Harvard University rejects Trump’s diktat

United States President Donald Trump is very clear in his mind that he would brook no opposition.

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So his demand from the reputed universities of America to abandon principles of free speech and liberal values was not surprising.

When the Department of Education sent a letter to Harvard University demanding that it should weed out students holding leftist views, that it should throw out those students, who protested Israel's war atrocities on civilians in Gaza, terming the protesters as indulging in anti-Semitism, to filter foreign students seeking admission based on their political views, to abandon the criteria of diversity, equity and inclusivity (DEI) in admissions and in appointments of staff, and go by the criterion of merit alone, it was accompanied by the warning that if Harvard refused to adhere to the criteria laid out by the Department of Education, then the $2.3 billion government funding would be blocked. A similar warning was issued to another reputed private university, Columbia, and the threat of suspending $400 million government funding, was held. Columbia University complied.