Trump administration freezes USD 2.2 billion in grants to Harvard University

The federal government says its freezing more than USD 22 billion in grants and contracts to Harvard University since the institution said Monday it wont comply with the Trump administrations demands to limit activism on campusIn a letter to Harvard Friday the administration called for broad government and leadership reforms a requirement that Harvard institute what it calls meritbased admissions and hiring policies as well as conduct an audit of the study body faculty and leadership on their views about diversityThe demands which are an update from an earlier letter also call for a ban on face masks which appeared to target proPalestinian protesters They also pressure the university to stop recognizing or funding any student group or club that endorses or promotes criminal activity illegal violence or illegal harassmentHarvard President Alan Garber in a letter to the Harvard community Monday said the demands violated the universitys First Amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the governments authority under Title VI which prohibits discrimination against students based on their race colour or national originNo government regardless of which party is in power should dictate what private universities can teach whom they can admit and hire and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue Garber wrote adding that the university had taken extensive reforms to address antisemitismThese ends will not be achieved by assertions of power unmoored from the law to control teaching and learning at Harvard and to dictate how we operate he wrote The work of addressing our shortcomings fulfilling our commitments and embodying our values is ours to define and undertake as a communityThe demands of Harvard are part of a broader push of using taxpayer dollars to pressure major academic institutions to comply with President Donald Trumps political agenda and to influence campus policy The administration has also argued that universities allowed what it considered to be antisemitism to go unchecked at campus protests last year against Israels war in Gaza the schools deny itHarvard is one of several Ivy League schools targeted in a pressure campaign by the administration which also has paused federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania Brown and Princeton to force compliance with its agenda Harvards demand letter is similar to the one that prompted changes at Columbia University under the threat of billions of dollars in cutsThe demands from the Trump administration prompted a group of alumni to write to university leaders calling for it to legally contest and refuse to comply with unlawful demands that threaten academic freedom and university selfgovernanceHarvard stood up today for the integrity values and freedoms that serve as the foundation of higher education said Anurima Bhargava one of the alumni behind the letter Harvard reminded the world that learning innovation and transformative growth will not yield to bullying and authoritarian whimsIt also sparked a protest over the weekend from members of the Harvard community and from residents of Cambridge and a lawsuit from the American Association of University Professors on Friday challenging the cutsIn their lawsuit plaintiffs argue that the Trump administration has failed to follow steps required under Title VI before it starts cutting funds and giving notice of the cuts to both the university and CongressThese sweeping yet indeterminate demands are not remedies targeting the causes of any determination of noncompliance with federal law Instead they overtly seek to impose on Harvard University political views and policy preferences advanced by the Trump administration and commit the University to punishing disfavoured speech plaintiffs wroteThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoeveratOptionskeyd0ddb8ef8f1a62a8cdd22fac27fc5ea7formatiframeheight90width728params