CNN
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President Donald Trump states that Harvard university will lose his tax exemption, which redoubles his threat in the midst of a generalized dispute over freedom of expression, political ideology and federal financing at the University of the Ivy League and in the American academic world.
“We are going to withdraw Harvard’s tax exemption! It’s what they deserve!” Trump published this Friday in Truth Social.
On April 15, Trump launched a survey campaign on the elimination of Harvard tax exemption, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was planning how to carry it out. CNN contacted Irs and Harvard on Friday to obtain comments, but so far had no answer.
The president of Harvard has declared that the university “will not give up its independence or its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can afford to be intervened by the federal government.”
Harvard has become the main rival of the Trump government after the Joint White House working group to combat anti -Semitism announced last month the freezing of more than US $ 2,000 million in federal funds for research. The University demanded the release of the funds, and it is unlikely that the dispute is resolved before the middle of the summer (boreal), at least.
The Trump government has also threatened to revoke the university’s ability to receive international students if they do not undergo a long list of demands, including: eliminating their programs of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI); prohibit the use of masks in the protests on the campus; implement changes in hiring and admission based on merit; Deliver disciplinary files of foreign students and reduce the power of teachers and administrative staff, who are “more committed to activism than with research.”
Although the White House has declared that its objective is to prevent anti -Semitism after protests on American campuses for the war in Gaza, academics and outstanding Jewish organizations have expressed concern about the broad attacks against Harvard.
In recent days, Harvard has taken symbolic steps in the sense of what the Ultimatums of the Trump government want, renowing their office for equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging as “community and university life” and, according to reports, cutting the resources for the celebrations of affinity groups during graduation.
The University also shared data with the Department of National Security in response to its request for information on illegal activity and the disciplinary history of international students, although it did not give details of that data.
This week, Harvard published two extensive internal reports: one on how anti -Semitism and antiisraeli bias are managed on campus and another on antimuse, anti -barrabe and antipalestine bias. Although the university authorities do not completely disagree with the position of the White House that anti -Semitism is an important problem in the university, according to the report, the parties still firmly disagree on who should decide what reforms are required and if the federal or university authorities must monitor them.
The measures that Harvard has taken so far to stop anti -Semitism are “positive,” said a White House official to CNN this week, but “what we see is not enough, and it is likely that additional funds are cut.”
This news is in development and will be updated.
CNN Maher Kit contributed to this report.
