I broadly agree with Mike here, but there are a few nuances that I'm working through (i.e. probably not fully thought through yet):
Palantir is at core a data company. Tools built to manage big data (which is a really hard problem) are going to be used to manage big data whether for good or ill, and that line can get blurry. Any single company should be doing as much as they can to stop it, which is what Palantir is explicitly not doing.
Up until mostly recently, someone less deep into politics (which Silicon Valley is particularly adept at ignoring) could reasonably assume that the US government wouldn't go hard into human rights violations. 1.5 years is not that long for someone who was trying to stay apolitical (while a misguided idea to begin with) to actually get into the politics and realize that the constitutional and bureaucratic levees are not holding.
As a fellow alumni, I've been wrestling with this decision. From my reading, it seemed that the University was getting close to having to make cuts to programs and staffing. If that is true, then I'm not sure this wasn't the better option.
It's going to be hard for the Administration to spin this as much of a win (if they even have time to) and the agreement seems to block further grant termination (but I am very much not a lawyer).
I suspect that I will keep wrestling with this until I see how Cornell responds if/when the Administration returns for round two.
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I broadly agree with Mike here, but there are a few nuances that I'm working through (i.e. probably not fully thought through yet):
Between a rock and a hard place
As a fellow alumni, I've been wrestling with this decision. From my reading, it seemed that the University was getting close to having to make cuts to programs and staffing. If that is true, then I'm not sure this wasn't the better option. It's going to be hard for the Administration to spin this as much of a win (if they even have time to) and the agreement seems to block further grant termination (but I am very much not a lawyer). I suspect that I will keep wrestling with this until I see how Cornell responds if/when the Administration returns for round two.