in Inquisitive by the Heterodox Academy, titled, ‘Rank methods: it’s time to replace college rankings with something better.’ This draws attention to college and grad school ratings that all of us, at one point or another, have relied upon, such as those by US News & World Report.
A study conducted by the University of Chicago and financed by Vanderbilt University critiqued the construct validity of five notable ranking systems, including that of U.S. News, last year. The report pointed out that crucial data points were missing and other important metrics like graduate outcomes were insufficient. It further argued that each ranking establishes a benchmark and falsely claims to judge colleges on this subjective standard, doing a disservice to students and families looking for guidance.
These rankings overshadow the wide array of institutions that cater to students with diverse needs and aspirations in the U.S. higher education system. Instead, students are funneled towards a singular interpretation of what constitutes a good college, an interpretation that might contradict their own values. Additionally, flawed data representation misrepresents vital attributes of colleges. For instance, U.S. News’ evaluation of affordability and graduate indebtedness, which only accounts for students receiving federal aid, doesn’t fully represent the financial realities of many students.
At elite private schools, like Vanderbilt (where I serve as chancellor), many students receive loan-free aid, and some lower-income students may even enroll for free. Merely overlooking or tolerating the rankings is not an effective solution. Instead, students and their advisors require a practical method to decode the elaborate decision-making related to college options. What we require is a shift from a rankings system to a ratings system that quantifies genuine measures of academic excellence and access based on data.
The new system should be clear, consistent, and apply to all institutions, public and private, nationwide. More importantly, it should grant students the autonomy to personalize their list based on what’s crucial to them, rather than relying on others’ view of what they perceive as ‘good’. Bard College president Leon Borstein, back in 2001, minced no words while criticizing college rankings. He labeled them as ‘a catastrophic fraud. Corrupt, intellectually bankrupt, and revolting.’ Fast forward to the present, it is most certainly time to change the status quo.
Many universities have figured out how to manipulate the ranking system effectively, but it is proving to be a disadvantage for students and their families. It is our responsibility to provide them with a better and more functional system. Intense construction work has resumed at an important site that is believed to be crucial to Israel’s suspected atomic weapons program, according to a recent analysis of satellite images by experts.
The experts suggested that it could either be a new reactor or a location for assembling nuclear arms, but the program’s secretive nature makes it challenging to determine the exact purpose. This development at the Shimon Peres Negev Nuclear Research Center near the city of Dimona is likely to shift attention towards Israel’s status as possibly the sole nuclear-armed state in the Middle East. Moreover, it could invite international criticism, particularly since it follows the bombing of nuclear sites in Iran that was executed by Israel and the United States over concerns that Iran might use its enrichment facilities to produce an atomic weapon.
Most industry watchers are aware of Israel’s nuclear weapons capability even if the nation doesn’t openly admit it. The real concern, however, lies in Iran’s potential attempts to manufacture nuclear weapons rather than Israel’s passive nuclear arsenal. Recently, a supressively stringent law that cancels the First Amendment on all public college campuses in Texas after 10 p.m was enacted. This has rightly provoked a lawsuit against the state by FIRE. The Foundation for Individual rights and Expression has challenged the enforcement of this law which it deems unconstitutional, on the grounds that it transforms all public universities in Texas into speech-free zones beginning from 10 p.m.
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