Pursuing Trump through the library by wielding a flamethrower
Trump's Administration Takes Aim at Harvard, Threatens Control
By Roland Peters, New York
Harvard University, the oldest and most prestigious institution of higher learning in the United States, is under siege from the Trump administration. The White House is targeting the university on multiple fronts, aiming to exert control until the end of President Trump's term.
The battle over education reaches a critical juncture with this high-profile attack on an Ivy League institution. Trump's government is seeking to curb Harvard's autonomy and academic freedom, potentially affecting its funding and student enrollment.
Harvard's annual budget of $6.5 billion is at stake, with approximately 11% of its funds coming from federal research grants that the government has deemed expendable. Moreover, tuition revenues from international students could be lost, resulting in a 20% overall income loss for the university. Harvard has denounced these actions as part of a vindictive campaign and asserted its right to shape its curriculum, operations, and campus independently.
Last week, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem threatened to ban international students from Harvard and demanded their data, imposing a short deadline. Harvard responded with a lawsuit, arguing that such action would inflict "sudden and irreparable harm" upon the university. In response, the Trump administration has merely acknowledged the 30-day appeal period and shifted tactics, deciding to suspend student visa interviews at US embassies worldwide. They plan to scrutinize applicants' social media profiles more closely in the future, particularly focusing on those with pro-Palestinian and Chinese political leanings, with the intention of denying or revoking their visas.
In April, the White House accused Harvard of tolerance for anti-Semitic activities and made wide-ranging demands, including the surrender of all data on international students and their protest activities over the past five years. Harvard complied, but the government deemed the information insufficient and escalated its demands.
The administration's intentions go beyond this singular university, as they have accused over 60 educational institutions across the country of anti-Semitism, promising investigations and potential withdrawal of financial research support. In total, these institutions received approximately $23 billion in public funds in 2023, making up more than a third of the total federal funds distributed to universities nationwide.
The administration's demands on Harvard are far-reaching. According to a White House commission, they want to keep the university under supervision for at least a decade, requiring Harvard to share all planned changes with the government, which would then "thoroughly review" the university's adherence to the new rules during this period.
The university is expected to abolish all gender equality programs and design student enrollment and faculty hiring accordingly. It must not admit foreign students deemed enemies of American values and institutions and must immediately denounce them in the event of misconduct. By year's end, the university must examine "diversity of thought" across its entire operation and, if lacking, hire faculty and enroll students in "critical mass" in all departments. Harvard is also expected to enable its students to anonymously report violations of the university to the government.
The Trump administration is also threatening to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status for educational institutions and has frozen federal funds, accusing the university of concealing contributions from foreign donors and governments. Harvard maintains that it has disclosed everything. The accusations range from anti-Semitism and terrorism to lack of free speech and civil rights violations to "systematic lawbreaking," but these terms are not further explained in the letters.
The power struggle extends beyond ideological differences: Harvard only represents a limited political spectrum in the U.S., with a small percentage of students identifying as conservative. The Trump government's demands raise questions about potential ideological screening of students, faculty, and professors, as well as the control of curricula from above and enforcement mechanisms for these changes.
Trump's actions against Harvard symbolize a broader cultural battle between the administration and the academic establishment. US Vice President JD Vance, a graduate of Yale University, has labeled these institutions as "totalitarian," arguing that conservatives have no place there and that the dominant leftists constitute an oligarchy silencing Americans. Trump's administration is now actively questioning this power with all available resources.
Elite universities across the country face similar challenges, as the Trump administration investigates them for alleged anti-Semitism and threatens to withdraw research support. The power struggle over Harvard represents the culmination of this conflict, with Trump aiming to demonstrate his ideological vision at the Massachusetts university: education and research must serve the president's politics, regardless of how authoritarian they may be. Many conservatives view universities as breeding grounds for progressives who obstruct their goals and, therefore, should be curbed. The leaders of tomorrow are educated at elite universities.
- Amidst the ongoing conflict between the Trump administration and Harvard University, the Commission has also been asked to submit a proposal for a directive on the protection of workers in academia from the risks related to political propaganda, as politicians' actions may potentially affect education-and-self-development.
- In light of the escalating tension between the Trump administration and elite universities, the case of Harvard University raises concerns and questions in the realm of sports-betting, as the administration's ideology may influence the practices and policies of such institutions, potentially altering the fairness and integrity of sports programs.
- As the Trump administration is taking aim at Harvard University, an increase in crime-and-justice cases is expected on college campuses nationwide, as students, faculty, and administrators may become more vigilant in exercising their First Amendment rights in response to the perceived threats to academic freedom and the general-news coverage of the power struggle between the administration and the academic establishment.
