Harvard University sues Trump over funding cuts

‘Sweeping freeze’ –

Harvard President Alan Garber said that Trump’s administration had launched “numerous investigations” into the university’s operations.

Last week, Garber flatly refused to “negotiate over (Harvard’s) independence or its constitutional rights.”

Other top institutions, including Columbia University, have bowed to less sweeping demands from the Trump administration, which claims that the educational elite is too left-wing.

The Department of Homeland Security has also threatened Harvard’s ability to enroll international students unless it turns over records on visa-holders’ “illegal and violent activities.”

International students made up 27.2 percent of Harvard’s enrollment this academic year, according to its website.

“Make no mistake: Harvard rejects anti-Semitism and discrimination in all of its forms and is actively making structural reforms to eradicate anti-Semitism on campus,” said Monday’s lawsuit.

“But rather than engage with Harvard regarding those ongoing efforts, the Government announced a sweeping freeze of funding for medical, scientific, technological, and other research that has nothing at all to do with anti-Semitism.”

Trump’s claims about diversity tap into long-standing conservative complaints that US university campuses are too liberal, shutting out right-wing voices and favoring minorities.

In the case of Harvard, the White House is seeking unprecedented levels of government control over the inner workings of the country’s oldest and wealthiest university — and one of the most respected educational and research institutions in the world.

Harvard University sues Trump over funding cuts
AFP