A Dilemma for Universities

Professor Owen Zidar is right that Princeton could recruit faculty away from institutions harder hit by Trump's endowment taxes. When Trump existentially threatened Paul Weiss, Willkie Farr, and Skadden Arps, it was in competitors’ interest to poach their top attorneys. Resisting in solidarity to defend peer institutions and protect the profession looked futile and unacceptably costly — corporate suicide. Yet many other firms didn’t comply with Trump’s conditions.

What a dilemma for wealthy universities, now targeted by a law of the land, rather than “merely” by a lawless president.