Trump Administration Says No More Future Grants To Harvard (image-facebook/Harvard university)
Amidst the ongoing dispute with the top university, the US administration has announced that the prestigious Harvard University will no longer receive public funding for research. The move has come after Donald Trump, last month, had frozen a significant amount in federal funding to the institution. The Trump administration has claimed the reason was their failure to tackle rampant anti-Semitism on campus.
On Monday, in a letter to the university, US Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon stated that Harvard has made a “mockery” of higher education and thus should no longer seek federal grants, “since none will be provided.” Further, the elite university was instructed to operate as a privately-funded institution by drawing money from its “large base of wealthy alumni.”
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Trump’s administration had earlier announced the freeze of $2.3 billion in federal funding after it rejected several demands, which once implemented would give the government control that even includes external audits of faculty and students to ensure “viewpoint diversity.”
McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, in her letter had repeated its constant arguments that it had fostered lax academic standards and even had admitted foreign students who “engage in violent behaviour and show contempt toward the United States of America.”
“Where do many of these ‘students’ come from, who are they, and how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country – and why is there so much HATE?,” she wrote, similarly to the way Trump uses some of the words in capitalised form to emphasise certain words.
“These are questions that must be answered, among many more, but the biggest question of all is, why will Harvard not give straightforward answers to the American public?”, she further added.
Trump and other prominent conservatives in the US have been continuously targeting Harvard and other universities for propagating extreme left-wing views and suppressing the right-wing perspectives.
Meanwhile, in response to the letter, a university spokesperson had stated that the letter “makes new threats to illegally withhold funding for lifesaving research and innovation in retaliation against Harvard for filing its lawsuit on April 21.”
However, he assured that the university will continue to comply with the law, promote and encourage viewpoint diversity, and combat antisemitism.
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“Harvard will also continue to defend against illegal government overreach aimed at stifling research and innovation that make Americans safer and more secure,” he added.
Ever since the eruption of war in Gaza, there have been several reports of controversy erupting against US universities alleging anti-Semitism on their campuses.
