In the United States, Donald Trump’s government announced on Monday that it will freeze $ 2.2 billion in annual subsidies and $ 60 million in Harvard University’s annual contract value after the institution rejected a letter from the republican administration that required the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Harvard University received a letter from a federal task force last week, describing additional political demands that will “maintain Harvard’s financial relationship with the federal government.” In a statement, Rector Alan M. Garber officially reported that the proposed agreement would not be accepted.
“We inform the government through our legal advice that we will not accept the proposed agreement. The university will not give up its independence or its constitutional rights,” he said.
The Trump government threatened numerous colleges in the United States with financing cuts if no changes in school policies were made, and Harvard’s decision marks the first time an elite university rebukes the White House for these impositions.
Among the demands of the Government Charter are the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion programs, the prohibition of the use of masks in campus protests, reforms in hiring and admission based on merit and the reduction of power of teachers and administrators “more committed to activism than to academic knowledge”.
The proposed changes are the latest effort by the federal task force to combat anti-Semitism on university campuses after a series of complex incidents across the country in response to the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
Garber stated that most demands “represent a direct government regulation of ‘intellectual conditions’ in Harvard,” as well as positioning themselves against government interference in universities’ internal operation: “no government – regardless of party party – should dictate what private universities can teach, who can admit and hire, and what areas of study and research they can follow,” he said.
This content was originally published in Trump government freezes Harvard’s billions after political demands on the CNN Brazil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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