Over 12,000 alumni and 5 Ivies throw legal support behind Harvard in high-stakes battle against Trump
Ivies and Top Institutions Join Harvard in Legal Fight Against Trump Administration
Harvard Alumni Call Government Actions 'Reckless and Unlawful'
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Over 12,000 Harvard alumni and 24 universities, including five Ivy League schools, have stood behind Harvard University in its legal fight against the Trump administration, which has threatened to cut billions of dollars in grants, as per a report.According to NBC News, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Brown, and the University of Pennsylvania joined other institutions in filing an amicus brief supporting Harvard, arguing that the administration's move to freeze over $2.2 billion in multiyear grants and $60 million in contracts would not only hurt one university but undermine the foundation of American scientific research and economic competitiveness.ALSO READ: 'No Kings' protest set to become largest anti-Trump mobilization since he took office - key points to know Alongside these institutions, 12,041 Harvard alumni, including comedian Conan O'Brien, author Margaret Atwood, and Senator Tim Kaine, a separate brief, calling the government's actions 'reckless and unlawful,' way to gain control over the school and other higher education institutions, as per NBC News.The alumni wrote in the brief that, 'The escalating campaign against Harvard threatens the very foundation of who we are as a nation,' as quoted in the report. As per the brief, 'We embrace our responsibility to stand up for our freedoms and values, to safeguard liberty and democracy, and to serve as bulwarks against these threats to the safety and well-being of all,' quoted NBC News.According to the report, these institutions explained that the partnership between the government and academia has driven critical advancements, like 'The Human Genome Project' or 'Covid-19 vaccine'. So that would mean that funding cuts to even one school can hamper the research projects at other institutions, as per NBC News.The brief pointed out that, 'The work cannot continue at individual sites; MIT cannot use machine learning to uncover patterns, for example, without data from Princeton and Harvard,' quoted NBC News. It also highlighted that, 'These cuts to research funding risk a future where the next pathbreaking innovation — whether it is a cure for cancer or Alzheimer's, a military technology, or the next Internet — is discovered beyond our shores, if at all,' as quoted in the report.The Harvard alumni filed their brief because they support the institution's motion for a summary judgement submitted last week, and if granted, the summary judgement would allow the court to decide the case without a full trial, reported NBC News.Because the administration threatened to cut billions in federal funding unless Harvard agreed to certain demands, including auditing student viewpoints.Because many research projects are interconnected. A cut to one school's funding can affect progress at many others.
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Mint
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The coup leader who's become an anti-Western hero in Africa and beyond
Three years ago, Ibrahim Traoré was a junior army officer in Burkina Faso's armed forces. Today, he has emerged as a surprising anti-Western hero preaching self-reliance and resilience with fans across Africa and beyond. Since toppling the West African country's previous military leader in 2022 and making himself president, Traoré has won the kind of glowing admiration from people across the continent that has eluded African leaders since the days of antiapartheid icon Nelson Mandela and the generation that led the independence struggles. 'Many Africans are disillusioned with the West," said Ayotunde Abiodun, an analyst with SBM Intelligence, a Nigeria-based geopolitical research consulting firm. Traoré, he said, has become the anti-imperialist face of that sentiment. Russia has tried to court him, seeing him as a way to accelerate the decline of France's influence across the arid countries of the Sahel, the wide band of land bordering the southern reaches of the Sahara. But Traoré has his own agenda of reviving the Pan-African movements of the past. Whether he succeeds in putting Burkina Faso on a stronger footing and pushing back a long-running Islamist insurgency could influence what happens elsewhere across the region. The 37-year-old appears to be genuinely popular as people across the region tire of a generation of aging leaders widely seen as corrupt and beholden to the West. In April, thousands of Burkina Faso citizens poured into the streets of Ouagadougou, the capital city, in solidarity with Traoré after an alleged counter-counter-coup failed to oust him from office. The protesters were also incensed by comments by Gen. Michael Langley, head of U.S. Africa Command, accusing Traoré of misusing the country's gold reserves. Traoré partisans saw Langley's comments as a pretext for Western intervention, and members of the African diaspora held solidarity marches to show their support for him. 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Last month, a newspaper published by the Nation of Islam, the Black religious and political movement of Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan, featured side-by-side photos of Traoré and Sankara on its front page. Traoré primarily came to power on a promise to improve security, however. As a captain, he ousted Lt. Col. Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba, who had himself overthrown a civilian government eight months earlier. Both Traoré and Damiba had justified their actions by accusing their predecessors of failing to quell dual insurgencies by Islamists affiliated with al Qaeda and Islamic State. Traoré has since surfed a wave of public discontent with France, the former colonial power, whose continued involvement in the political and economic lives of its former West African colonies created resentment, according to analysts. In a popular move, Traoré expelled French troops, who had also been unable to tame the insurgencies. 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Analysts say Traoré has gained strong support from the country's rural poor by placing land under state control, nullifying previous land allocations that favored agribusinesses and recognizing customary rights of rural communities. Supporters see the measures as an attempt to undo decades of land policies that favored corporate investors over smallholder farmers, said Burkina Faso analyst Luc Damiba. The new land policies have also gained him favor from young people, who have cheered his promise of land and agricultural training. Analysts say sections of Burkina Faso's urban, educated classes, including academics, journalists and civil‑society activists, worry that Traoré doesn't intend to return the country to elected civilian government. Traoré has postponed elections scheduled for last year until 2029, saying voting will take place when the military has wrestled enough territory from jihadists to allow all citizens to vote. Like the African liberation leaders of the 1960s, Traoré has cozied up to Moscow. Last month, he attended a Moscow parade celebrating the Soviet Union's role in defeating Nazi Germany. Russia has launched an influence operation in Burkina Faso involving pro-Moscow local radio stations as well as sports and musical events, says the nonprofit African Digital Democracy Observatory. Paid content lauding Traoré also began to appear across pro-Russian social-media platforms after he seized power, according to a 2023 report by the Paris-based watchdog All Eyes on Wagner. 'Allowing Burkinabé to sleep peacefully and live without hunger. These are his ambitions. This man deserves the greatest respect," read a caption on one Traoré portrait. 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