(New York) The duel between Donald Trump and Harvard moved to the judicial arena on Monday where a judge asked the US administration to justify the freezing of more than 2.6 billion dollars in research subsidies at the prestigious university.
Since his return to Maison Blanche last January, Donald Trump accuses the dean of American universities of serving as a pool with the “woke” ideology and of not having protected his Jewish or Israeli students sufficiently during demonstrations on the campus for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
In retaliation, the Trump administration withdrew from Harvard just over 2.6 billion dollars in federal subsidies, including in the health field, and revoked its Sevis certification, the main system by which foreign students are authorized to study in the United States.
The university, one of the most prestigious in the world and established near Boston, in Massachusetts, challenged these two measures before the local federal court, in a standoff which also serves as a test for other higher education institutions in the Trump government, for example Columbia, in New York.
Harvard said he had taken measures to ensure that Jewish or Israeli students and staff feel excluded or intimidated on the campus, while arguing that federal government measures “threatened” freedoms of expression and academic and were thus contrary to the American Constitution.
In his complaint before judge Allison Burroughs, Harvard accuses the Trump administration of using federal funds as a “lever” to try to “control” the decision -making of the university.
“Reprisals” campaign
Lawyers on the two camps presented their arguments on Monday before judge Burroughs who pressed the government of questions about his decision to freeze these subsidies at Harvard, according to American media. Without waiting for the decision, the American president castigated the judge.
The Harvard affair has just been presented before a judge “named by Obama”, complained Donald Trump on his Truth Social network. “This is a total disaster, and I say it before I even heard its decision,” he wrote, accusing the university “of being anti-Semitic, anti-Christian and anti-United States. »»
In parallel, associations of American university professors, notably Harvard, asked another Massachusetts judge on Monday to recognize that the United States government has implemented an “ideology -based expulsion policy” contrary to the first amendment to the Constitution which protects freedom of expression.
For these associations, the arrests of foreign students with a view to their expulsion, such as that of the Propaletinian activist of Columbia University, Mahmoud Khalil, or the Turkish student Rumeysa Ozturk, aim to muzzle the voices against the Israeli war in Gaza and the defense of the Palestinians, and weaken public debate.
The US government used an injunction at the beginning of the month to try to obtain internal “documents” from Harvard University on international students suspected of having participated in Propalenian demonstrations on the campus.
Questioned by AFP, Harvard’s management described “unjustified” the request of the Trump government as an “reprisals” campaign against a university which “defends” both its students and its fundamental principles.
