Harvard Refuses All of Trump's Demanded Reforms; Trump Freezes $2 Billion in Funding for the Antisemitic University and Seeks to Undo Its Status as a Tax-Exempt Charity

The Bee:

The antisemites of Harvard decided to play tough-guy for their media and Democrat friends.

Harvard University on Monday announced that it will not comply with demands from the Trump administration, even as the administration threatens to withhold federal funding.

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Harvard President Alan Garber told the university in an email that it has received an updated list of demands from the current administration, which includes reforming its acceptance of international students who are "hostile to the American values and institutions."

"It makes clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner," Garber said. "Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the 'intellectual conditions' at Harvard."

Another demand was allowing the government to audit programs offered at the school "that most fuel antisemitic harassment or reflect ideological capture."

Garber claimed that the demands were "unprecedented" and were a federal overreach because the government was trying to control the school. He added that the university has formally rejected the demands through legal counsel.

Trump has responded to the entitled antisemites of Harvard.

President Donald Trump has called for Harvard University to lose a valuable tax break, hours after his administration announced it is freezing more than $2bn (£1.5bn) in federal funds for the elite institution.

The White House has demanded the oldest university in the US make changes to hiring, admissions and teaching practices which it says will help fight antisemitism on campus.

Since returning to office, Trump has pushed to reshape top universities by threatening to withhold federal funds that are mostly designated for research.

Harvard became the first major US university to reject his administration's demands on Monday, accusing the White House of trying to "control" its community.

In a Tuesday morning post on social media, Trump threatened to go beyond withholding the federal funds and targeted Harvard tax-exempt status.

Universities, as well as many charities and religious groups, are exempted from paying federal income taxes. This valuable tax break, though, can be removed if the groups become involved in political activities or move away from their stated purposes.

"Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting "Sickness?" he wrote on Truth Social. "Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!"

Losing the exemption could cost Harvard millions of dollars each year.

The sweeping changes demanded by the White House would have transformed Harvard's operations and ceded a large amount of control to the government.

Its letter to Harvard on Friday, obtained by the New York Times, said the university had failed to live up to the "intellectual and civil rights conditions" that justify federal investment.

The letter included 10 categories for proposed changes, including:

reporting students to the federal government who are "hostile" to American values

ensuring each academic department is "viewpoint diverse"

hiring an external government-approved party to audit programs and departments "that most fuel antisemitic harassment"

checking faculty staff for plagiarism

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Shortly after his letter of resistance was sent, the education department said it was freezing $2.2bn in grants and $60m in contracts to Harvard immediately.

"Harvard's statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges," the Department of Education said in a statement.

The first gay black president Barack Obama stuck up for the antisemites, of course.

Former President Barack Obama says Harvard University has "set an example" for how colleges should respond to President Trump's demands for change -- even at the risk of losing billions in federal funding.

He posted his thoughts on social media late Monday, after the Trump administration called for Harvard to make changes including an end to antisemitism. After the Ivy League school said no, the administration froze $2.2 billion in federal grants and $60 million in contracts.

"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," Obama wrote on the social media platform X.

The absurd leftwing hack Ross Sorkin, who championed censorship by the left-wing Biden government at every turn, now whines that we need to respecc Harvard's right to be antisemitic on the taxpayers' dime.

CNBC panelists descended into a shouting match Tuesday as host Joe Kernen called out the left's double standard when it comes to defending free speech.

President Donald Trump's Department of Education (ED) is set to freeze $2.2 billion in multi-year grants to Harvard University after the Ivy League university refused to agree to its new terms and conditions, which included auditing antisemitism, improving screening of international students for "hostile" views and enforcing disciplinary processes. CNBC host Andrew Ross Sorkin tussled with his fellow "Squawk Box" co-host, Kernen, as he argued that the freeze in funding is a violation of free speech.

"I'm a Jew, I hate the antisemitism piece of this more than anything, more than anybody," Sorkin began. "Do I think that people can scream from the rooftops if they want? I hate to say that, but I think that they can and in the same way that we think it was not right for the [former President Joe] Biden administration to go after tech companies, around whether you think it was laptops or COVID, or this or that ... What I'm saying is, to the extent that, if we're trying to have a consistent view about free speech."

"But it wasn't consistent then," Kernen said. "Again, we're calling what-about-ism instead of calling it for what it is, which is hypocrisy. It's hypocrisy. Why didn't the left care that we couldn't read about the lab origin of Wuhan or the [Hunter] Biden laptop? Not a peep."

Sorkin, who said he agreed with Kernen's point, argued that the same standard should be applied to speech for all presidential administrations. Kernen told Sorkin that the left, along with these universities, only defend free speech when it suits them.

"We can't go back in time and decide to it now!" Kernen said. "You let it go back then. You let it go back then."

Video at the link.

posted by Ace at 02:27 PM

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