'Chilling signal': Harvard alumnus former German minister slams US
Former German health minister and Harvard alumnus Karl Lauterbach has described the US decision to block the elite university from enrolling foreign students as "research policy suicide."
"When the most important and highest-performing universities are deliberately weakened, it is one of the most important pillars of the US economy that is being undermined," Lauterbach, who now leads the country's parliamentary research committee, told Germany's Rheinische Post daily on Friday.
Countless companies in the United States benefit from the knowledge that Harvard graduates bring with them, Lauterbach said, noting that "many foreign Harvard graduates stay in the United States after completing their studies."
Lauterbach, who served as Germany's health minister until May 6, when a new government took over, has been a visiting lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health since 1996, according to his CV on the German parliament's website.
He was also enrolled in public health-related master programmes and a post-graduate programme at the university between 1989 and 1995, according to the CV.
Lauterbach said he very much hoped that Trump's decision could still be reversed. "But even if that is possible, the attack on free teaching and research sends out a chilling signal."
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