WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump on Friday Recovered his threat of stripping Harvard University Of its tax-free status, it escalated the first major university to reject the administration’s efforts to crack down on campus activities.
“We’re going to take Harvard’s tax-free status,” Trump wrote on a social media site Friday morning from Palm Beach, Florida. “That’s what they deserve!”
The President has questioned the fate of Harvard’s tax-free status – Most of our universities have – since schools refused to follow administration demands for broader government and leadership changes, revisions to admission policies and audits of diversity views on campus. This led the administration to block more Federal grants of $2 billion To the facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The Treasury has directed senior Internal Revenue Service officials to begin the process of revoking Harvard’s tax-free status shortly after a social media post from Trump questioned in mid-April, but the White House suggests that scrutiny from Harvard’s tax agency began before Trump’s public comments targeting schools.
The White House also said the IRS’ actions will be carried out independently of the president. The federal tax law prohibits senior members of the administrative department from requiring IRS employees to conduct or terminate an audit or investigation.
Trump’s fight with Harvard is part of the administration’s broader campaign to eradicate anti-Semitism on university campuses. However, the White House sees political advantages in the fight and frags it as a bigger war against elite institutions that have been denounced by Trump’s loyal supporters.
“The next chapter in the American story will not be written by Harvard Crimson,” Trump told Tuscaloosa, Alabama on Thursday night, where he gave his opening speech at the University of Alabama. “It will be written by you, Crimson Tide.”
Harvard Crimson is the school’s student newspaper. Crimson Tide refers to the Alabama School’s soccer program.
In addition to threatening Harvard’s tax-exempt status and suspending federal grants, the Trump administration hopes to allow Harvard to enroll international students.
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