US President Donald Trump on Tuesday intensified his confrontation with the nation’s leading universities, threatening to revoke Harvard University’s tax-exempt status if it failed to comply with broad federal oversight measures.
The threat is the latest escalation in Mr Trump’s push to reshape the running of elite academic institutions, which he accuses of harbouring ideological bias and failing to curb anti-Semitism on campuses. The US government froze $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard University, the oldest and wealthiest university in the country, after the school rejected a series of demands from the White House.
The effects will be felt most immediately by researchers at the Ivy League school and its partner institutions.
The measures, which call for sweeping changes to how Harvard is governed, its hiring practices and admissions procedures, build on an April 3 directive that ordered the university to shut down its diversity offices and co-operate with immigration screenings for international students.
Mr Trump said Harvard “should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity” if “it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist-inspired/supporting sickness”.
In a letter to students and faculty, Harvard president Alan Garber said the university would not comply, calling the demands an overreach. “Harvard does not negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights,” he wrote. Mr Garber said the school was “open to new information and different perspectives” but would not agree to demands that “go beyond the lawful authority of this or any administration”.
“No government, regardless of which party is in power, should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” he said.
Mr Garber’s letter came after federal officials placed $9 billion in funding to Harvard and its affiliates under review, marking the administration’s first formal set of demands.
An MIT faculty member told The National that they felt invigorated to see Harvard pushing back. Former president Barack Obama said Harvard had “set an example” by rejecting “an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom”.
Acting Columbia University president Claire Shipman also stated late on Monday that the university would not agree to any federal conditions that “compromise its independence and autonomy as an educational institution”.
On March 21, the university, the centre of the pro-Palestinian protests, agreed to a set of conditions laid out by the Trump administration as a basis for resuming negotiations over the restoration of $400 million in federal funding that was revoked in March. These included banning certain types of masks, giving campus security officers the authority to arrest and remove individuals, and placing the Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies department under academic receivership.
A Princeton University professor criticised the Trump administration’s response to campus protests as “much too aggressive” and “crude”, warning it threatens academic freedom and free speech, in comments to The National. The professor acknowledged ideological bias on campuses but opposed government intervention.
There is a monoculture that “creates an environment where certain people don’t feel comfortable, like conservative Christians and Zionists, now because of Hamas”, they said. Asked why more faculty members haven’t spoken publicly, the Princeton professor said: “We’re punished for it. There’s widespread censorship and pressure to stay silent from those who disagree with the dominant campus ideology.”
The controversy follows a wave of student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza, which erupted across US campuses last year. Some demonstrations escalated into confrontations with police. Mr Trump and other Republicans have accused protesters of supporting Hamas, which the US designates as a terrorist organisation and was responsible for the attack on Israel on October 7, 2023.
In March, the US Department of Education launched investigations into 60 colleges and universities over alleged failures to address anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination. A Rutgers professor interviewed by The National said the Palestinian cause has become “a Trojan horse” on campuses.
“It explodes the liberal coalition that includes mainstream Zionists … which then cannot fight on these other fronts,” the professor said. “The US is no longer a safe environment for international students,” said the Rutgers professor, who is now considering leaving the country due to the current climate.
Civil%20War
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
'HIJRAH%3A%20IN%20THE%20FOOTSTEPS%20OF%20THE%20PROPHET'
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Fight card
- Aliu Bamidele Lasisi (Nigeria) beat Artid Vamrungauea (Thailand) POINTS
- Julaidah Abdulfatah (Saudi Arabia) beat Martin Kabrhel (Czech Rep) POINTS
- Kem Ljungquist (Denmark) beat Mourad Omar (Egypt) TKO
- Michael Lawal (UK) beat Tamas Kozma (Hungary) KO
- Zuhayr Al Qahtani (Saudi Arabia) beat Mohammed Mahmoud (UK) POINTS
- Darren Surtees (UK) beat Kane Baker (UK) KO
- Chris Eubank Jr (UK) beat JJ McDonagh (Ireland) TKO
- Callum Smith (UK) beat George Groves (UK) KO
THE BIO
Born: Mukalla, Yemen, 1979
Education: UAE University, Al Ain
Family: Married with two daughters: Asayel, 7, and Sara, 6
Favourite piece of music: Horse Dance by Naseer Shamma
Favourite book: Science and geology
Favourite place to travel to: Washington DC
Best advice you’ve ever been given: If you have a dream, you have to believe it, then you will see it.
THE%20SWIMMERS
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Electoral College Victory
Trump has so far secured 295 Electoral College votes, according to the Associated Press, exceeding the 270 needed to win. Only Nevada and Arizona remain to be called, and both swing states are leaning Republican. Trump swept all five remaining swing states, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, sealing his path to victory and giving him a strong mandate.
Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
Gulf Under 19s final
Dubai College A 50-12 Dubai College B
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
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VEZEETA PROFILE
Date started: 2012
Founder: Amir Barsoum
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: HealthTech / MedTech
Size: 300 employees
Funding: $22.6 million (as of September 2018)
Investors: Technology Development Fund, Silicon Badia, Beco Capital, Vostok New Ventures, Endeavour Catalyst, Crescent Enterprises’ CE-Ventures, Saudi Technology Ventures and IFC
CHATGPT%20ENTERPRISE%20FEATURES
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The specs: 2019 Haval H6
Price, base: Dh69,900
Engine: 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Seven-speed automatic
Power: 197hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque: 315Nm @ 2,000rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 7.0L / 100km
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
What is graphene?
Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged like honeycomb.
It was discovered in 2004, when Russian-born Manchester scientists Andrei Geim and Kostya Novoselov were "playing about" with sticky tape and graphite - the material used as "lead" in pencils.
Placing the tape on the graphite and peeling it, they managed to rip off thin flakes of carbon. In the beginning they got flakes consisting of many layers of graphene. But as they repeated the process many times, the flakes got thinner.
By separating the graphite fragments repeatedly, they managed to create flakes that were just one atom thick. Their experiment had led to graphene being isolated for the very first time.
At the time, many believed it was impossible for such thin crystalline materials to be stable. But examined under a microscope, the material remained stable, and when tested was found to have incredible properties.
It is many times times stronger than steel, yet incredibly lightweight and flexible. It is electrically and thermally conductive but also transparent. The world's first 2D material, it is one million times thinner than the diameter of a single human hair.
But the 'sticky tape' method would not work on an industrial scale. Since then, scientists have been working on manufacturing graphene, to make use of its incredible properties.
In 2010, Geim and Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics. Their discovery meant physicists could study a new class of two-dimensional materials with unique properties.
Film: Raid
Dir: Rajkumar Gupta
Starring: Ajay Devgn, Ileana D'cruz and Saurabh Shukla
Verdict: Three stars
The Equaliser 2
Director Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Denzel Washington, Bill Pullman, Melissa Leo, Ashton Sanders
Three stars
Company%20Profile
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Who was Alfred Nobel?
The Nobel Prize was created by wealthy Swedish chemist and entrepreneur Alfred Nobel.
- In his will he dictated that the bulk of his estate should be used to fund "prizes to those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind".
- Nobel is best known as the inventor of dynamite, but also wrote poetry and drama and could speak Russian, French, English and German by the age of 17. The five original prize categories reflect the interests closest to his heart.
- Nobel died in 1896 but it took until 1901, following a legal battle over his will, before the first prizes were awarded.
MATCH INFO
Chelsea 1
Alonso (62')
Huddersfield Town 1
Depoitre (50')
