Donald Trump and Harvard have an appointment in court. The prestigious American school will try to obtain its case against the Administration, this Monday, July 21 in Boston, after losing more than $ 2 billion in federal subsidies.
Accused of encouraging anti -Semitic behavior from the manifestations of the prophene students of 2024, the university had refused to meet the requirements of the US president, in particular to end the programs aimed at promoting diversity and lessons that “feed the anti -Semitic harassment.”
“No government, whatever the ruling party, should dictate to private universities what they should teach, that can enlist and hire, or on what issues can carry out investigations,” Alan Garber president begged last April.
Towards a total subsidy cut?
Given this rejection, the Ministry of Education announced a freezing of “$ 2.2 billion in subsidies for several years”, as well as “several -year contracts worth 60 million dollars.”
Since then, the Trump administration has continued to accentuate the pressure. At the end of June, he accused Harvard of violating the rights of his Jewish or Israeli students and threatened the university to end the federal government subsidies if he did not take “immediate” measures.
“The fact that the university does not immediately implement the required changes will lead to the loss of all federal financial resources and will continue to assign Harvard relations with the federal government,” a letter to Alan Garber, president of the institution based in Cambridge, in Massachusetts, told Harvard.
In this letter, the “working group” established by the administration to fight for semitism argues that “most Jewish students have reported negative experience or discrimination on campus”, some saying that they were the objective of “sputum”, or have been “fear” to appear with a Kippa.
Tensions around foreign students
From his return to the White House in January, Donald Trump has been carrying out the position against universities that accuses of spreading an “awakened” ideology, a term used pejoratively by conservatives to denounce what they perceive as an excess of militancy in favor of minorities.
In this ideological battle, the Executive accuses Harvard of supporting a “racial hierarchy” by which “individuals are classified and judged according to their belonging to an oppressed identity group and not to their personal merit that allowed anti -Semitism to develop in the campus.”
The US administration also used a court order on July 9 to try to obtain internal “documents” from Harvard University in international students suspected of having participated in pro-palestinian demonstrations.
“Like other universities, Harvard has allowed foreign students to abuse privileges related to their visa and advocate for violence and terrorism on campus. If Harvard does not defend the interests of their students, we will do it,” said Tricia McLaughlin, spokesman for the Ministry.
Requested by the AFP, Harvard’s management has described “unjustified” the application of the Trump government as unjustified and denounced a “reprisal” campaign against a university that “defends” both its students and its fundamental principles.
At the end of May, the Minister of Internal Security, Kristi Noem, revoked Harvard’s certification on the Sevis program (student and exchange visitor), the main system by which foreign students are authorized to study in the United States. Harvard’s management had challenged this decision decision and obtained a postponement.
Behind the negotiations of the scenes
If the two camps compete in court, the solution to the crisis can well be negotiated through more informal discussions.
“We are working in close collaboration with Harvard, and it is very possible that an agreement be announced within a week approximately one week. The university acted completely appropriate during these negotiations and seems determined to do the right thing,” said Donald Trump in his real social network on June 20.
According to CNN, the discussions between a very small circle of Harvard leaders and the White House were actually when the US president mentioned the next conclusion of the agreements.
An American news channel source indicated that the discussions were close to reaching an agreement that could resolve the current legal battles. However, nothing has been officially announced since then.
Harvard is not the only university directed by Donald Trump. The Ministry of Education also threatened the prestigious Columbia University of New York to withdraw its accreditation, which could deprive it of any federal financing. Also under pressure, the president of the University of Virginia announced his resignation on June 28 after the opening of an investigation into the establishment’s practices to promote diversity.
Source: BFM TV
