Trump Calls Harvard A ‘Disgrace’ As University Pushes Back Against His Sweeping Reforms
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The Trump administration froze $2.2 billion of multi-year grants to Harvard University after the latter refused to implement the president’s reforms on admissions and hiring processes.
Donald Trump has escalated his crackdown on US universities. (Reuters)
US President Donald Trump called Harvard University a “disgrace” amid a standoff over his sweeping crackdown on American institutions, while hundreds of students, faculty and community members accused his administration of undermining US universities.
Trump went after US universities over issues of anti-Semitism, racism, diversity equity and inclusion (DEI) and others through massive funding cuts after pro-Palestinian student protests engulfed US campuses last year following the Israel-Hamas war. Trump called the protests anti-American and antisemitic and accused universities of peddling Marxism and “radical left” ideology.
The latest standoff between Trump and Harvard arose after the administration asked the university to overhaul its governance and admissions procedures, and comply with federal immigration screenings for international students. Responding to the directives, Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not “negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights.”
The Trump administration retaliated by freezing $2.2 billion of multi-year grants as the president expressed his fury over the university’s refusal to allow checks on admissions, hiring and political views. This was contrary to other universities, who have given into heavy pressure from the White House.
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Trump accused the university of pushing what he called “political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting sickness” and said they would be looking at its tax-exempt status strongly. “t’s really a privilege, and it’s been abused by a lot more than Harvard. When you take a look whether it’s Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, I don’t know what’s going on, but when you see how badly they’ve acted and in other ways also,” he added.
When asked why it is considering changing the tax status of Harvard, Trump said, “Because I think Harvard it’s a disgrace. I think what they did was a disgrace. They’re obviously antisemitic and all of a sudden, they’re starting to behave.”
Meanwhile, Harvard said there was no legal basis to rescind its tax-exempt status, saying such an action will be unprecedented, will diminish its financial aid for students and will lead to abandonment of some critical medical research programmes.
The US Department of Homeland Security said Harvard University will lose its ability to enroll foreign students if it does not meet demands from the Trump administration to share information on some visa holders, marking the government’s latest escalation against the educational institution.
In more trouble for Harvard, Republicans in the US Congress announced an investigation into the university on Thursday, accusing it of flouting civil rightys. House Oversight Committee chair James Comer and House leadership chair Elise Stefanik criticised Garber for rejecting demands for supervision by the White House.
“Harvard is apparently so unable or unwilling to prevent unlawful discrimination that the institution, at your direction, is refusing to enter into a reasonable settlement agreement proposed by federal officials intended to put Harvard back in compliance with the law,” they told Garber.
(with inputs from agencies)
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Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)