Harvard stands out for defying Trump, in contrast to several other universities and a string of powerful law firms that have folded under intense pressure from the White House in its crackdown on American institutions.
Tuesday’s threat of a major tax bill comes a day after the freezing of $2.2 billion in federal funding.
The university said one faculty member had just been told to halt her tuberculosis research because of “the broader funding freeze.”
“I love it. I think it’s amazing. I think more schools across the country need to. It shows that you’re not going to bow down, you’re not going to let free speech be taken,“ student Darious Hanson told AFP.
Trump posted on social media that non-profit Harvard “should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity” if it does not submit to his demands for the university to change the way it runs itself, including selection of students and authority for professors.
Trump “wants to see Harvard apologize. And Harvard should apologize,“ Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told journalists.
Columbia University in New York -- an epicenter of the protests -- stood down last month and agreed to oversight of its Middle Eastern department after being threatened with a loss of $400 million in federal funds.
The White House has cited similarly ideological goals in its unprecedented crackdown on law firms, pressuring them to volunteer hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of legal work to support issues that Trump supports.
Harvard, the oldest and wealthiest university in the United States, is now the most prominent institution to resist Trump’s ever-growing bid for control.
Garber’s insistence that Harvard cannot “allow itself to be taken over by the federal government” sets up a likely long-running, high-profile fight.
For Trump’s opponents, the Harvard refusal to bend marks a chance to draw a line in the sand against an authoritarian takeover.
Dozens of universities and other stakeholders are separately battling the Trump administration in court over broad research funding cuts that have led to staff layoffs and created deep uncertainty among US academics.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Trump ramps up conflict against defiant Harvard )
Also on site :