Starting with Columbia University, the Trump administration has rebuked universities across the country in handling the Major-Palestine Student Protest campaign, which follows the 2023 Hamas-led attack within Israel and the subsequent Israeli attack on campus.
Trump called the protests anti-American and anti-Semitic, accusing universities of peddling Marxism and a “radical left” ideology and pledging to end federal grants and contracts for universities that disagree with their administration’s request.
Trump said in a social media post on Tuesday that what he calls “politics, ideology and terrorists inspired/supported “disease”?
He didn’t say how he would do it. Under the U.S. Tax Act, most universities are exempt from federal income tax because they are considered “exclusively operated” for public education purposes.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Trump would like to see Harvard apologize for what she calls “anti-Semitism that takes place on their university campuses”. She accused Harvard and other schools of violating Chapter 6 of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits the acceptance of federal funding discrimination based on race or nationality. Under the Sixth Championship, federal funds can only be terminated after a prolonged investigation and hearing and a 30-day notice to Congress, which has not yet occurred in Columbia or Harvard.
Some professors and students say the protests are unfairly confused with anti-Semitism, an excuse for an unconstitutional attack on academic freedom.
Columbia, a private school in New York City, agreed to negotiate a requirement to tighten its protest rules after the Trump administration said last month that the regulation ended $400 million in grants and contracts, mainly for medical and other scientific research.
Harvard President Alan Garber said in a letter Monday that the Trump administration demanded that the University of Massachusetts formulated Trump administration, including an audit to ensure “diversity of perspectives” among its students and faculty and staff, and end the diversity, equity and inclusion program, is an unprecedented “proposition of power”, doing nothing, violating the Law, “a violation of the Law Freedom and the Civil Rights and Civil Rights Act.”
He said, like Columbia, Harvard has struggled on campus to fight anti-Semitism and other prejudice, while retaining academic freedom and right to protest.
Hours after Gaber’s letter, the Trump administration’s joint task force cracked down on anti-Semitism, saying it would freeze more than $2 billion in contracts and giveaways to Harvard, the oldest and richest university in the country. The government did not answer questions about the reduction of grants and contracts, and Harvard did not respond to a request for comment.
Some Columbia professors have sued the Trump administration, saying the grant termination violates Chapter VI and its constitutional speech and due process rights. A federal judge in New York ordered the Trump administration to respond by May 1.
Columbia interim President Claire Shipman said in a statement Monday night that Columbia will continue to continue “kind discussions” and “constructive dialogue” with the U.S. Department of Justice’s anti-Semitism task force.
“We will deny any agreements from the government that decides we teach, study or hire people,” she wrote.
Support from other schools
Some Harvard peers expressed support for the school’s stance against the Trump administration on Tuesday.
“Princeton stands with Harvard,” Princeton President Christopher Eisgruber wrote on social media.
Stanford President Jonathan Levin and Provost Jenny Martinez said in a statement that they fully support Harvard.
“Harvard’s objection to the letters received stems from the American liberal tradition, an indispensable tradition in our university and worthy of defense,” the two wrote.
They added that while universities need to address reasonable concerns “in a humble and open way,” it is clear that “the way to achieve constructive change is not by undermining the country’s scientific research capabilities…”
A group of American universities, including Princeton University and the University of Illinois, sued the Department of Energy for steep cuts in areas such as advanced nuclear technology, cybersecurity and new radiopharmaceuticals.
Trump, who took office on Jan. 20, faces court challenges to his immigration policy, and persecution from the state attorney general, opposed him firing government workers and suspended trillions of dollars in federal grants, loans and financial support.
In other cases, related developments on Tuesday:
*The U.S. judge said there is no evidence that the Trump administration has tried to secure the return of a man who was illegally deported back to El Salvador, but she said she would not tempt the court now.
*A judge in Washington blocked most executive orders against law firm Susman Godfrey, committing new legal setbacks to the Trump administration in a campaign against companies he was unhappy with. Judge Loren Alikhan pointed out that several other companies had reached a deal with Trump after they began targeting the legal industry and said she hoped they would not “subdue” to her so-called government coercion.
*More and more students living in the U.S. are applying to Canadian universities or expressing interest in studying in the northern border when Trump cuts federal funds and withdraws foreign student visas. (Reported by Jonathan Allen; in New York; Other reports by Jeff Mason in Washington, Brad Brooks, Luc Cohen and Andrew Goudsward; Editors by Donna Bryson
