Phone call from my frothingly irate, 84-year-old brother. “Trump is cutting off funding to Harvard. You can’t do that to one of the best universities in the world!” says this graduate of Stanford. “I’m sending a donation. What address shall I use?”
My startled but loving response: “It’s taken this long for you to be irate at Trump?” Answer: “I’m a Quaker! I hope 100,000 others will donate right now, because numbers count.”
The Harvard Crimson reports that in the 24 hours after Harvard refused Trump’s demands, more than 3,800 online donations arrived, totaling more than $1 million. Meanwhile, UMASS is working with other land grant colleges to assist students who are losing their visas and being cut off from education.
What is each of us doing? As an 84-year-old Quaker in California asserts, it is time to be counted.
Jeanne Armstrong
Hadley