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Harvard University punished with $2b funding freeze for defying Trump (www.middleeasteye.net)

submitted 1 week ago by IndustryStandard@lemmy.world to c/progressivepolitics@lemmy.world

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Harvard University has been hit with a $2.3bn federal funding freeze after the Ivy League institution took a stand against the Trump administration’s ongoing demands.

The freeze, representing 35.9 percent of Harvard's $6.4bn operating expenses, immediately followed a letter on Monday from Harvard University lawyers to the Trump administration, stating that it rejected the government’s demands.

The letter, issued by Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and LLP King & Spalding LLP, said that “The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”

Harvard is the first university to take a stand against the government, which said it is investigating 60 universities over allegations of antisemitism. Several Ivy League schools have already had funding threatened or cancelled.

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[–] Absaroka@lemmy.world 35 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

I've seen this line of reasoning spouted by a bunch of MAGAts.

Because yes, on the face of it should an institution with $53 billion in the bank be getting billions in taxpayer money.

BUT ... the Trump administration didn't say "we're going to end government funding to colleges and universities and we'd like to have a public debate on that."

They didn't even say "we don't think rich and powerful colleges like Harvard shouldn't be getting billions in taxpayer money so we're ending that giveaway."

No. They went the bully route and said "if Harvard doesn't follow OUR ideology and our perverse way of looking at the world, then we're going to try and hurt them."

That is tyranny. That is oppression. That is blackmail.

And anybody who isn't in a political cult can see that.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 1 points 1 week ago

Just like how anyone not in a cult can ask "Hey why DO they get $2b in the first place, how much is going to the executives, and who else is getting this?"

"Maybe our system is just fundamentally broken"