Harvard has gone from the resistance to action this Monday in a lawsuit against the administration of Donald Trump for the freezing of subsidies and other threats that in recent days has launched against the university. It is an escalation in the confrontation between the University and the Trump government, in the middle of the president’s coercive crusade against several universities in the country to try to influence the academic curriculum.
The richest and oldest university in the United States accuses the federal government of leading a broad attack against the university “To influence and control academic decisions”. In the lawsuit filed before a Massachusetts court, other Ivy League universities are also mentioned that have also suffered financing cuts by the federal government under the accusations of “anti -Semitism.” Since the protests against the Gaza War in the University Campus began, more than a year and a half ago, that the Republicans have been fighting a campaign in which they have deformed and expanded the concept to the point that any proper positioning is crossed out of “anti -Semitic”. The University of Columbia, the center of the proportions, has been and is the main target of these accusations.
Among the government officials to whom Harvard accuses are the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Secretary of Education, Lina McMahon, the interim administrator of the General Services Administration, Stephen Ehikian, the Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The center has a Endowmnet -What would be like a reservation or fund- of more than 50 billion dollars, which would allow the University to survive for quite some time the cuts of the Trump administration. Although that is not a guarantee that some investigations end up suffering effects.
Trump requires closing diversity programs
Last Friday, April 11, the Trump administration accused Harvard of not having done enough to fight “anti -Semitism” on campus and threatened to freeze 2.2 billion dollars in subsidies if he did not accept a whole series of demands. Among other things, the Government demanded that the University close all programs of diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as submit certain departments to an external audit. Harvard refused to comply with demands that threaten their independence and freedom of chair.
“No government should dictate what a private university can teach, or who should admit or hire, or what areas of study or research can be developed,” Harvard president Alan Garber wrote last Monday, in a message to the university community. “As a Jew and as an American, I know very well that there are valid concerns about the increase in anti -Semitism,” Garber replied to the accusations of “anti -Semitism” with which Trump justified his threat, and added that addressing those concerns “requires understanding, intention and surveillance. Harvard takes that work very seriously. We will continue fighting hatred with the urgency that demands, fully fulfilling, fulfilling our urgent legal obligations. This is not just our legal responsibility.
Harvard believes that the Trump administration has violated its rights protected by the first amendment, federal administrative procedures and regulations when taking measures against institutions. The University also states that, although the Government has accused it of violating title VI – a federal law that establishes that any institution that violates civil rights cannot receive federal funds – officials did not follow the procedures established by law by formulating the accusation.
Under the accusations of “anti -Semitism”, the Trump government has initiated a campaign to try to influence the functioning of the Ivy League universities and end all those ideas related to diversity, climate change or critical theory of the race. During the electoral campaign, the president already promised to “recover” universities and end what the extreme right has baptized as the “Woke” agenda.
On Friday, government sources revealed to New York Times That the letter with all the demands against which Harvard rebelled was sent by mistake. Even so, the Federal Government has continued to demonstrate its willingness to influence and press the institution: Trump has threatened Harvard with eliminating the exemption of taxes from which he enjoys, freezing another billion in subsidies and denied visas to international students who want to study there.
#Harvard #demands #Trump #government #economic #coercion #giving #demands
