Even those who aren’t surprised by the simple fact of Donald Trump’s assault on America’s universities must be shocked by the full frontal magnitude of it all, belated attempts to walk back parts of it, notwithstanding. (Harvard is putting up a courageous, clever, and effective defense.)
I must agree here. What you say may not be fully true of rank and file professors, but it has definitely been true of those who make it into upper administration roles.
They turned higher ed into a debt factory and resisted most efforts to make sure college was actually going to pay off. They didn’t care.