Education department will release some frozen grants supporting after-school and summer programs
In a letter sent Wednesday, Republican senators said the withheld money supported programs that had longstanding bipartisan support and were critical to local communities. 'We share your concern about taxpayer money going to fund radical left-wing programs,' the senators wrote. 'However, we do not believe that is happening with these funds.'
The Associated Press education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters, and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
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Al Arabiya
5 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Harvard Is Hoping Court Rules Trump Administration's $2.6b Research Cuts Were Illegal
Harvard University will appear in federal court Monday to make the case that the Trump administration illegally cut $2.6 billion from the storied college – a pivotal moment in its battle against the federal government. If US District Judge Allison Burroughs decides in the university's favor, the ruling would reverse a series of funding freezes that later became outright cuts as the Trump administration escalated its fight with the nation's oldest and wealthiest university. Such a ruling, if it stands, would revive Harvard's sprawling scientific and medical research operation and hundreds of projects that lost federal money. 'This case involves the Government's efforts to use the withholding of federal funding as leverage to gain control of academic decision-making at Harvard,' the university said in its complaint. 'All told, the tradeoff put to Harvard and other universities is clear: Allow the Government to micromanage your academic institution or jeopardize the institution's ability to pursue medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and innovative solutions.' A second lawsuit over the cuts, filed by the American Association of University Professors and its Harvard faculty chapter, has been consolidated with the university's. Harvard's lawsuit accuses President Donald Trump's administration of waging a retaliation campaign against the university after it rejected a series of demands in an April 11 letter from a federal antisemitism task force. The letter demanded sweeping changes related to campus protests, academics, and admissions. For example, the letter told Harvard to audit the viewpoints of students and faculty and admit more students or hire new professors if the campus was found to lack diverse points of view. The letter was meant to address government accusations that the university had become a hotbed of liberalism and tolerated anti-Jewish harassment on campus. Harvard President Alan Garber pledged to fight antisemitism but said no government should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue. The same day Harvard rejected the demands, Trump officials moved to freeze $2.2 billion in research grants. Education Secretary Linda McMahon declared in May that Harvard would no longer be eligible for new grants, and weeks later, the administration began canceling contracts with Harvard. As Harvard fought the funding freeze in court, individual agencies began sending letters announcing that the frozen research grants were being terminated. They cited a clause that allows grants to be scrapped if they no longer align with government policies. Harvard, which has the nation's largest endowment at $53 billion, has moved to self-fund some of its research but warned it can't absorb the full cost of the federal cuts. In court filings, the school said the government fails to explain how the termination of funding for research to treat cancer, support veterans, and improve national security addresses antisemitism. The Trump administration denies the cuts were made in retaliation, saying the grants were under review even before the April demand letter was sent. It argues the government has wide discretion to cancel contracts for policy reasons. 'It is the policy of the United States under the Trump Administration not to fund institutions that fail to adequately address antisemitism in their programs,' it said in court documents. The research funding is only one front in Harvard's fight with the federal government. The Trump administration also has sought to prevent the school from hosting foreign students, and Trump has threatened to revoke Harvard's tax-exempt status. Finally, last month, the Trump administration formally issued a finding that the school tolerated antisemitism – a step that eventually could jeopardize all of Harvard's federal funding, including federal student loans or grants. The penalty is typically referred to as a 'death sentence.'
Arab News
8 hours ago
- Arab News
Gaza teen who dreamed of becoming a doctor now just hopes to survive
KHAN YOUNIS: Two years ago, Sarah Qanan was a star high school student preparing for final exams and dreaming of becoming a doctor. Today, the 18-year-old lives in a sweltering tent in the Gaza Strip and says she is just trying to stay alive. She's part of a generation of Palestinians from grade school through university who have had virtually no access to education in the territory since the war began in October 2023. Classes were suspended that month and schools were transformed into crowded shelters as hundreds of thousands fled their homes at the start of Israel's campaign of retaliation after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack. The closure of schools has removed a key social outlet for young people as they grapple with war, hunger and displacement. For younger children, it has meant missing out on basic skills like reading and simple arithmetic. For older students, advanced subjects, graduation exams and college applications have all been put on hold. Even if negotiations lead to another ceasefire, it's unclear when anything in Gaza will be rebuilt. Vast areas have been completely destroyed, and the UN children's agency estimates that nearly 90 percent of schools will need substantial reconstruction before they can function again. Like many in Gaza, Qanan's family has been displaced multiple times and is now living in a tent. When an Israeli airstrike destroyed their home in early 2024, she dug through the rubble in search of her books, but 'there was nothing left.' 'My sole dream was to study medicine,' Qanan said. 'I stopped thinking about it. All my thoughts now are about how to survive.' Hundreds of thousands out of school More than 650,000 students have had no access to education since the start of the war, according to the UN children's agency, UNICEF. That includes nearly 40,000 students who were unable to take university entry exams that largely determine their career prospects. It's the first time in decades that the exams were not administered in Gaza. Israel's bombardment and ground operations have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians and displaced 90 percent of Gaza's population. School-age children in crowded shelters and tent camps are often forced to help their families find food, water and firewood. A complete Israeli blockade imposed in early March that was only slightly eased 2 ½ months later has driven the territory to the brink of famine. Local education officials, working with UNICEF and other aid groups, set up hundreds of learning spaces to try and provide education during the war. 'We're trying to salvage what we can of the educational process, so that the next generation doesn't slip through our fingers,' said Mohamed Al-Asouli, head of the education department in the southern city of Khan Younis. During a six-week ceasefire in January and February, some 600 learning spaces provided lessons for around 173,000 children, according to UNICEF. But since March, when Israel ended the truce with a surprise bombardment, nearly half have shut down. 'The impact goes beyond learning losses,' said Rosalia Bollen, a UNICEF spokeswoman. 'Children in Gaza have been trapped in a cycle not just of exposure to unprecedented violence, but also a cycle of fear, of toxic stress, of anxiety.' 'Two years of my life are gone' Some have tried to continue their studies through online learning, but it's not easy in Gaza, where there has been no central electricity since the start of the war. Palestinians must use solar panels or hard-to-find generators to charge their phones, and Internet is unreliable. 'The mobile phone is not always charged, and we only have one at home,' said Nesma Zouaroub, a mother of four school-age children. She said her youngest son should be in second grade but does not know how to read or write. 'The children's future is ruined,' she said. Ola Shaban tried to continue her civil engineering studies online through her university after the campus was destroyed by Israeli forces in April 2024. She had to walk long distances to get a signal in her hometown near Khan Younis, and she eventually gave up. 'I couldn't continue because of lack of Internet, continuous displacement and the constant sense of fear,' she said. 'Two years of my life are gone.' Israel's offensive has killed over 57,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The ministry, which is part of the Hamas-run government, does not differentiate between combatants and civilians but says over half the dead are women and children. Its figures are used by the UN and other international organizations as the most reliable statistics on war casualties. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack and abducted 251. They are still holding 50 hostages, less than half believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire deals or other agreements. Qanan's father, Ibrahim, a local journalist, said his family did everything it could to support Sarah's ambition to study medicine, only to see it go up in smoke when the war broke out. 'The war stunned us and turned our life upside down,' the father of six said. 'Our dreams and hopes were buried in the rubble of our home.'
Asharq Al-Awsat
9 hours ago
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Kurdistan Offers to Deliver Oil, Calls for End to ‘Collective Punishment'
Despite weeks of intensive negotiations and multiple official visits between Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region, a final resolution to the long-standing oil and budget disputes remains elusive. As a result, hundreds of thousands of public sector workers in Kurdistan have gone unpaid for over 75 days, deepening an already severe economic crisis. While the Iraqi federal government announced last week that an agreement to resume oil exports through the Turkish port of Ceyhan was near, and both sides reportedly reached a 'near-final' deal, tangible progress has stalled. Reuters reported Friday that a restart of Kurdish oil exports is not imminent, citing both ongoing disputes and drone attacks on oilfields in the region that have slashed production by half. Nevertheless, Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Prime Minister Masrour Barzani reiterated Sunday his administration's readiness to hand over oil to Baghdad on one condition: that the federal government guarantees the region's share of the national budget and secures public salaries. Speaking at the inauguration of a new emergency water project in Erbil, Barzani demanded an end to what he described as 'collective punishment' of the Kurdish people. Addressing public criticism over local revenue use, Barzani said: 'We don't respond to irresponsible claims meant to mislead public opinion. Our projects are the real answer.' Barzani also pushed back against Kurdish voices advocating for Baghdad to directly distribute salaries, asserting the region's constitutional right to manage its own budget. 'We are a federal entity. Kurdistan must have its own budget, and how it is spent should be decided by its institutions and people,' he said. Tensions have grown in recent months as some Kurdish civil servants traveled to Baghdad, demanding the federal government bypass the KRG and pay salaries directly, a move Erbil firmly rejects. Barzani expressed frustration with Baghdad's withdrawal from earlier agreements, despite Erbil agreeing to hand over 230,000 barrels of oil per day to the federal SOMO company, as well as 120 billion dinars in monthly revenue. He warned that recent drone strikes on oil infrastructure could impact output but should not be used as an excuse to delay payments. The federal government counters that the KRG has failed to meet its oil transfer obligations and exceeded its allocated share of the national budget. In May, Iraq's Finance Ministry formally warned that funding would cease, citing overpayments that exceeded Kurdistan's legal 12.67% share.
