Trump administration freezes billions in funding for Harvard
Donald Trump has put more than 2.2 billion dollars in multi-year grants for elite private university Harvard on hold after it rejected a list of demands by the US administration, including tighter controls on foreign students and the suspension of diversity criteria. The university stressed that it would not tolerate government interference in its academic freedom. Europe's media take stock.
Taking a leaf out of Orbán's book
Večernji list feels reminded of Hungary:
“Biden's government also led the fight against antisemitism at universities in a bid to stifle pro-Palestinian protests, but Trump's administration is misusing it for goals that have nothing to do with antisemitism, as Trump's demands to the universities demonstrate. Trump has launched this action following a recipe he received from his political ally Viktor Orbán. Orbán stifled the autonomy of universities in Hungary long ago as part of a broader strategy to take control of the institutions. ... We now see what Orbán's goal was: an authoritarian government that can no longer be replaced in elections. And that is Trump's goal too.”
Campaign against academia
The White House is driven by the desire for revenge on the liberal elite, the Süddeutsche Zeitung puts in:
“The right-wing masterminds in Trump's camp hate the academic environment at most universities, and want to force a political change of direction. This amounts to taking revenge on the liberal elite, something that Harvard represents more than any other university. ... Free spirits are to be intimidated, dissenters gagged, and opposition stifled. We can only hope that the billions from Harvard's endowment will be enough to withstand the pressure from Washington. But whatever the outcome, free America is paying the price with every passing day.”
A real threat to freedom of expression
Trump's administration is doing exactly what it accuses Europe of doing, La Libre Belgique criticises:
“The very people who, through Vice President JD Vance, are giving the Europeans lessons in freedom of expression and trying to silence dissenting opinions in places where debate and the exchange of ideas should be a priority. ... Alan Garber and Harvard University have decided to resist this and rekindle the flame of freedom that Americans claim to hold so dear. This gives hope for a broader response to this reactionary and proto-fascist armada.”
Worse than in the McCarthy era
Author Alexander Stille draws a historical comparison in La Repubblica:
“Even in the McCarthy era (from 1947 to around 1956), when many universities dismissed professors who were communists or accused of being communists, the national government held back: presidents Truman and Eisenhower didn't back Senator McCarthy's witch hunt with the clout of the national government. ... The decision to cut funding for universities is part of a much broader strategy to impose a conservative cultural hegemony and ties in with the closure of USAID, the removal of photos of black soldiers from the US Defense Department website, the renaming of bases in honour of Confederate generals and the destruction of state facilities.”
Bring back the best researchers
Der Standard sees an opportunity in Trump's approach:
“Columbia University in New York gave in to Donald Trump's infamous influence peddling for financial reasons, but Harvard University has stuck to its guns. What is perhaps the most powerful and probably richest university in the US has accepted cuts running into the billions. ... The faint hopes that masses of top people from the US will be lining up for university jobs here are, however, rather naive. But it would help to bring back some of the talent that has left Europe because of the better conditions - and to ensure that the best in Europe stay here.”