"Harvard Teaches Hate, Can No Longer Be Considered...": Trump Ups Attack
Harvard University rejecting his demands has infuriated Donald Trump so, that the US President seems determined to destroy America's premier academic institution. A day after he ordered a $2.2 billion freeze in funding for Harvard, President Trump went on the offensive on social media.
"Harvard has lost its way," said the US President, who has made the top university a focal point of his war against "woke" and "anti-Semitic" educational institutions, most of which have a proven track record in education and are elite and globally recognised.
But in President Trump's understanding, "Harvard is a joke", teaches hate and stupidity, and should no longer receive federal funds".
THE HARVARD ROW - TRUMP vs OBAMA
In a tirade on his social media platform Truth Social, President Trump wrote, "Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World's Great Universities or Colleges."
So far, Harvard has been the only institution that has stood its ground and defied Donald Trump's attempts to force it to submit to wide-ranging government diktats. For this the elite institution has even earned praise from former US President Barack Obama.
"Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions - rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let's hope other institutions follow suit," President Obama had written on X.
But several top educational institutions caved under intense pressure from the White House.
TRUMP'S DIKTATS TO HARVARD UNIVERSITY
In an attempt to crack down of "wokeism", "diversity practices that divide Americans", and alleged "anti-Semitism", the US President had called for sweeping changes in the education system and the way schools, colleges, and universities function.
The changes call for a complete overhaul of its governance models, hiring practices, and admissions procedures. President Trump also demanded that Harvard, like all other top institutions, submit itself to government "audits" of its academic programmes and departments.
Haravard University received the diktats on April 3, following which the University president Alan Garber wrote a letter to the students and faculty vowing that he and the University will defy the government. He promised that the university "will not negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights."
HARVARD HIRES 'BIRDBRIANS', IS A 'JOKE'
Donald Trump has now even targeted Harvard for paying "ridiculously high salaries" to hire the "worst and most incompetent" professors in recent times. He also criticized the institution for charging students exorbitant fees.
Slamming Harvard for two recent faculty hires - both mayors - President Trump wrote, "These two Radical Left fools left behind two cities (New York and Chicago) that will take years to recover from their incompetence and evil. Harvard has been hiring almost all woke, Radical Left, idiots and birdbrains who are only capable of teaching failure to students and so-called 'future leaders'."
The US President even accused Harvard's president of plagiarism. "Look just to the recent past at their plagiarising President, who so greatly embarrassed Harvard before the United States Congress. When it got so bad that they just couldn't take it anymore, they moved this grossly inept woman into another position, teaching, rather than firing her on the spot. Since then much else has been found out about her, but she remains in place," he wrote.
President Trump went on to write that "Many others, like these Leftist dopes, are teaching at Harvard, and because of that, Harvard can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning, and should not be considered on any list of the World's Great Universities or Colleges. Harvard is a JOKE, teaches hate and stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds."
'OUT OF GOVERNMENT BOUNDS'
Harvard University, which is 140 years older than United States of America, has informed the White House that it will not comply with demands issued by the Trump administration as they are "in contravention of the First Amendment," and "invade university freedoms long recognised by the US Supreme Court."
"No government - regardless of which party is in power - should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue," the University said in a statement.
Further cementing the university's position, Harvard's president Alan Garber addressed the campus community directly to emphasise the gravity of the situation and its broader implications on higher education and writing.
Government interference "threatens our values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge," the university president said.
He announced that that university "plans to do much more. As we defend Harvard, we will continue to nurture a thriving culture of open inquiry on our campus; develop the tools, skills, and practices needed to engage constructively with one another; and broaden the intellectual and viewpoint diversity within our community; affirm the rights and responsibilities we share; respect free speech and dissent while also ensuring that protest occurs in a time, place, and manner that does not interfere with teaching, learning, and research; and enhance the consistency and fairness of disciplinary processes; and work together to find ways, consistent with law, to foster and support a vibrant community that exemplifies, respects, and embraces difference."
In his appeal to students and faculty alike, Mr Garber said, "All of us share a stake in safeguarding that freedom. We proceed now, as always, with the conviction that the fearless and unfettered pursuit of truth liberates humanity- and with faith in the enduring promise that America's colleges and universities hold for our country and our world."
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