Trump Administrator’s latest action against Harvard receives a variety of responses
The Trump administration has gained mixed reactions after announcing that it would stop all future grants to Harvard, unless the school complies with its demands. This latest move adds to the escalating tension between the White House and elite universities.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to Harvard President Alan Gerber. In the letter, McMahon accused her of falling out of the university and “engaging in a systematic pattern of violating federal law.”
“Harvard University has chuckled at the country’s higher education system,” McMahon wrote. “In all respects, Harvard University has failed to comply with similarities in legal obligations, ethical and fiduciary duties, responsibility for transparency, and academic rigor.”
The Trump administration has implemented a wider crackdown on several universities, including Harvard University and Columbia, over anti-Semitism allegations related to campus anti-Israel protests. Some view administration actions as a form of accountability, while others question whether it is an appropriate approach.
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Yael Lerman, director of standwithus saidoff legal affairs, aims to help those seeking legal action to combat anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism, but told Fox News Digital that he supports the Trump administration’s efforts.
“Recent discoveries from the anti-Semitism report at Harvard University are extremely troubling and highlight the broader failures of protecting Jewish students and fostering a safe and inclusive campus environment,” Rahman said. “Given these findings, we believe it is appropriate and necessary to take legal action to suspend new federal funds at Harvard until meaningful corrective actions are taken. Dealing with anti-Semitism. Accountability must be more than principles. It must be enforced. ”
Palestinian supporters gather at Harvard University to show support for Palestinians in Gaza at a rally in Cambridge, Massachusetts on October 14, 2023. (Photo by Joseph Prezios/AFP via Getty Images)
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Eli Solomon, a Harvard freshman studying government and philosophy, also supported the administration’s crackdown on elite schools and saw it as a way to hold the university accountable.
“The Trump administration’s decision is a serious but necessary step to help Harvard become a place where I know it, and can withstand the motto of “Veritas.” I am grateful for the opportunity to attend Harvard, but it is a shame that the university has silenced its conservative voices and embraced a culture that thrives anti-Semitism,” Solomon told Fox News Digital in a statement.
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But a Jewish Harvard graduate who requested anonymity told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration was not approaching the issue in the right way.
“As guarantor of freedom, the Trump administration is trying to determine the exact ideological trends that we think will be acceptable in college life. Prohama supporters Here we need to attack this issue in a different way,” said the Harvard graduate.
Harvard University President Alan Gerber will be attending Harvard University’s 363rd Initiative Exercise Ceremony, held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 29, 2014. (Paul Marotta/Getty Images)
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Friday, President Donald Trump It announced that his administration is about to revoke Harvard’s tax-free status.
Reported by Fox News Digital In April, the administration called on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to take away university status. Additionally, last month, the administration frozen $2.2 billion in funding for the university. This was called “anti-Semitism” and “threat to democracy.”
In April, Gerber made it clear that the university would not comply with the Trump administration’s demands. Gerber argued that “government should not dictate what private universities can teach, what they can recognize and hire, and what areas of learning and research they can pursue.”
Furthermore, the university He filed a lawsuit to administrators over the “illegal” freeze of funds.