Latest news with #GazaProtests
Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
The middle-class student activists motivated by ‘privilege guilt'
From chants to 'Globalise the Intifada' on the leafy campuses of New England to anti-colonial vandalism in 700-year-old Oxbridge colleges, the more prestigious the university, the more amenable it seems to anti-West radicalism. Last week, Sciences Po – the Paris university that serves as a finishing school for France's elite – was accused of being 'ruined by woke radicals' in a book by a Le Figaro journalist. Similar accusations are made against Harvard, Yale and Columbia in the United States and Oxford and Cambridge in Britain. Trans rights, climate change, and Black Lives Matter have all been sources of fierce student protest in recent years. But nothing appears to have radicalised elite students more than the war in Gaza. Israel's response to the attack by Hamas on October 7 has emerged as the principal motivation for protests by some of the highest-status students in the world – those who supposedly work to the highest standards and expect to reap the rewards of their privilege as future, highly-paid leaders in business, politics, and law. A disproportionate number of students at elite universities are also from middle-class backgrounds. In 2023, one in three successful Oxford applicants and a quarter of successful Cambridge applicants came from private schools. 'There is a paradox at the heart of this,' says historian and former Oxford professor David Abulafia, who has criticised the excesses of woke ideology in our culture. 'The protesters are obsessed with entitlement and ideas like how evil whiteness is, but of course, most of them are entitled and the vast majority are white. The positions they take are full of contradictions.' It is not a coincidence that some of the most privileged students are adopting these positions, says Abulafia. 'There is an embarrassment about being in a privileged situation. People want to appear to reject characteristics they themselves have and the only way they seem to be able to deal with these characteristics is to side with those who are critical of them.' Columbia University in New York has become the epicentre of student radicalism over the Gaza conflict, with the tents of the 'Gaza Solidarity Encampment' appearing in April last year. This climaxed with the occupation of Hamilton Hall, brought to an end by riot police and the arrest of more than 100 people. Last month, police in helmets streamed into the university to remove a group of mask-clad protesters, some of whom had written 'Columbia will burn' across pictures. Four days after the Hamas attack on Israel, the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee released a statement that students 'hold the Israeli regime entirely responsible for all unfolding violence'. It was co-signed by 33 student groups. Protests have flared at Harvard and fellow Ivy League giant Yale ever since. In April this year at Yale, some 200 keffiyeh-wearing protesters chanted, 'We will honour all our martyrs.' With the protests have come complaints by Jewish students that they have been made to feel unsafe and intimidated by rising anti-Semitism. This pattern of radical protest by students at elite universities is mirrored in Britain. One of the Just Stop Oil activists accused of defacing Stonehenge last April, Niamh Lynch, 22, was an Oxford student. Lynch denies the charges against her and, at a hearing in January, asked for her trial not to clash with her university exams this summer. It has been set for October. In 2023, Daniel Knorr, a 21-year-old biochemistry undergraduate, allegedly sprayed the Radcliffe Camera Building in Oxford with orange paint in protest at the university's links with fossil fuel companies. He has pleaded not guilty and his trial will take place in August. Chiara Sarti, a PhD student at King's College, Cambridge, sprayed her own college building with orange paint in 2023 and in March last year, an unidentified member of Palestine Action (it's still not known whether they attended the university) knifed and defaced a painting of Lord Balfour in Trinity College, Cambridge, for his part in the creation of the state of Israel. In January, members of Oxford Action for Palestine seized the Radcliffe Camera Building. The group said it had renamed it the Khalida Jarrar Library, after the leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a proscribed terror group. Meanwhile, Phoebe Plummer – who was convicted of defacing Van Gogh's Sunflowers at the National Gallery in 2022 – studied at Manchester University having attended a £50,000-a-year boarding school in Ascot. Douglas Headley, a professor of philosophy of religion, has worked at Cambridge's divinity faculty for almost three decades, since 1996. In that time, the university has seen protests ranging from large-scale demonstrations on the Iraq War and student fees, to the recent acts of vandalism by Just Stop Oil and pro-Palestinian activists. In March, the High Court granted Cambridge an injunction preventing protesters from disrupting graduation events. On Friday Trinity and St John's Colleges sought fresh injunctions against pro-Palestinian demonstrators as a result of an encampment set up on their land over the previous weekend. 'For young people, a cocktail of radicalism within a secure environment is unbelievably attractive,' says Hedley. 'The ideologically driven self-hatred and hatred of the country is the core of this problem.' Is it possible that the privilege actually increases the students' urge to be more radical? What motivates their keenness to rubbish the heritage from which they have benefitted more than anyone, and where does their moral certainty come from? 'Some privileged young people understand they have had access to things that others do not,' explains Paul Glynn, clinical director at Klearminds therapy group, who has worked with students on issues of privilege. 'The key emotions are guilt and shame. Guilt is an activating emotion – it's about making amends or a correction. Shame can be isolating. A student can often deny or avoid exposing their privilege to others.' 'Privilege can result in 'overcompensation', where students experiencing guilt align themselves with causes that make them feel like they have a less privileged identity,' adds Glynn. When students chant 'Globalise the Intifada' on campus, it's an expression of an overtly binary view of the world, an expression that can be linked to their privilege. 'Certainty is attractive,' says Glynn. 'Most of these issues are complex, but we don't like that so let's make it good or evil.' 'What strikes me is the lack of knowledge among students,' says Abulafia. 'With the Gaza/Israel example there is a complete ignorance about the historical context. They don't really seem to be interested.' The anti-Vietnam marches of the 1960s were an attempt to stop a war which had direct consequences for American students, with a chance that you, your friends or family members could be drafted to fight and die on the other side of the world. The current protests have grown in a hothouse of identity politics – in which protesters' views on Gaza are part of a broader world view that tends to encompass critical race theory, extreme trans rights and anti-capitalist activism. Through this lens, Israel is perceived to be a white colonising state and therefore bears the sins of all colonialists, with its associations of racism, apartheid and exploitation. As Abulafia highlights, in many cases, the students appear to be rejecting the world that got them to such colleges in the first place. If they are told the system is bad, they must be bad too. Assumptions about colonialism in higher education that sprang from Edward Said's 1978 book Orientalism and the influence of French intellectuals such as Michel Foucault have contributed to the notion of a hierarchy of oppression, from which students can judge who and what deserves the most sympathy. Katharine Birbalsingh, a leading headteacher who advocates for freedom of speech, suggests that the problem starts at school – specifically private school classrooms – where the connection between privilege and guilt is first made. 'It seems obvious there is a relationship between what you might call 'woke' culture and privilege,' says Birbalsingh. 'By that I include mainly white, middle-class people. Woke ideas like 'decolonisation' and criticism of Western values are everywhere in the most exclusive private school classrooms and that feeds into universities. 'One example is outside speakers who come into private schools and imply that there is something wrong with being privileged and they point towards absolving themselves by embracing Black Lives Matter or the trans movement.' Birbalsingh recently claimed that transgender children are more likely to be 'white and privileged' and that many were searching for 'victimhood narratives', which are 'admired' in modern society. Deferring to your less privileged peers A key part of the dynamic between privilege and protest is how some students react to their less socially advantaged peers. Psychologists suggest students who are perceived to be 'marginalised' are more likely to be listened to, especially when it comes to theories around race and history. 'We have found that students from less privileged backgrounds are deferred to by more privileged ones, because the privileged students believe that the opinions and beliefs of others must be more authentic,' says Dr Helena Bunn, a member of the British Psychological Society and a director of a doctorate programme that explores social justice, oppression and privilege with students at the University of East London. 'The privileged students feel compelled to become advocates for a cause they have little personal connection to. If there is guilt about privilege, that can lead to less critical thinking. 'There can also be a sense of 'I feel I have to do something' so they follow the opinions of others who are seen to be less privileged. It can be as simple as just thinking 'something is wrong here' like a war for example, but the emotional priority is to belong to the cause.' Perhaps the most infamous example of student entitlement was recorded during the Columbia tent encampment, with the appearance of Johannah King-Slutzky as its spokesperson. King-Slutzky, a PhD English student and the daughter of psychologists, warned that students illegally occupying university property could 'die of dehydration and starvation' if they were not given supplies. The protests have raised the ire of the Trump administration, which sees the demonstrations as evidence that universities such as Columbia and Harvard are gripped by a 'woke' elite complicit in the radicalisation of their students. The US president threatened to redirect $3 billion in Harvard research grants last week, following a decision to suspend foreign students from enrolling. 'Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect,' he said. 'Globalise the Intifada' may be cosplay rebellion for some privileged students and a way of expiating guilt for others, but sceptics argue the increasing prevalence of the chant has real-world consequences. The former New York Times columnist Bari Weiss pointed to recent attacks on Jews in New York and Colorado, saying: 'It was dismissed as a metaphor and not what it always was: a demand for open season on Jewish people worldwide.' 'The elite institutions have been ideologically captured,' says Hedley. 'When I worked in the US, I noticed the universities you would assume to be the best weren't because their departments and academics were taken over by a gender and race ideology. Once you turn a university into an ideological arena, it encourages the students to express their outrage and their virtue in ways the average person outside is not going to be very impressed with.'
RNZ News
4 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
Hamas accused of brutal crackdown on protesters in Gaza
By Matthew Doran , ABC Middle East correspondent and ABC staff in Gaza Palestinians have taken to the streets to protest against Hamas. Photo: ABC News Hanging from the tarpaulin walls of Amal Ashraf Al Shafa'a's tent are three posters showing the faces of three young men. She does not need those photos to remind her of the immense loss her family has experienced during the war in Gaza. But in the midst of the chaos and destruction they take pride of place in her makeshift home in the territory's north. "I lost three of my sons and now they have left behind orphans," she told the 7.30 programme. "When I look at my grandchildren I am heartbroken - my children are gone." With her grief looming over her Amal took to the streets alongside hundreds of other Palestinians to rail against Hamas in the days after Israel resumed its bombardment of Gaza. Amal Ashraf Al Shafa'a has photos of her three dead sons on the wall of her home. Photo: ABC News The March demonstrations have been described as the largest anti-Hamas rallies since the war in Gaza began, following Hamas' deadly attacks on 7 October, 2023. Palestinians expressed their anguish over the immeasurable devastation wrought by Israeli forces during the war, but laid blame at the feet of Hamas for allowing it to continue. "Out Hamas, out!" the protesters chanted. "The people want the fall of Hamas!" One man, Rafed Rafed Mohammed Atta Al-Radi, was in the crowd as the demonstration erupted. "We are asking Hamas to leave Gaza today, we won't wait any longer," he told the ABC. "We want Abu Mazen [Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] to rule Gaza," he said. Amal Ashraf Al Shafa'a joined the public protests against Hamas. Photo: ABC News "We want him to govern Gaza because Hamas is destroying the people." Despite battling cancer and needing urgent surgery, Amal said she felt she had to join the protest. "I lost my children, so of course I want to demonstrate," she said. "I want to shout, 'no to war, no to war'. Many are talking against the war and nothing happens. "I support peaceful demonstrations asking for the end of the war, it is not wrong. "We ask from the government that will rule to bring safety, security. Our children are hungry - we are very tired." Protests broke out in the days after Israel resumed its bombardment of Gaza. Photo: ABC News Since the protests broke out there have been reports of deadly reprisals against those who took to the streets. Amnesty International said it had documented "a disturbing pattern of threats, intimidation and harassment, including interrogations and beatings by Hamas-run security forces against individuals exercising their right to peaceful protest". "It is abhorrent and shameful that while Palestinians in Gaza are enduring atrocities at the hands of Israel, Hamas authorities are further exacerbating their suffering by ramping up threats and intimidation against people simply for saying 'we want to live'," Erika Guevara-Rosas, senior director for research, advocacy, policy and campaigns at Amnesty International, said. The family of one man, 22-year-old Odai Al-Rubai, said he was abducted and tortured for hours by Hamas before his body was dumped outside the family home. "We are not opposed to resistance, we are opposed to the war itself," Amal said. "We stand against the politics of Hamas and the ongoing killings, we cannot remain silent or passive." Hamas has a reputation for ruling Gaza with an iron fist. In early May it announced it had executed six people and shot another 13 in the legs for alleged looting, and last week killed another four. "A warning has been issued - those who ignore it bear full responsibility," the group said. A protester carries a sign that reads "Hamas does not represent us". Photo: ABC News "Let's not forget that Hamas as a movement, as a religious movement - and it's a political religious movement actually - has its own ideology, its own world view and its own way to do things in terms of culture, in terms of social life, and sometimes in terms of political dissent," Dr Hasan Ayoub, assistant professor of politics at An-Najah University in the West Bank, told 7.30 . "Yes, Hamas at some points in Gaza, they practiced their own, let me call it, non-democratic, coercive tactics against political dissent." In recent weeks the Committee to Protect Journalists has published testimony of journalists in Gaza being threatened and assaulted by Hamas for covering protests against the militant group. Despite that reputation and the reported reprisals, Dr Ayoub is not convinced the recent protests would have angered Hamas. "If you can find people in Gaza taking to the streets to protest a year-and-a-half of genocide, of being starved on such a systematic way, that's not a bad thing," he said. "I think for Hamas, they don't mind and they don't see it as protests against them if people took to the streets, because it's against the silence of the entire world on what is happening in Gaza." Dr Ayoub suggested the protests were misdirected fury at Israel for its ongoing bombardment of Gaza. "Let's assume that nothing of this, what I said, is true - that people really are spontaneously [protesting] because they are fed up to the back of their teeth of the situation. No one can blame them, it's very much understood," he said. "But I have never heard of a people when, being exposed to genocide and to this terrifying amount of killing, will come out and protest against a liberation movement that is fighting in their favour. "It never happened, not in the Palestinian history, not in any history in the world - so there is something that is not adding up here." A man holds a sign that reads "Enough killing children" at a protest against Hamas. Photo: ABC News Israel has repeatedly said its war in Gaza is against Hamas, and not the Palestinian people. Although the devastating death toll, with more than 54,000 Palestinians now dead, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, showed the heavy civilian cost of the conflict and has led to serious accusations against the Israeli military of indiscriminate bombing and shelling of the strip. Israel resumed its bombardment of Gaza to, in its words, pressure Hamas to release the remaining 58 hostages still held captive - only 21 of whom are believed to still be alive. Negotiations on another ceasefire and hostage deal have repeatedly stalled, with Hamas accusing Israel of refusing to commit to steps to formally declare an end to the war and withdraw its military from large swathes of Gaza it now controls. A red line in negotiations for Hamas has been demands for the militant group to lay down its weapons - something it insisted would allow Israel to renege on any commitment to end the conflict. Hamada Alza'anoun says Hamas "serves only the interests of their loyalists". Photo: ABC News For Hamada Alza'anoun, the desperate situation facing his family and his people prompted him to join the protests. Picking through the rubble of his former home, destroyed by Israeli bombs, he said Hamas' elite benefited from the war. "We oppose their rule because it serves only the interests of their loyalists," he said. "Even before the war, their actions were driven solely by the needs of their own supporters, while the rest of us were left without benefit - the only ones who gained were those aligned with them. "As Palestinians, especially in Gaza, we are not against the resistance and we will never be against the resistance. However, during this war we stood against Hamas' policies." Hamada said his house was not the only thing he had lost in the war. Hamada Alza'anoun picks through the rubble of his destroyed home. Photo: ABC News Like so many other Palestinians, numerous members of his family have been killed. He feared Hamas' approach to the war, and negotiations to bring about a ceasefire, meant the risk of losing his own life was growing by the hour. "We are asking for the end of the war that has reached all the people in Gaza," he said. "Regardless of conditions, we want the war to end. Gaza people love life. "We want life, we don't want death - as children, young men, we want to stay alive, we don't want to die." In January, days before leaving office, then US Secretary of State Antony Blinken revealed an interesting aspect about the impact of the war on the Gazan population. "We assess that Hamas has recruited almost as many new militants as it has lost," Blinken said. "That is a recipe for an enduring insurgency and perpetual war. "We've long made the point to the Israeli government that Hamas cannot be defeated by a military campaign alone, that without a clear alternative, a post-conflict plan and a credible political horizon for the Palestinians, Hamas, or something just as abhorrent and dangerous, will grow back." The future governance of Gaza remains a contentious issue. Hamas has said it is prepared to hand power to others, while refusing to lay down its arms. The Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank wants to unify the two occupied territories under its leadership - something Israel has said should never happen. Palestinian National Initiative leader Mustafa Barghouti says his own party needs significant reform. Photo: ABC News / Hamish Harty One of the leading Palestinian opposition politicians said the PA would need significant reform if it was to ever take control of Gaza, and the leading Fatah party would need to allow change. Last year the various Palestinian factions all signed a declaration in Beijing about the future governance of Gaza once the war ended. "They told us that they are ready to accept a national consensus government, which would mainly consist of independents, but a government that would be respected and accepted by all Palestinian parties," Palestinian National Initiative leader Mustafa Barghouti told 7.30 . "We concluded that agreement, we signed it - Hamas signed it, Fatah signed it, everybody signed it." Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas has been president of the Palestinian Authority since 2005, and elections have not been held since. He recently named a new vice-president, Hussein al-Sheikh - a move seen as appointing a successor. Rival Barghouti insisted that was not good enough to ensure the PA is seen as a legitimate government. "I'm surprised sometimes when people think that appointing somebody in a certain position is reform," he said. "This is not reform, the reform is really when we have the right to have free democratic elections." Barghouti argued the reason Fatah was reluctant to hold elections is because its power would be diluted, but said it must happen for the party to uphold its commitment to the Beijing declaration. "I know the results, how will the results be - it will not be that Hamas will win majority, as some claim, but Fatah also will not get absolute majority," he said. "It will be a pluralistic system. "I think a pluralistic democratic system is the healthiest thing for Palestine. That's what you do in Australia, that's what people do in other countries. You rarely get a party that gets more than 50 percent but you have coalitions. "And I think that's also what we need in Palestine." - ABC
Al Jazeera
29-05-2025
- General
- Al Jazeera
Police clash with Gaza war protesters at London university
NewsFeed Police clash with Gaza war protesters at London university Video shows police confronting students protesting against Israel's war on Gaza outside King's College London. At least one student was arrested.
Malay Mail
28-05-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
‘Trump = traitor': Trump revokes Harvard's visa rights and axes US$100m in contracts as hundreds of students stage protest
WASHINGTON, May 28 — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday ordered a suspension of student visa processing in the latest swipe at foreign students in the country. The White House is cracking down on foreign students at US universities, revoking visas and deporting those involved in protests against the war in Gaza, accusing them of supporting Palestinian militant group Hamas. Rubio earlier rescinded hundreds of visas and President Donald Trump's administration moved to bar Harvard University from admitting non-Americans. A cable signed by Rubio and seen by AFP orders embassies and consulates not to allow 'any additional student or exchange visa... appointment capacity until further guidance is issued.' The government also plans to ramp up vetting of the social media profiles of international applicants to US universities, the cable said. The move came as Harvard students protested after the government said it intends to cancel all remaining financial contracts with the elite school, Trump's latest attempt to force the institution to submit to unprecedented oversight. Hundreds of students gathered to oppose Trump's widening offensive, including yesterday's measures estimated to be worth US$100 million, against the university that has drawn his ire for refusing to give up control of curriculum, admissions and research. 'Trump = traitor' read one student placard, while the crowd chanted 'who belongs in class today, let them stay' in reference to Harvard's international students whose status Trump has upended by summarily revoking the university's accreditation to the country's Student and Exchange Visitor program. A judge issued a restraining order pending a hearing on the matter scheduled for tomorrow, the same day as the university's commencement graduation ceremony for which thousands of graduating students and their families had gathered in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Boston. The White House meanwhile, doubled down in its offensive, saying that public money should go to vocational schools that train electricians and plumbers. 'The president is more interested in giving that taxpayer money to trade schools and programs and state schools where they are promoting American values, but most importantly, educating the next generation based on skills that we need in our economy and our society,' Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News Tuesday evening. 'We need more of those in our country, and less LGBTQ graduate majors from Harvard University.' Graduating Harvard student Victor Flores and others rally in support of international students during the Harvard Students for Freedom rally at the Harvard University campus in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 27, 2025. — AFP pic Tuesday's protest unfolded as news helicopters hovered overhead and graduating students in academic attire and their guests ate finger food at a reception on the lawns of Harvard Square nearby. 'All my international friends and peers and professors and researchers are at risk and (are) threatened with being deported—or their option is to transfer' to another university, said Alice Goyer, who attended the protest wearing a black academic gown. One history of medicine student from Britain graduating this week who gave his name only as Jack said that the policies pursued by Trump would make US universities less attractive to international students. 'I don't know if I'd pursue a PhD here, six years is a long time,' he said. Harvard itself has filed extensive legal challenges against Trump's measures, which legal experts say are likely to be overturned by the courts. Separately, alumni plan to file a lawsuit against Trump on June 9, filmmaker Anurima Bhargava told a virtual meeting staged by Crimson Courage, a grassroots alumni group that held a mass webinar to raise awareness and a fighting fund from former students. The cutting of contracts announced Tuesday—estimated by US media to be worth US$100 million—would mark the slashing of business ties between the government and the country's oldest university. Amid a broad campaign against seats of learning that Trump accuses of being hotbeds of liberal bias and anti-Semitism, the president has singled out Harvard. In the last few weeks, the elite educational and research powerhouse has seen billions of dollars in federal grants frozen and millions of dollars of federal contracts torn up. The university has sued both to block the revocation of its right to recruit and sponsor foreign students, 27 percent of its total roll, as well as to overturn the withdrawal of federal funding. A legal expert suggested Harvard could file a lawsuit to overturn the latest contract cuts as part of existing legal action. 'The case is so strong that the court system is not going to step to the side and allow this... to go forward,' said Albany Law School professor Ray Brescia. He said the Trump administration's assault on Harvard was so flawed that a higher court would likely strike down the campaign if the Trump administration were to challenge it on appeal. On Monday, Trump nonetheless vowed he would prevail in the increasingly public struggle, claiming that foreign students at Harvard include 'radicalized lunatics, troublemakers.' — AFP
Malay Mail
28-05-2025
- Business
- Malay Mail
Trump administration targets Harvard, suspends student visas amid protests over Gaza war
WASHINGTON, May 28 — US Secretary of State Marco Rubio yesterday ordered a suspension of student visa processing in the latest swipe at foreign students in the country. The White House is cracking down on foreign students at US universities, revoking visas and deporting those involved in protests against the war in Gaza, accusing them of supporting Palestinian militant group Hamas. Rubio earlier rescinded hundreds of visas and President Donald Trump's administration moved to bar Harvard University from admitting non-Americans. A cable signed by Rubio and seen by AFP orders embassies and consulates not to allow 'any additional student or exchange visa... appointment capacity until further guidance is issued.' The government also plans to ramp up vetting of the social media profiles of international applicants to US universities, the cable said. The move came as Harvard students protested after the government said it intends to cancel all remaining financial contracts with the elite school, Trump's latest attempt to force the institution to submit to unprecedented oversight. Hundreds of students gathered to oppose Trump's widening offensive, including yesteday'ss measures estimated to be worth US$100 million, against the university that has drawn his ire for refusing to give up control of curriculum, admissions and research. 'Trump = traitor' read one student placard, while the crowd chanted 'who belongs in class today, let them stay' in reference to Harvard's international students whose status Trump has upended by summarily revoking the university's accreditation to the country's Student and Exchange Visitor program. A judge issued a restraining order pending a hearing on the matter scheduled for tomorrow, the same day as the university's commencement graduation ceremony for which thousands of graduating students and their families had gathered in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Boston. The White House meanwhile, doubled down in its offensive, saying that public money should go to vocational schools that train electricians and plumbers. 'The president is more interested in giving that taxpayer money to trade schools and programs and state schools where they are promoting American values, but most importantly, educating the next generation based on skills that we need in our economy and our society,' Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News Tuesday evening. 'We need more of those in our country, and less LGBTQ graduate majors from Harvard University.' Tuesday's protest unfolded as news helicopters hovered overhead and graduating students in academic attire and their guests ate finger food at a reception on the lawns of Harvard Square nearby. 'All my international friends and peers and professors and researchers are at risk and (are) threatened with being deported—or their option is to transfer' to another university, said Alice Goyer, who attended the protest wearing a black academic gown. One history of medicine student from Britain graduating this week who gave his name only as Jack said that the policies pursued by Trump would make US universities less attractive to international students. 'I don't know if I'd pursue a PhD here, six years is a long time,' he said. Harvard itself has filed extensive legal challenges against Trump's measures, which legal experts say are likely to be overturned by the courts. Separately, alumni plan to file a lawsuit against Trump on June 9, filmmaker Anurima Bhargava told a virtual meeting staged by Crimson Courage, a grassroots alumni group that held a mass webinar to raise awareness and a fighting fund from former students. The cutting of contracts announced Tuesday—estimated by US media to be worth US$100 million—would mark the slashing of business ties between the government and the country's oldest university. Amid a broad campaign against seats of learning that Trump accuses of being hotbeds of liberal bias and anti-Semitism, the president has singled out Harvard. In the last few weeks, the elite educational and research powerhouse has seen billions of dollars in federal grants frozen and millions of dollars of federal contracts torn up. The university has sued both to block the revocation of its right to recruit and sponsor foreign students, 27 percent of its total roll, as well as to overturn the withdrawal of federal funding. A legal expert suggested Harvard could file a lawsuit to overturn the latest contract cuts as part of existing legal action. 'The case is so strong that the court system is not going to step to the side and allow this... to go forward,' said Albany Law School professor Ray Brescia. He said the Trump administration's assault on Harvard was so flawed that a higher court would likely strike down the campaign if the Trump administration were to challenge it on appeal. On Monday, Trump nonetheless vowed he would prevail in the increasingly public struggle, claiming that foreign students at Harvard include 'radicalized lunatics, troublemakers.' — AFP
