Latest news with #KennedySchool
Yahoo
5 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Harvard Has Trained So Many Chinese Communist Officials, They Call It Their ‘Party School'
The university's Kennedy School of Government has long been favored by party cadres seeking career boosts.
The Star
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Star
Stop scaring future world leaders off US campuses
HERE'S yet another way in which US President Donald Trump is making America neither Great Again nor strong, but weaker, and for a long time to come: He's sabotaging the US-centred trans-national intellectual and personal networks that have amplified American power by breaking the pipeline of future leaders of foreign countries who were educated and shaped in the US. His administration is doing that by expelling, harassing, or intimi-dating foreigners at US univer-sities. It revoked the visas of more than 1,400 international students on American campuses. In some cases, the government alleged that students were pro-Palestinian protesters, in others that they committed 'crimes', even if those turned out to be unpaid parking tickets or were even non-existent. Many of the revocations had no clear rationale at all. As part of the specific showdown between the White House and Harvard University, the administration threatened to stop the institution from enrolling international students altogether; however, on Friday a federal judge temporarily halted the ban. Before that, the many lawsuits brought by international students over their visa statuses caused enough chaos that the government promised to restore due process to its review of student visas. Whether it does or not, though, the damage may already be done. No matter how many students this bureaucratic jihad ultimately forces to go home, it will dissuade myriad other young talents abroad from applying to study in America in the first place. Why should they subject themselves to legal risk or hostility (on top of America's outlandish tuition costs) when they could instead get their degrees in other countries? And among those bright young things forming new ideas, expertise, and friendships outside rather than inside of the US will be some of tomorrow's world leaders. To grasp what America in the coming years will miss out on, consider the subtle but influential webs of soft power that have long been among the boons of America's status as an educational superpower. When covering the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, or again the global one of the late 2000s, I often heard that negotiations among countries and institutions went better than expected – and better for the US, in particular – because a lot of the people in the meetings had spent time on the same campuses, studied under the same professors, or even sat in the same classrooms. They wore different garb and spoke English in different accents. But they shared the language and mentality of, say, Harvard's Kennedy School, or the economics departments at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology or the University of Chicago. Mario Draghi, for example, has been an Italian and a European central banker (as well as a prime minister of Italy), just as Raghu-ram Rajan ran India's central bank and the research side of the International Monetary Fund, among other things. But both got their PhDs at MIT, and were influenced by Stanley Fischer, a titan of finance (and himself a former central banker of Israel). As a professor at MIT, Fischer in fact mentored future central bankers on most continents except Antarctica. Mark Carney, a former central bank governor in Britain and Canada (and Canada's current Prime Minister), is not among them – he went to Harvard instead. In some cases, these biographies make for stories of stunning success for the individuals as well as for the world and the host country, the US. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a Nigerian who studied at Harvard and MIT, then went on to reform Nigeria's economy in two stints as Finance minister, before working at the World Bank and running the World Trade Organisation. She's still Nigerian, but now a US citizen as well. The list of US-educated heads of state is also long. For ambitious Latin Americans and Africans, a stint or two on an American campus is practically a rite of passage. The founding father of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, sent his younger son to Stanford and the elder to Harvard's Kennedy School; that one later became Singapore's third prime minister. Taiwan's current president got his master's degree from Harvard; his predecessor got hers from Cornell. The Jordanian king also studied in America (at Georgetown), as did much of his policy elite. Saudi Arabia's crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, did not, but that makes him an outlier among Saudi royals. The Israelis love to take a swing through American campuses, including incumbent Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu (MIT and Harvard). On it goes, from Moldova to South Korea and Indonesia, where the current president did not study in the US but his influential Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, did (University of Illinois); she has called her American years formative. Whether an American educa-tion always makes foreign leaders more pro-American or pro-Western, or even just more capable, is moot. At a minimum, though, it lets international students see the world and their own countries through American eyes, narratives, metaphors, and references. It gives them a literal and figurative vocabulary with which they will later run international organisations or negotiate with the White House. The scholar Joseph Nye defined soft power as the ability to get others to want what you want. To the extent that a US education gets others to think as Americans think, it is the ideal tool of soft power, if you choose to see it that way. There are of course many other reasons for the US to host international students – about a million a year as of last count. Foreigners who study in America go on to invent and pioneer new technologies and business models at disproportionate rates, and most do it in and for the US. If the Trump administration pushes them away, those talents will innovate in and for China instead, or other adversaries and competitors. But the ability to form intellectual and personal networks across the world is enough reason to keep American education cosmopolitan, as opposed to barricading the ivory tower and closing American minds. In that way, education is like trade: enriching when it's open, corrosive when it closes. The benefits I'm describing pay out slowly, admittedly, and Trump isn't known for his attention span or long-term planning. But some rewards can be immediate, even if hard to quantify. Bilal Erdogan (Indiana University and Harvard) has surely talked at least some sense about America into his father, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. And as relations between the US and China become ever tenser, it surely helps both countries that Xi Jinping can turn to his daughter Mingze for discreet pointers about the Yanks. She too reportedly went to Harvard, though under an alias. Little else is publicly known, not even whether she paid all her parking tickets. – Bloomberg Opinion/Tribune News Service
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Belgium's Future Queen Hit by Trump's Ban on Foreign Harvard Students
The future queen of Belgium is one of thousands of foreign students whose studies are in jeopardy after the Trump administration revoked Harvard University's ability to enroll international students. In a letter sent to the university on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the administration was canceling Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, which allows universities to issue the forms students need to apply for visas to enter the U.S. For students who are already enrolled, the cancellation creates a legal limbo because their visas haven't been canceled, but without access to the SEVP system, Harvard has no way of reporting that the students are following the terms of the visas, making them susceptible to deportation, The New York Times reported. Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, who is heir apparent to the throne, is one of the students whose legal status is suddenly unclear, Reuters reported. The university has about 6,800 enrolled international students. The 23-year-old Elisabeth just finished her first year at Harvard, where she is pursuing a two-year master's degree in public policy at the Kennedy School of Government. 'The impact of [the Trump administration's] decision will only become clearer in the coming days/weeks,' Belgian royal palace spokesperson Lore Vandoorne told Reuters. 'We are currently investigating the situation.' The palace's communications director, Xavier Baert, added, 'We are analyzing this at the moment and will let things settle. A lot can still happen in the coming days and weeks.' Less than 24 hours after President Donald Trump's administration announced the move, Harvard filed a lawsuit seeking to block it, The New York Times reported. The suit accuses officials of a 'campaign of retribution' against the university and points to the president's social media posts attacking Harvard. 'We condemn this unlawful and unwarranted action,' Harvard president Alan Garber said in a statement Friday morning. Administration officials have defended the move by saying they're trying to fight antisemitism on campus. Last fall, the Belgian royal family went into full proud parent mode as Princess Elisabeth began her studies. The palace shared several photos of Elisabeth's first few days on campus, with the images credited to a fellow student named Max Bueno. The royal previously earned an undergraduate degree in history and politics at Oxford University, where she enrolled under the name 'Elisabeth de Saxe-Coburg.' She's the oldest of four children born to King Philippe and Queen Mathilde. In her letter to Harvard, Noem said the university was 'prohibited from having any aliens on F- or J-nonimmigrant status for the 2025-26 school year,' and that 'existing aliens on F- or J-nonimmigrant status must transfer to another university.' The F visas are for students and J visas are for visiting scholars and professors. It wasn't clear how the transfers would work in practice or what the timeline for allowing them would be, considering the university's spring term officially ends on Monday and graduation is scheduled for next week. The summer term begins June 23. It's also not clear that transferring would guarantee international students the ability to stay in the country, as Noem warned on Thursday that other university could be next.
The Independent
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Harvard sues Trump administration over international student ban
Harvard University has launched a legal challenge against the Trump administration's decision to stop the institution from enrolling international students, arguing the move is unconstitutional and retaliatory. The lawsuit, filed on Friday in a Boston federal court, alleges the government's action breaches the First Amendment and will have a "devastating effect" on Harvard and more than 7,000 visa holders. Harvard's legal action contends the administration's decision effectively "erase[s] a quarter of Harvard's student body," compromising the university's identity and mission. The university emphasized the significant contributions of its international students, saying: "Without its international students, Harvard is not Harvard." It is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent the Department of Homeland Security from implementing the ban. The Trump administration's move has thrown campus into disarray days before graduation, Harvard said in the suit. International students who run labs, teach courses, assist professors and participate in Harvard sports are now left deciding whether to transfer or risk losing legal status to stay in the country, according to the filing. The impact is heaviest at graduate schools such as the Harvard Kennedy School, where almost half the student body comes from abroad, and Harvard Business School, which is made up of about one-third international students. Along with its impact on current students, the move blocks thousands of students who were planning to come for classes in the summer and fall. The Ivy League school says it is now at a disadvantage as it competes for the world's top students. Even if it regains the ability to host students, 'future applicants may shy away from applying out of fear of further reprisals from the government,' the suit said. If the government's action stands, Harvard said, the university would be unable to offer admission to new international students for at least the next two academic years. Schools that have that certification withdrawn by the federal government are ineligible to reapply until one year afterward, Harvard said. Harvard enrolls almost 6,800 foreign students at its campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Most are graduate students and they come from more than 100 countries. The department announced the action on Thursday, accusing Harvard of creating an unsafe campus environment by allowing 'anti-American, pro-terrorist agitators' to assault Jewish students on campus. It also accused Harvard of coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party, contending the school had hosted and trained members of a Chinese paramilitary group as recently as 2024. Harvard President Alan Garber said earlier in May the university has made changes to its governance over the past year and a half, including a broad strategy to combat antisemitism. He said Harvard would not budge on its 'its core, legally- protected principles' over fears of retaliation. Harvard has said it will respond at a later time to allegations first raised by House Republicans about coordination with the Chinese Communist Party. The threat to Harvard's international enrollment stems from a 16 April request from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who demanded that Harvard provide information about foreign students that might implicate them in violence or protests that could lead to their deportation. Noem said Harvard can regain its ability to host foreign students if it produces a trove of records on foreign students within 72 hours. The suit is separate from the university's earlier one imposed by the Republican administration.
USA Today
04-05-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Walz's weird 'code talk' moment exposes why Democrats keep losing
Walz's weird 'code talk' moment exposes why Democrats keep losing | Opinion The cringeworthy rhetoric from Kamala Harris and Tim Walz highlights that the Democratic Party is still floundering to find its way in President Donald Trump's second term. Show Caption Hide Caption Harris criticizes Trump in first major speech since leaving office Former Vice President Kamala Harris said we are witnessing an "abandonment" of American ideals in her first major speech since leaving office. Now that President Donald Trump is back in the White House, I realize that he's attracting most of the attention. Can I pause for a minute, though, to say how thrilled I am that Democrats Kamala Harris and Tim Walz did not win in November? The former vice president and her running mate were each out and about recently, and hearing them talk again reminded me why voters made the right choice in the presidential election. Harris, who spoke April 30 to a group that recruits Democratic women to run for office, returned to tired campaign rhetoric about Trump, claiming he's causing a 'constitutional crisis.' She also awkwardly told the crowd that Democrats need to mirror how a herd of elephants at the San Diego Zoo responded to a recent earthquake. 'Everybody has been asking what are you thinking about these days,' Harris said. 'For those who haven't seen it, here those elephants were, and as soon as they felt the earth shaking beneath their feet, they got in a circle and stood next to each other to protect the most vulnerable. Think about it. What a powerful metaphor.' And Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota, gave a talk to Harvard's Kennedy School about the future of the Democratic Party. It was weird, as Walz likes to say, when he talked about why Harris chose him for the ticket. 'I could code talk to white guys − watching football, fixing their truck, doing that, that I could put them at ease,' Walz said. 'I was the permission structure to say, 'Look you can do this and vote for this.' ' That turned out well for him. Opinion: Whitmer hides face during Trump visit. It's another cringey moment for Democrats. Such cringeworthy rhetoric coming from two of the most prominent Democrats highlights that the party is still floundering to find its way in a second Trump term. While Democrats reliably melt down over everything Trump does or says, they've failed to present any credible alternatives on the pressing issues that the president is tackling – including border security, trade and the deficit. Democrats remain the party of status quo, and voters know it Walz's 'code talk' messaging and Harris' elephant-circling strategy will not convince the country that Democrats aren't the party of the status quo. Voters need to hear real ideas and a real vision. Even as Trump's approval numbers are wavering, the country is still confident it made the right choice in November. And voters certainly aren't flocking to Democrats. In a recent CNN poll, 42% of U.S. adults say Trump has done a better job than Harris would have, 41% say Harris would have been better and 16% say they'd be about the same. Opinion: 77 million Americans voted for Trump. After 100 days, few of them regret it. And when Trump is compared with Democrats in Congress – his most current political opponents – he comes out further ahead. A Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll asked registered voters whom they think is doing a better job handling the country's main problems, and 40% said Trump. Just 32% said congressional Democrats. Democrats need to come up with something better than 'Trump stinks.' Will they? Another Democratic governor with bigger political ambitions gave a speech in a key primary state at the end of April. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker spoke to a group of New Hampshire Democrats, indicating he's a likely contender in the 2028 presidential primary. He chided members of his party for not doing enough following their 2024 losses and called for a 'bold' agenda. His recommendations left a lot to be desired, however. 'Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption,' Pritzker said. 'But I am now. These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace. They have to understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have. We must castigate them on the soap box and then punish them at the ballot box.' He also called Trump a 'madman' who can't be reasoned or negotiated with, and he said that Republicans who have backed Trump should have their portraits sent to 'museum halls reserved for tyrants and traitors.' I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that kind of messaging will offend the tens of millions of voters who chose Trump over the lackluster agenda Harris and Walz offered. Raging against Trump and his supporters has repeatedly failed for Democrats. And it will again. Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at ijacques@ or on X: @Ingrid_Jacques
