Latest news with #KarlMolden
News24
13 hours ago
- General
- News24
‘Such a disgrace': Outrage as Trump ramps up attacks on Harvard, Columbia
The Trump administration ramped up its campaign against top US universities. All foreign students have been banned from attending Harvard. Columbia University may lose its accreditation. US President Donald Trump ramped up his campaign against top US universities on Wednesday, banning visas for all foreign students coming to attend Harvard and threatening to strip Columbia of its academic accreditation. Trump is seeking to bring the universities to heel with claims their international students pose a national security threat, and that they ignored antisemitism on campus, and perpetuate liberal bias. A proclamation issued by the White House late on Wednesday declared that the entrance of international students to begin a course at Harvard would be 'suspended and limited' for six months, and that existing overseas enrollees could have their visas terminated. READ | Foreign students want to transfer from Harvard over Trump 'fear, concern, and confusion' 'Harvard's conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers,' said the order. 'I'm trembling. This is outrageous,' Karl Molden, a Harvard government and classics student from Austria, told AFP. 'He is abusing his executive power to harm Harvard as much as he can.' 'My god!' said another international student at Harvard, who declined to be named for fear of retribution, on learning of the executive order. This is such a disgrace. Harvard student The announcement came after the Trump administration's earlier efforts to terminate Harvard's right to enrol and host foreign students were stalled by a judge. The government already cut around $3.2 billion of federal grants and contracts benefiting Harvard and pledged to exclude the Cambridge, Massachusetts institution from any future federal funding. Harvard has been at the forefront of Trump's campaign against top universities after it defied his calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and 'viewpoint diversity'. Trump has also singled out international students at Harvard, who in the 2024-2025 academic year accounted for 27% of total enrolment, and a major source of income. 'This is yet another illegal retaliatory step taken by the Administration in violation of Harvard's First Amendment rights,' a university spokesperson said. 'Harvard will continue to protect its international students.' The latest sweeping action against Harvard came as Trump's education secretary threatened on Wednesday to strip Columbia University of its accreditation. The Republican has targeted the New York Ivy League institution for allegedly ignoring harassment of Jewish students, throwing all of its federal funding into doubt. Unlike Harvard, several top institutions - including Columbia - have already bowed to far-reaching demands from the Trump administration, which claims that the educational elite is too left-wing. But Wednesday's official action suggested it was not enough for Trump. 'Columbia University looked the other way as Jewish students faced harassment,' US Education Secretary Linda McMahon said on X. She accused the school of breaking rules prohibiting recipients of federal funding from discriminating on the basis of race, colour, or national origin. 'After Hamas' 7 October 2023, terror attack on Israel, Columbia University's leadership acted with deliberate indifference toward the harassment of Jewish students on its campus,' McMahon said in a statement. 'This is not only immoral, but also unlawful.' In the statement, the US Education Department said its civil rights office had contacted Columbia's accreditation body about the alleged violation. Withdrawing Columbia's accreditation would see it lose access to all federal funding - a very significant proportion of the university's income. Students attending the university would also not be able to receive federal grants and loans toward tuition. Critics accuse the Trump administration of using allegations of antisemitism to target educational elites and bring universities to their knees. The administration has already put $400 million of Columbia's funding under review, prompting the university in March to announce a package of concessions to the government around defining antisemitism, policing protests and conducting oversight for specific academic departments. Following Wednesday's announcement, a Columbia spokesperson said the university 'aware of the concerns' raised by the government with its accreditation body. 'We have addressed those concerns directly with Middle States,' the spokesperson said, adding that 'Columbia is deeply committed to combating antisemitism on our campus.' 'We take this issue seriously and are continuing to work with the federal government to address it.'
News.com.au
17 hours ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
Trump administration ramps up attack on Harvard, Columbia
President Donald Trump ramped up his campaign against top US universities Wednesday, banning visas for all foreign students coming to attend Harvard and threatening to strip Columbia of its academic accreditation. Trump is seeking to bring the universities to heel with claims their international students pose a national security threat, and that they ignored anti-Semitism on campus, and perpetuate liberal bias. A proclamation issued by the White House late Wednesday declared that the entrance of international students to begin a course at Harvard would be "suspended and limited" for six months, and that existing overseas enrollees could have their visas terminated. "Harvard's conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers," said the order. "I'm trembling. This is outrageous," Karl Molden, a Harvard government and classics student from Austria, told AFP. "He is abusing his executive power to harm Harvard as much as he can." "My god!" said another international student at Harvard, who declined to be named for fear of retribution, on learning of the executive order. "This is such a disgrace." The announcement came after the Trump administration's earlier efforts to terminate Harvard's right to enroll and host foreign students were stalled by a judge. The government already cut around $3.2 billion of federal grants and contracts benefiting Harvard and pledged to exclude the Cambridge, Massachusetts institution from any future federal funding. Harvard has been at the forefront of Trump's campaign against top universities after it defied his calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and "viewpoint diversity." Trump has also singled out international students at Harvard, who in the 2024-2025 academic year accounted for 27 percent of total enrollment, and a major source of income. "This is yet another illegal retaliatory step taken by the Administration in violation of Harvard's First Amendment rights," a university spokesman said. "Harvard will continue to protect its international students." The latest sweeping action against Harvard came as Trump's education secretary threatened Wednesday to strip Columbia University of its accreditation. The Republican has targeted the New York Ivy League institution for allegedly ignoring harassment of Jewish students, throwing all of its federal funding into doubt. Unlike Harvard, several top institutions -- including Columbia -- have already bowed to far-reaching demands from the Trump administration, which claims that the educational elite is too left-wing. - 'Combating anti-Semitism' - But Wednesday's official action suggested it was not enough for Trump. "Columbia University looked the other way as Jewish students faced harassment," US Education Secretary Linda McMahon said on X. She accused the school of breaking rules prohibiting recipients of federal funding from discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national origin. "After Hamas' October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, Columbia University's leadership acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus," McMahon said in a statement. "This is not only immoral, but also unlawful." In the statement, the US Education Department said its civil rights office had contacted Columbia's accreditation body about the alleged violation. Withdrawing Columbia's accreditation would see it lose access to all federal funding -- a very significant proportion of the university's income. Students attending the university would also not be able to receive federal grants and loans towards tuition. Critics accuse the Trump administration of using allegations of anti-Semitism to target educational elites and bring universities to their knees. The administration has already put $400 million of Columbia's funding under review, prompting the university in March to announce a package of concessions to the government around defining anti-Semitism, policing protests and conducting oversight for specific academic departments. Following Wednesday's announcement, a Columbia spokesperson said the university "aware of the concerns" raised by the government with its accreditation body. "We have addressed those concerns directly with Middle States," the spokesperson said, adding that "Columbia is deeply committed to combating anti-Semitism on our campus." "We take this issue seriously and are continuing to work with the federal government to address it."
France 24
17 hours ago
- Politics
- France 24
Trump administration ramps up attack on Harvard, Columbia
Trump is seeking to bring the universities to heel with claims their international students pose a national security threat, and that they ignored anti-Semitism on campus, and perpetuate liberal bias. A proclamation issued by the White House late Wednesday declared that the entrance of international students to begin a course at Harvard would be "suspended and limited" for six months, and that existing overseas enrollees could have their visas terminated. "Harvard's conduct has rendered it an unsuitable destination for foreign students and researchers," said the order. "I'm trembling. This is outrageous," Karl Molden, a Harvard government and classics student from Austria, told AFP. "He is abusing his executive power to harm Harvard as much as he can." "My god!" said another international student at Harvard, who declined to be named for fear of retribution, on learning of the executive order. "This is such a disgrace." 'Retaliatory' The announcement came after the Trump administration's earlier efforts to terminate Harvard's right to enroll and host foreign students were stalled by a judge. The government already cut around $3.2 billion of federal grants and contracts benefiting Harvard and pledged to exclude the Cambridge, Massachusetts institution from any future federal funding. Harvard has been at the forefront of Trump's campaign against top universities after it defied his calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and "viewpoint diversity." Trump has also singled out international students at Harvard, who in the 2024-2025 academic year accounted for 27 percent of total enrollment, and a major source of income. "This is yet another illegal retaliatory step taken by the Administration in violation of Harvard's First Amendment rights," a university spokesman said. "Harvard will continue to protect its international students." The latest sweeping action against Harvard came as Trump's education secretary threatened Wednesday to strip Columbia University of its accreditation. The Republican has targeted the New York Ivy League institution for allegedly ignoring harassment of Jewish students, throwing all of its federal funding into doubt. Unlike Harvard, several top institutions -- including Columbia -- have already bowed to far-reaching demands from the Trump administration, which claims that the educational elite is too left-wing. 'Combating anti-Semitism' But Wednesday's official action suggested it was not enough for Trump. "Columbia University looked the other way as Jewish students faced harassment," US Education Secretary Linda McMahon said on X. She accused the school of breaking rules prohibiting recipients of federal funding from discriminating on the basis of race, color, or national origin. "After Hamas' October 7, 2023, terror attack on Israel, Columbia University's leadership acted with deliberate indifference towards the harassment of Jewish students on its campus," McMahon said in a statement. "This is not only immoral, but also unlawful." In the statement, the US Education Department said its civil rights office had contacted Columbia's accreditation body about the alleged violation. Withdrawing Columbia's accreditation would see it lose access to all federal funding -- a very significant proportion of the university's income. Students attending the university would also not be able to receive federal grants and loans towards tuition. Critics accuse the Trump administration of using allegations of anti-Semitism to target educational elites and bring universities to their knees. The administration has already put $400 million of Columbia's funding under review, prompting the university in March to announce a package of concessions to the government around defining anti-Semitism, policing protests and conducting oversight for specific academic departments. Following Wednesday's announcement, a Columbia spokesperson said the university "aware of the concerns" raised by the government with its accreditation body. "We have addressed those concerns directly with Middle States," the spokesperson said, adding that "Columbia is deeply committed to combating anti-Semitism on our campus."
New York Times
23-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Shock at Harvard After Government Says International Students Must Go
Just before the Trump administration announced on Thursday that it would bar international students from Harvard, staff members from the university's International Office met with graduating seniors at the Kennedy School of Government, congratulating them on their degrees — and on surviving the chaos of recent months. Then, within minutes of the meeting's end, news alerts lit up the students' phones. Chaos was breaking out again: Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, had notified Harvard that its permission to enroll international students was revoked. With that, the degrees and futures of thousands of Harvard students — and an integral piece of the university's identity and culture — were plunged into deep uncertainty. 'There are so many students from all over the world who came to Harvard to make it a better place and to change America and change their home countries for the better,' said Karl Molden, a student from Vienna who had just completed his sophomore year. 'Now it's all at risk of falling apart, which is breaking my heart.' The university has faced rapid-fire aggressions since its president, Alan M. Garber, told the Trump administration in April that Harvard would not give in to demands to change its hiring and admissions practices and its curriculum. After the government froze more than $2 billion in grants, Harvard filed suit in federal court in Boston. Since then, the administration has gutted the university's research funding, upending budgets and forcing some hard-hit programs to reimagine their scope and mission. The end of international enrollment would transform a university where 6,800 students, more than a quarter of the total, come from other countries, a number that has grown steadily in recent decades. Graduate programs would be hit especially hard. At the Kennedy School, 59 percent of students come from outside the United States. International students make up 40 percent of the enrollment at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health and 35 percent at the Harvard Business School. Because international students do not qualify for federal financial aid, and typically pay more for their education, they contribute disproportionately to the university's revenue, in addition to bringing diverse perspectives that enrich campus life and classroom discussions. 'This will destroy the university as we know it,' said Kirsten Weld, a professor who specializes in Latin American history and the president of the Harvard chapter of the American Association of University Professors. 'Harvard is situated in the United States physically, but its students and faculty hail from all over the world. That is fundamental to the work and mission of the institution. You cannot take that away and have an institution left at the end of it.' Fear and confusion spread quickly on Thursday as international students flooded group message boards with anxious questions and refreshed their email inboxes. Sarah Davis, a second-year Kennedy School student from Australia who is scheduled to graduate next week, said she did not feel fully confident that she would receive her master's degree in public administration if her student visa had been rendered invalid. And even if she does receive her degree, Ms. Davis said, it is unlikely that she will be able to stay in the United States for the postgraduate job she has accepted. Her employment is contingent on continued sponsorship by Harvard under the government's Optional Practical Training program, which permits universities to sponsor the visas of international students for as long as three years after they graduate. 'It's incredibly disappointing to have something you've worked so hard for be taken away in an instant,' Ms. Davis said, 'and to end up in limbo.' Mr. Molden said he had broken out in a sweat as he read about the administration's action. 'Getting into Harvard was the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life,' he said. 'I can't actually believe that this is happening.' Alfred Williamson, 20, a student from Wales who just completed his freshman year, said that he and many of his international friends had already started to think about transferring to other universities. 'I was messaging a friend from the U.K., asking if we could talk about whether we could transfer to Oxford or Cambridge,' Mr. Williamson said. 'People are taking this very seriously.' 'Everyone's freaking out,' he added. 'No one knows what to do.' Yet even students who had already begun to consider leaving found themselves overwhelmed by the prospect of quickly finding a spot elsewhere — and by the idea of leaving a place where they had invested so much. 'To watch my dream and those of my international peers be turned into a nightmare is one of the hardest experiences of my life,' Ella Ricketts, a freshman from Canada, said in a text message. 'The thought of leaving the Harvard community — the place where I feel most at home — remains almost impossible to consider.' Canada, China, India, Britain and South Korea are among the countries that send the largest numbers of students to Harvard, according to university data. Genia Lukin, a Ph.D. student from Israel in Harvard's psychology department, said that the Trump administration's latest pressure tactic — deployed, like the rest, in the name of combating antisemitism — would further harm people like her who have experienced antisemitism and anti-Israel bias on Harvard's campus. 'This is not helping,' Ms. Lukin said. The new crackdown seemed to throw the future of some programs into question. Jose Ignacio Llodra, a student from Chile who is set to graduate next week from the Kennedy School, estimated that 90 percent of students in his master's program had come from overseas. 'The program is about how to bring international development to countries around the world — without international students, it doesn't make sense,' Mr. Llodra said. 'Many of us came to the U.S. to study because the university system is the best in the world, and this policy might destroy this system.' He said he was lucky that his student visa had been sponsored by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he is about to receive a master's degree in business administration. Maria Kuznetsova, a graduate student from Russia, said the announcement on Thursday had reminded her of things she experienced in her home country. 'In the student chat groups, people are saying, 'Don't panic — it's too early,'' said Ms. Kuznetsova, who is considering a move to Europe while also quickly applying for jobs in America in hopes of securing a work visa. 'But I think that's detrimental, because then you don't prepare for the worst.' Caleb N. Thompson, 20, an American student who serves as one of two presidents of Harvard's undergraduate student body, said the Trump administration's demands were a 'blatant and unacceptable attack on our student body.' 'All of our classes are going to be affected, all of our clubs are going to be affected,' he said. 'Student life cannot be the way that it is if we do not have international students.' Some students expressed confidence that the university would fight for them to stay. Others grappled with their apparent sudden powerlessness over the most basic facets of their lives — where they would live, study and work. 'We're being used like pawns in some game we have no control over,' Mr. Williamson said.
NZ Herald
22-05-2025
- Politics
- NZ Herald
US government revokes Harvard's right to enrol foreign students
Harvard, which has sued the US government over the raft of other punitive measures it has taken against it, quickly fired back, calling the move 'unlawful'. 'We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard's ability to host our international students and scholars,' it said in a statement. 'We are working quickly to provide guidance and support to members of our community. This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard's academic and research mission.' Karl Molden, an international student from Austria, said he had applied to study at Oxford in Britain because he feared such measures. 'It's scary and it's saddening,' the 21-year-old government and classics student said. 'I love Harvard, and getting into the school has been the greatest privilege of my life. 'It's definitely going to change the perception of ... students who (might) consider studying there – the US is getting less of an attractive spot for higher education.' 'Everyone's panicking' Last month, Trump threatened to stop Harvard from enrolling foreign students if it did not agree to government demands that would put the private institution under outside political supervision. 'As I explained to you in my April letter, it is a privilege to enrol foreign students,' Noem wrote. 'All universities must comply with Department of Homeland Security requirements, including reporting requirements under the Student and Exchange Visitor Programme regulations, to maintain this privilege,' she said. 'As a result of your refusal to comply with multiple requests to provide the Department of Homeland Security pertinent information while perpetuating an unsafe campus environment that is hostile to Jewish students, promotes pro-Hamas sympathies, and employs racist 'diversity, equity, and inclusion' policies, you have lost this privilege.' More than 27% of Harvard's enrolment was made up of foreign students in the 2024-25 academic year, according to university data. Fourth-year US student Alice Goyer said 'no one knows' what the development would mean for international students already enrolled. 'We just got the news, so I've been getting texts from a lot of international friends, and I think everyone's just – no one knows,' she said. 'Everyone's panicking a bit.' On whether students would willingly transfer to other institutions, as suggested by Noem in the letter, Goyer said 'I doubt people would do that.' 'I would hope maybe there's going to be a legal battle that'll take place.'
