The confrontation hardens between Donald Trump and Harvard. After the Ministry of Internal Security accused the University of having left anti -semitism and having allowed “anti -American and protein agitators” to attack Jewish students, the US administration retired to Harvard the right to welcome foreign students. Those currently present on the campus “must be transferred or losing their legal status.”
The prestigious university, located in Cambridge, Massachussetts, immediately organized its defense attacking the United States government. It should be said that the threat is serious. With such prohibition, the US administration arrives in Harvard directly to the portfolio, since foreign students represent more than a quarter of their workforce (27%).
The university is likely to be deprived of the amazing registration rates paid for these 6,700 foreign students, or $ 60,000 on average per person each year. Registration fees weigh a fifth of Harvard’s annual income.
Harvard hit the wallet directly
The Internal Minister of National Security, Kristi Noem, has started it to provide within 72 hours a complete series of information that would have hypothetical illegal activities of its foreign students in the last five years. Otherwise, you will not find your “privilege” to welcome foreign students.
Therefore, it is a new important source of university financing that is seriously threatened by the Trump government. In April, he announced to reduce federal subsidies, $ 700 million a year, that is, 11% of Harvard’s income.
Despite these attacks, the richest university in the world still refuses to meet the demands of the White House. Because its first source of income is at the moment: donations, through the massive support of figures such as Bill Gates, represent 45% of Harvard’s income. Proof that it has a maneuver space, Harvard announced a daring investment of $ 250 million for the investigation.
Harvard is spinning, Columbia gave
But Donald Trump wants to continue accentuating the pressure. He markedly promised to eliminate a tax exemption that, according to Bloomberg, allows Harvard to save $ 465 million a year. The university is preparing. Since March, he has issued more than one billion dollars in the bond market.
A luxury that has not been able to afford another American university, that of Columbia, in New York. Epicenter of pro-palestinian demonstrations in the spring of 2024, Donald Trump sanctioned it hard, who reduced him $ 400 million in subsidies in March.
Back to the wall, Columbia agreed to have a new orders service, composed of “36 special agents”, but also a vice -director responsible for supervising the departments in the Middle East, Asia del Sur and Africa, which the US government wanted to place under “academic guardianship.” Reforms that did not prevent him from having to eliminate 180 positions, due to the lack of sufficient funds.
Source: BFM TV
