The Trump administration has said it is freezing more than US$2 billion (FJ$4.6 billion) in federal funds for Harvard University, hours after the elite college rejected a list of demands from the White House.
The Department of Education said in a statement, that Harvard's statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in their nation's most prestigious universities and colleges.
The White House sent a list of demands to Harvard last week which it said were designed to fight antisemitism on campus. They included changes to its governance, hiring practices and admissions procedures.
Harvard rejected the demands yesterday and said the White House was trying to "control" its community.
It is the first major US university to defy pressure from the Trump administration to change its policies. The sweeping changes demanded by the White House would have transformed its operations and ceded a large amount of control to the government.
President Trump has accused leading universities of failing to protect Jewish students when college campuses around the country were roiled by protests against the war in Gaza and US support for Israel last year.
In a letter to the Harvard community on Monday, its President Alan Garber said the White House had sent an "updated and expanded list of demands" on Friday alongside a warning that the university "must comply" in order to maintain its "financial relationship" with the government.
He wrote, that they have informed the administration through their legal counsel that they will not accept their proposed agreement.
Garber says the university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.
He added that the university did not "take lightly" its obligation to fight antisemitism, but said the government was overreaching.
The White House said in its own letter on Friday that Harvard had "in recent years failed to live up to both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment".
The letter included 10 categories for proposed changes that the White House said were needed in order for Harvard to maintain its "financial relationship with the federal government".
Some of the changes included: reporting students to the federal government who are "hostile" to American values; ensuring each academic department is "viewpoint diverse"; and hiring an external government-approved party to audit programs and departments "that most fuel antisemitic harassment".
The letter orders the university to take disciplinary action for "violations" that happened during protests on campus over the past two years. It also demands an end to the university's diversity, equity and inclusion policies and programmes.
Since taking office, President Trump has put pressure on universities to tackle antisemitism and end diversity practices.
[Source: BBC]
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