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CAMBRIDGE, MASS. (WHDH) - Hundreds of students and professors at Harvard are protesting President Trump’s revocation of federal funding and his demands of the school.
With seniors set to graduate Thursday, the federal government’s recent actions introduced a new level of uncertainty over what campus will be like at the start of next semester.
A crowd gathered on campus Tuesday night to protest the latest actions by Trump against the university; on Tuesday he directed government agencies to cancel all contracts with Harvard, effectively ending the government’s longstanding business relationship with the nation’s oldest university.
“Other people in the country are seeing the pressure that we’re under and it’s very scary,” said Harvard alum Mary Anne Fox.
Trump has railed against Harvard, calling it a hotbed of liberalism and antisemitism, providing scant or anecdotal evidence to back up these claims. The school has refused to comply with the president’s orders to change its hiring and admissions policies to be more to his liking.
“He’s just gonna keep coming, and Harvard just needs to keep pushing back,” said Harvard Professor of Government Ryan Enos.
Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey agreed, saying: “We are going to fight every single step of the way.”
Markey was joined in his support of the school by Governor Maura Healey, herself a graduate of the school.
“When Trump attacks Harvard, he’s attacking Massachusetts’ economy and the United States’ economy,” Healey said.
Trump has already ordered his administration to freeze more than $2 billion in federal funds, and this week threatened to pull another $3 billion in grant money.
“It hurts the country,” Harvard President Alan Garber said in an interview on NPR. “The research funding is given to universities […] to carry out work that the federal government designates is high priority work.”
Trump also ordered a ban on Harvard’s ability to enroll foreign students, a move that was temporarily stopped by a federal judge last week, and moved to revoke the school’s tax-exempt status.
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