On one hand there is Harvard University, the oldest and wealthiest university in the country, and a very strong brand whose name is synonymous with fame. On the other side is the Trump administration. I decided to go far More than the other White Houses that remodel higher education in America.
Both sides are delving into the limits of government power and the conflict that allows us to test the independence that has become a destination for scholars around the world.
On Monday, Harvard will be his first university Openly ignore the Trump administration Because there is a need for radical changes Limit your campus activities. The university constitutes the demands of the government as a threat to autonomy that the Supreme Court has long recognized American universities, not just Ivy League schools.
“Universities will not waive independence or waive constitutional rights,” the university’s lawyer wrote to the government on Monday. “Neither Harvard University nor any other private universities can allow them to take over to the federal government.”
The federal government says it has frozen more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in Harvard contracts. The holding of funding marks the seventh mark that the Trump administration took such a step at one of the nation’s most elite universities to enforce compliance with Trump’s political agenda. Six of the seven schools are in the Ivy League.
No university is better suited to fight for than Harvard, the largest in the country, with a $53 billion contribution. But like other major universities, Harvard also relies on federal funding to promote scientific and medical research. It’s unclear how long Harvard can continue without frozen money.
Already, Harvard’s rejection appears to be promoting other institutions.
After initially agreeing to several requests from the Trump administration, the representative Columbia University president gained a more rebellious tone in a campus message Monday, saying some of the requests were “not the subject of negotiations.”
In her statement, Claire Shipman said he read Harvard’s rejection with “big interest.”
“Harvard is clearly a particularly strong institution, and the decision could stimulate other universities to some sort of collective pushback,” said David Pozen, a Columbia law professor who argued that the government’s demands were illegal.
Ultimately, the dispute can be resolved in federal courts. The faculty group has already poses legal challenges to the demands, and many in academia hopes Harvard will file its own lawsuit.
In a letter of denial, Harvard said the government’s demands violate the school’s initial right to amend and other civil rights laws.
For the Trump administration, Harvard presents the first major hurdle in an attempt to force change at universities that the Republicans say has become a hotbed of liberalism and anti-Semitism.
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