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BBC News
3 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
The fallout from Trump's war on Harvard will outlast his term
Donald Trump has had a busy seven days. On Monday, he threatened to redirect $3bn in Harvard research funding to vocational schools. On Tuesday, the White House sent a letter to federal agencies, instructing them to review the approximately $100m in contracts the government has awarded Harvard and "find alternative vendors" where possible. On Wednesday, he had more to say on the matter still."Harvard's got to behave themselves," he told reporters gathered in the Oval Office. "Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect, and all they're doing is getting in deeper and deeper and deeper."When combined with other administration attempts – freezing more than $3bn in research grants and suspending foreign students from enrolling in Harvard – Trump's directives represent a frontal attack on one of America's most prestigious, and wealthy, institutions of higher education. Even if court challenges overrule some of these actions – some have already been put on hold – the impact is being felt across the landscape of American higher education."They're doing multiple things every single day, some of those things are sneaking through," says Greg Wolfson, president of the American Association of University Professors. "But more importantly, they're changing the culture. They're changing people." At Harvard's commencement ceremonies on Thursday, students said there was a "palpable concern" on campus."People sort of knew Trump was trying some of these moves but [they were] shocked when it happens," admits one graduate, a British national who requested anonymity because he was concerned public comments could threaten his US work visa. "It feels like the nuclear option.""If this can happen to Harvard it can happen to any university in the country," he the repercussions of this apparent Harvard-Trump fight run far deeper than the management of a single Ivy League university. Could the measures Trump is taking mark, as some suggest, the latest, albeit most ambitious, step by conservatives to erode some of the traditional pillars of support for the Democratic Party?If that is the case, the campus has become a pivotal battle in shaping America's cultural and political landscape. Accusations of antisemitism and bias Trump and his administration have offered various explanations for their actions, including a perceived lack of conservatives among the ranks of Harvard's professors, along with suggestions of admitting too many foreign students and financial links to according to the White House, the most immediate cause has been the university's apparent failure to address antisemitism on campus, in the wake of anti-Israel protests at universities across the US since the start of the Gaza December 2023, three prominent university presidents - including the then-president of Harvard, Claudine Gay - struggled to answer whether calling for the "genocide of Jews" violated their student conduct codes on bullying and harassment, sparking a firestorm of Gay, who was asked the question at a congressional hearing about antisemitism on US college campuses, answered that it depended on the context. She later apologised, telling the student newspaper: "When words amplify distress and pain, I don't know how you could feel anything but regret." On the campaign trail last year, Trump promised to cut off federal funding and government accreditation for colleges that he said were engaging in "antisemitic propaganda". Once Trump returned to the White House in January, he began following through on universities - including Columbia, which saw some of the most high profile protests - agreed to sweeping changes in campus security rules and closer supervision of its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies April, Harvard released the results of a university task force review (commissioned before Trump's election) of antisemitism and anti-Muslim prejudice on its own campus. It found that many Jewish and Muslim students faced bias, exclusion and alienation from the university curriculum and its the administration's demands go well beyond calls to address antisemitism. In a letter to the university, its "Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism" laid out a laundry list of changes that Harvard must make, including terminating diversity programmes, reforming admissions and hiring, screening foreign students for views hostile to "American values", and expanding and protecting "viewpoint diversity" among students and faculty. Trump's shock-and-awe strategy of rapid and aggressive pressure has stunned many in higher education, who never imagined the scope of the demands or the force behind them."It's not about higher education," argues Mr Wolfson. "Higher education is one of the levers they see as critical to transforming our society."But the potential for a long-term transformation could largely depend on whether the majority of American universities choose to accommodate the administration's demands - or whether it stands and fights, as Harvard is trying to do. An across-the-board war While Harvard has been the most prominent target of the administration's ire, and the most visible in its resistance, it is just one of many high-profile American universities that has received funding cuts or been subject of and the University of Pennsylvania have reported that the administration has suspended hundreds of millions of dollars in their research grants. The Department of Education has launched investigations of 10 universities for alleged antisemitism - and warned dozens of others that they could face similar inquiries. It is also investigating 52 universities for illegal race-based some, this all amounts to an across-the-board war on elite higher education by the Trump administration in an effort to reshape universities in a more conservative-friendly image. To others, this is no bad thing."Universities are not about the pursuit of knowledge, they're about the forceful pushing of a left-wing world view," Charlie Kirk, founder of the conservative group Turning Point USA, said in a Fox News interview last month. "We're here to shake it up." Many on the right have long viewed American college campuses as hotbeds of liberal indoctrination, whether it has taken the form of left-wing anti-war radicalism in the 1960s, "political correctness" of the 1990s, Occupy Wall Street anti-capitalism of the 2000s or the Black Lives Matter movement and anti-Israel demonstrations in recent has illustrated a certain divide in beliefs between those who have and haven't attended college. In a recent survey by the polling company Civiqs, non-college graduates were split on the job Trump is doing in office, with 49% disapproving and 47% approving. College graduates, on the other hand, had a significantly different view, as 58% disapproved of Trump's performance in office versus only 38% who approved."I think a lot of this blowback is from the sense that they have become the universities of blue [Democratic] America, and that this is the consequence," says Rick Hess, senior fellow and director of education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute. Universities 'brought this on themselves' In recent years, according to Mr Hess, American higher education has become more closely tied to the government and more reliant on government funding. He says that the new Trump team has simply adopted levers of control over higher education employed by recent Democratic administrations – including civil rights investigations, federal anti-discrimination laws and control over funding."In classic Trump form," he added, "it's absolutely the case that these levers have been turned up to 11." And there are fewer procedural and legal safeguards than there were under the Joe Biden and Barack Obama presidencies."It's both an evolution and a revolution," says Mr it is one, he argues, that universities have brought on themselves by being overtly political during Trump's first term and making elite school the face of American higher education."The price for collecting billions a year in tax dollars is that institutions should both honour the promises they make, such as enforcing civil rights law, and hew to a mission in which they explicitly serve the whole nation," says Mr Hess. Withholding federal funding from universities may be a new challenge for higher education, but to some this is just the latest in a long effort by conservatives to undercut key traditional pillars of liberal a combination of legislation and court rules, the influence of labour unions – which had provided the Democratic Party with volunteer personnel and funds – had diminished long before Trump succeeded in winning over white working-class voters in his three presidential lawsuit reforms have also curtailed the vast sums that trial lawyers could contribute to Democratic coffers. And ongoing efforts to shrink the government workforce – which reached a peak with Elon Musk's Doge reductions – have eroded another traditionally Democratic Mr Wolfson fears that something greater could be lost if some of the Trump administration's measures are enforced."The fact that we have multiracial, multicultural, multinational universities is a boon to our universities," he says. "It creates really diverse communities, really diverse intellectual thought." How the Ivy Leagues fought back Harvard - perhaps best known for its renowned law school - has turned the courts into its principle tool to resist Trump's Thursday, a federal judge indefinitely suspended the administration's attempts to prohibit foreign students from receiving visas to attend the university has also sued to prevent the Trump administration from terminating more than $2.2bn in federal grants, although that case is pending."The trade-off put to Harvard and other universities is clear," Harvard wrote in its complaint filed with a Massachusetts federal court. "Allow the government to micromanage your academic institution or jeopardise the institution's ability to pursue medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and innovative solutions." Harvard's president, Alan Garber, has also defended his university, saying that Harvard would be "firm" in its commitments to education and truth, during an interview with NPR."Harvard is a very old institution, much older than the country," he continued. "As long as there has been a United States of America, Harvard has thought that its role is to serve the nation."Trump, meanwhile, has shared strong words of his own. "Harvard wants to fight," he said on Wednesday. "They want to show how smart they are, and they're getting their ass kicked." Breaching the walls of the ivory tower Opinion polls show that Trump's political base supports his efforts, and the underlying message. Yet those same polls suggest a majority of the general population support American universities and don't approve of his proposed funding opinion aside, the practicality of achieving such a fundamental reordering of America's system of higher education, even with all the tools at the federal government's disposal, is a daunting to Mr Wolfson, however, repairing what he says is the damage being done to academic independence will be equally challenging. A growing number of members of the American Association of University Professors fear the consequences of expressing political views or conducting disfavoured research."The destruction is real," argues Mr Wolfson. "Even if the courts step in, there will still be a massive undermining of the higher education project in this country due to Trump's reckless, reckless moves."Mr Hess, who has pushed for conservative education reform for years, is less concerned. He believes that Trump's chaotic, scattershot approach - including last week's comments - could end up less effective than a more methodical restructuring of American universities."This is all an ambitious experiment," Mr Hess said. "Whether it's a strategy that's going to work is very much an open question."One thing seems clear, however. Even if American universities resist - or outlast - Trump's efforts, they are no longer insulated from the scorched-earth warfare of American politics. The walls of the ivory tower have been breached, regardless of whether one believes it is the barbarians - or liberators - at the image credit: Getty Images BBC InDepth is the home on the website and app for the best analysis, with fresh perspectives that challenge assumptions and deep reporting on the biggest issues of the day. And we showcase thought-provoking content from across BBC Sounds and iPlayer too. You can send us your feedback on the InDepth section by clicking on the button below.
New York Times
26-05-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Trump Suggests Giving Trade Schools Money Taken From Harvard
President Trump floated a new plan on Monday for the $3 billion he wants to strip from Harvard University, saying in a social media post that he was thinking about using the money to fund vocational schools. 'I am considering taking THREE BILLION DOLLARS of Grant Money away from a very antisemitic Harvard, and giving it to TRADE SCHOOLS all across our land,' Mr. Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media platform. The announcement, among the president's Memorial Day social media messages, did not appear to refer to any new cut in funding, but rather to a redistribution of money the administration already announced it had frozen or stripped from Harvard and its research partners. Mr. Trump gave no details about how such a plan would work. The message was accompanied by yet another post accusing Harvard of being slow to respond to the administration's requests for information on 'foreign student lists.' Mr. Trump said his administration wanted them in order to determine how many 'radicalized lunatics, troublemakers all, should not be let back into our Country.' The posts seemed intended to keep up public relations pressure on Harvard, the nation's oldest and wealthiest university. Harvard is engaged in an epic battle with the White House, rooted in the administration's claims that the university tolerates antisemitism and promotes liberal ideology. Harvard declined on Monday to comment on the president's post. The university is battling the White House in federal court in Boston to secure the reinstatement of grants and contracts that the government has frozen or withdrawn, amounting to more than $3 billion. In a separate lawsuit, the university is also fighting Mr. Trump's plan to take away the university's right to admit international students. It was not clear exactly what Mr. Trump meant by 'foreign student lists.' The federal government, which issues visas, already has in its databases the names and countries of the approximately 6,800 international students enrolled at Harvard. The government requested the university's disciplinary records on those students, as well as video images of student demonstrations — requests that were part of a far-reaching list of demands with which Harvard has only partially complied. Much of the money for Harvard that the administration has frozen involves research funding for scientific studies of disease. The unit at Harvard hardest hit by Mr. Trump's campaign has been the T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where work had been underway on efforts to stop the spread of tuberculosis and to find the cause of multiple sclerosis, among other projects. That type of research is not typically conducted at trade schools, which specialize in practical skills ranging from automotive repair to cosmetology and generally do not engage in scientific research. Jason Altmire, who heads an association of trade schools and for-profit colleges, applauded Mr. Trump's suggestion on Monday, though he said the best thing the federal government could do to help his group's members would be to reduce regulation of them. 'President Trump has taken significant steps in this direction and we are optimistic that his announcement Monday will continue that momentum,' he said in a statement. While campaigning for office in 2023, Mr. Trump posted a video in which he spoke of 'billions and billions of dollars that we will collect by taxing, fining, and suing excessively large private university endowments' to create an entity called the American Academy. Mr. Trump referred specifically to Harvard in the video, which resembled a sales pitch. He said the proposed new academy 'will gather an entire universe of the highest quality educational content, covering the full spectrum of human knowledge and skills, and make that material available to every American citizen online for free.' 'Whether you want lectures or ancient histories or an introduction to financial accounting or training in a skilled trade, the goal will be to deliver it and get it done properly, using study groups, mentors, industry partnerships and the latest breakthrough in computing,' he said. 'It will be strictly nonpolitical,' he added, 'and there will be no wokeness or jihadism allowed — none of that's going to be allowed.' No plan for such an American Academy has materialized, however, and the White House did not respond to a request last week by The New York Times for more details.
