Harvard rejects Trump administration demands amid threats of funding cuts

[anna_gari_maata]

Harvard University will "not accept" the Trump administration's demands amid threats of funding cuts, it said Monday.

"The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights," the university's X account said in a statement posted Monday. "Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government."

 

In an email to the Harvard community, President Alan M. Garber said the university received "an updated and expanded list of demands" from the Trump administration, warning it to comply if it would like to "maintain financial relationship with the federal government."

The 10 demands, which the administration says are aimed at addressing antisemitism on campus, include restricting acceptance of any international students who are "hostile to the American values and institutions." The administration also wants a third party to audit programs at the school that it says "fuel antisemitic harassment or reflect ideological capture."

The administration also demanded the immediate shuttering of all diversity, equity and inclusion programs and initiatives, including in hiring and admissions, asking Harvard to exchange them for "merit-based" policies.

Garber called the demands "unprecedented," denouncing them as an attempt by the federal government "to control the Harvard community" by policing the viewpoints of the students and faculty and staff members. The university informed the Trump administration through legal counsel that it will not accept the terms.

"It makes clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner," Garber said. "Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the 'intellectual conditions' at Harvard."

In a letter to the administration, lawyers for the university say that it is "committed to fighting antisemitism and other forms of bigotry in its community" but that the Trump administration's demands "invade university freedoms long recognized by the Supreme Court."

 

"The government's terms also circumvent Harvard's statutory rights by requiring unsupported and disruptive remedies for alleged harms that the government has not proven through mandatory processes established by Congress and required by law," the letter reads.

The Trump administration has made similar demands of other universities across the country in what it says are efforts to combat antisemitism and other ideological views that it disagrees with.

Last month, Columbia University agreed to a list of nine demands from the administration, including banning students from wearing masks at protests, hiring 36 new campus security officers who can arrest students and appointing a senior vice provost to oversee the department of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies.

The administration had canceled $400 million in federal funding to the school, accusing it of "inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students."

[Jatka Bandi]

Law of the land ante teleeda mundalaki?

[Raisins_72]

Govt funding kaavali, malla rules vaalla ishtam 😂

[aratipandu]

Starting lo all universities show this sooratvam...but grants and funding kosam tagguthay ultimately...

University administration ki money ee important..bakra students are secondary