Trump's administration finds Harvard violated students' civil rights, WSJ reports
FILE PHOTO: A view of the Business School campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S., April 15, 2025. REUTERS/Faith Ninivaggi/File Photo
U.S. President Donald Trump's administration informed Harvard University that its investigation found the university violated federal civil-rights law over its treatment of Jewish and Israeli students, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday.
"Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources and continue to affect Harvard's relationship with the federal government," the report quoted a letter sent to Harvard President Alan Garber on Monday and viewed by the Journal.
Reuters could not immediately confirm the report.
Trump has said he is trying to force change at Harvard - and other top-level universities across the U.S. - because in his view they have been captured by leftist "woke" thought and become bastions of antisemitism.
The administration warned Harvard that failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources, the Wall Street Journal reported. REUTERS
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
AsiaOne
22 minutes ago
- AsiaOne
Trump administration says Harvard violated Jewish students' rights, expanding campaign against higher education, World News
US President Donald Trump's administration said on Monday (June 30) that an investigation had concluded Harvard University violated federal civil rights law for failing to address harassment of Jewish and Israeli students, though critics and some faculty say such probes are a pretext to assert federal control over schools. The announcement could lay the groundwork for further action against the school, which has already seen billions of dollars in grant money frozen by the administration as part of a broader campaign against Harvard and other universities across the country. Universities have said Trump's actions threaten academic freedom and free speech, as well as critical scientific research. The Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Civil Rights accused Harvard of "deliberate indifference" toward discrimination against Jewish and Israeli students, according to a notice from the administration. The department outlined a series of harassment incidents and faulted Harvard's response for being "too little, too late". "Failure to institute adequate changes immediately will result in the loss of all federal financial resources," lawyers for the administration wrote in a separate letter to Harvard President Alan Garber that was viewed by Reuters. The result of the probe was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. In a statement, Harvard said it had taken "substantive, proactive steps" to address antisemitism on campus, including updating its disciplinary processes and expanding training on antisemitism. "Harvard is far from indifferent on this issue and strongly disagrees with the government's findings," the school said. Monday's letter is the latest in a multi-pronged assault that Trump has waged against Harvard, the nation's oldest and wealthiest university, after it rejected sweeping demands to alter its operations. [[nid:718800]] The administration has frozen some US$2.5 billion (S$3.2 billion) in federal grant money to Harvard, moved to block it from enrolling international students and threatened to remove its tax-exempt status. Harvard has filed lawsuits challenging those moves. In addition to targeted funding freezes at specific schools, the administration's cutbacks at agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health have also resulted in terminated grants to research universities. The president has taken particular aim at Harvard and Columbia, two of the nation's most prominent universities. Earlier this year, the administration said it had terminated grants and contracts to Columbia University worth US$400 million, accusing the school of not protecting students from antisemitic harassment during massive campus protests against the Israel-Gaza war, which included some Jewish organizers. Civil rights groups in response have said the contract cancellations lacked due process and were an unconstitutional punishment for protected speech. However, Columbia agreed to negotiate with the administration over demands that the school tighten its protest rules. The school's interim president, Katrina Armstrong, stepped down days later. In May, the Trump administration concluded that Columbia had violated civil rights law by failing to address antisemitism, just as it did on Monday regarding Harvard. Earlier this month, Trump's Department of Education said Columbia had failed to meet accreditation standards by allegedly failing to protect Jewish students from harassment. Other schools have also become targets for the pressure campaign. On Friday, the president of the University of Virginia, James Ryan, resigned under pressure from the Trump administration over the school's diversity, equity and inclusion policies. Last week, the Trump administration announced it would investigate hiring practices at the massive University of California system — which enrolls nearly 300,000 students — to examine whether they run afoul of anti-discrimination law. [[nid:719542]]
CNA
23 minutes ago
- CNA
Asian shares rise, dollar weaker as US bill debate lingers; gold jumps
TOKYO :Asian shares crept higher and the dollar languished near multi-year lows on Tuesday as markets awaited a vote over U.S. President Donald Trump's landmark tax and spending legislation. Global shares reached an intraday record on Monday on trade optimism, but a marathon debate in the Senate over a bill estimated to add $3.3 trillion to the United States' debt pile weighed on sentiment. Japan's Nikkei gauge of shares sank as much as 1.1 per cent as the yen climbed. Oil fell for a second consecutive session and gold advanced. A vote on Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill had been expected during the Asian trading day on Tuesday, but debate raged on over a long series of amendments by Republicans and the minority Democrats. Trump wants the bill passed before the July 4 Independence Day holiday. As global trade negotiators scramble to get deals done before Trump's tariff deadlines, investors are also anticipating key U.S. labour market data on Thursday. "Trade is front and centre this week, but alongside that, we've obviously got the fate of the 'One Big Beautiful Bill', which is currently being debated in the Senate," said Ray Attrill, head of FX strategy at the National Australia Bank. Payrolls data later in the week "does have significant bearing, I think, on sentiment towards the potential timing of Fed rate cuts," he added in a podcast. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.5 per cent, led by South Korea's Kospi gauge, rising 1.8 per cent. The dollar dropped 0.3 per cent to 143.62 yen. The greenback slid 0.1 per cent to $1.1794 against the European single currency and earlier touched $1.1798, the weakest since September 2021. U.S. crude dipped 0.4 per cent to $64.86 a barrel, weighed by expectations of an OPEC+ output hike in August. Spot gold rose 0.5 per cent to $3,319.55 per ounce.
AsiaOne
23 minutes ago
- AsiaOne
Cuba trans community sees glimmer of hope in proposed legislation, World News
HAVANA — Cuban transgender man Danny Ortiz has for years been stuck with his birth name "Daniela" — a name he does not want and that does not reflect his preference. This month, that may finally change. Cuban lawmakers are set to pass a landmark bill overhauling Cuba's civil registry in July that would allow trans people to officially change their name at will, eliminating bureaucratic hurdles that have long made the process difficult, if not impossible, for many. "I have plans to get married and have children," the 25-year-old, born female, told Reuters in an interview alongside his girlfriend, Nahomis Matos, shortly after she administered him a shot of testosterone. "But first I need to change my name." Trans people in Cuba interviewed by Reuters said they had previously been asked to provide, as evidence of the need for a name change, a sworn statement proving society already recognised the individual by their chosen new name, to have no criminal record, and even to present certificates from workshops or events in which the applicant participated under their preferred name. The bill, likely to be passed before month's end, would mark a major step towards legal recognition of the LGBTQ community on the Caribbean island. It follows the 2022 approval of Cuba's "Family Code", a law that greenlit same-sex marriage and adoption by gay couples, legislation widely hailed as a necessary step to combat long-held "machista" social mores. Fátima Abdulá Ruiz, legal advisor to Cenesex, a state-run organisation that advocates for the LGBTQ community, said the bill, if passed, would task her group with issuing an multidisciplinary opinion certifying the person's desire to change his or her sex in the civil registry. "(The bill) implements, for the first time, an expedited process," she said, calling the legislation "a step forward in the rights of trans people". Previously, officials required a court order or proof of having undergone genital surgery ahead of changing a person's sex in the civil registry. Cuban trans woman Mia Rochel Ramos — who was forced to give up a dream of becoming a nurse five years ago due to what she called "transphobia", said the new legislation offers hope. "The next generations will have it (easier)," Rochel told Reuters. While Cuba has long been hailed as the vanguard of Latin America's left, it had lagged behind regional neighbours on marriage equality, including Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Colombia, which moved more quickly in years past to approve gay marriage and other socially progressive reforms. [[nid:688355]]
