Over 100 university and other educational leaders issued a joint statement on Tuesday opposing the Trump administration's treatment of higher education institutions. This comes after the prestigious Harvard University in Boston sued the Trump administration.
The statement on Tuesday was signed by leaders from Princeton University, Brown University, the University of Hawaii and Connecticut State Community College, among others.
- We are open to constructive reform and are not opposed to legitimate government oversight. But we must oppose untimely government interference for those who learn, live and work at our universities, it says.
On Monday, The New York Times and The Harvard Crimson reported that Harvard University has sued the US government for carrying out a broad attack on Harvard. It accuses the government of ideologically seeking to "inspect Harvard's leadership, control the hiring of Harvard's faculty, and dictate what faculty are allowed to teach Harvard's students."
In the lawsuit, Harvard says the government is trying to "coerce and control" the university, which violates freedom of speech. The university's leadership has refused to comply with a number of demands made by the Trump administration. Among other things, the government wants Harvard to do more to combat anti-Semitism.
The US Department of Education last week froze about $2.2 billion in federal aid to the university. This corresponds to 14.5 billion kroner. Trump has also threatened to eliminate the university's tax exemption.
The White House did not respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Since Trump was inaugurated in January, he has cracked down hard on major American universities. He has said that they handled last year's pro-Palestinian demonstrations incorrectly and that anti-Semitism is simmering on campuses. Previously, attention has been focused on Columbia University, but now it's Harvard's turn.
jel /ritzau/Reuters
Text, graphics, images, sound, and other content on this website are protected under copyright law. DK Medier reserves all rights to the content, including the right to exploit the content for the purpose of text and data mining, cf. Section 11b of the Copyright Act and Article 4 of the DSM Directive.
Customers with IP agreements/major customer agreements may only share Danish Offshore Industry articles internally for the purpose of handling specific cases. Sharing in connection with specific cases refers to journaling, archiving, or similar uses.
Customers with a personal subscription/login may not share Danish Offshore Industry articles with individuals who do not themselves have a personal subscription to Danish Offshore Industry.
Any deviation from the above requires written consent from DK Medier.
