Ivory Tower Showdown: Universities Push Back Against Trump’s Power Grab

Over 150 top universities, including Harvard and MIT, push back against Trump’s federal funding freeze and demands to gut diversity and academic freedom.

by

In this Sunday, March 13, 2016 photo, a relief sculpture rests on a gate to the entrance of Harvard University, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo/Steven Senne, File)
Reading Time: < 1 minute

More than 150 colleges and universities — including , Princeton, American University, and MIT — are drawing a red line. In a powerful joint statement, they’re calling out the for what they describe as unprecedented political interference in higher .

The backlash comes just after Harvard sued the administration for freezing over $3 billion in federal research grants. At the center of the clash are demands to gut diversity policies and audit schools for so-called viewpoint diversity.

Trump’s camp says it’s cracking down on , but universities say this is a thin cover for silencing dissent, cutting international student access, and politicizing science and speech. The warning from the nation’s top schools: Undermining free thought in classrooms today could cost democracy tomorrow.


Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.

AURN Podcast Network


advanced divider
advanced divider
Advertisement

AURN NEWS WITH EBONY MCMORRIS