Trump's attack on Columbia and Harvard: "Anti-Semitism, Marxism" and other "diseases"

Conflict Donald Trump and the elite US universities Columbia and Harvard escalated after Harvard's administration rejected the president's accusations of alleged "anti-Semitism, Marxism, leftism" and other "diseases", as Trump literally expressed himself. He made these accusations against Columbia and Harvard because of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations that took place at those universities for some time, during which there were also attacks on students of the Jewish faith. Trump accuses universities of not doing enough to end those protests and protect Jewish students, writes DW.

In doing so, he uses a rule according to which universities can be revoked the privilege of not paying income tax if they act in a discriminatory manner against a minority. Specifically, Harvard, the oldest and richest university in the United States, could cost two billion dollars a year. Harvard Chancellor Alan Garber rejected those accusations and accused the president of violating civil and constitutionally guaranteed rights.

At the same time, this conflict could also affect the weakest links in the academic chain - foreign students who now fear that they could be denied visas and scholarships.

The land of freedom that is no longer?

A foreign student from an American university told DW that he fears the moment when he will have to extend his student visa. "I am a freshman who arrived in the USA expecting opportunities, but also challenges which, however, will not compromise my freedoms as an individual. I thought I was in the land of the free," says the journalism student, alluding to the text of the US anthem that speaks of the "land of the free".

He adds that he now has to practice self-censorship after receiving an email from the college administration warning him about the dangers of criticizing the Trump administration. "It's dangerous to be a journalist in the country I come from, but now it seems to me that it's more dangerous to be a journalist in the USA," said the student, who wanted to remain anonymous, to DW.

Rahan Kapur, vice president of the Foreign Student Association at George Washington University, says his association organizes information sessions for those students who fear that if they travel outside the US, they could be denied re-entry into the country.

"A lot of international students won't be traveling home this summer because they don't want to put anything at risk," Kapur says.

Fear of visa rejection

Those fears may not be unjustified at all, according to NAFSA, a non-profit organization that deals with the international exchange of students and monitors the situation with the issuance of student visas.

That organization has data on at least 1.300 cases reported from mid-March to mid-April that involved either visa extension denials or deletions from SEVIS, the government's registry of foreign or exchange students. "What we observe is a complete absence of any transparency in the process of visa refusals or explanations for visa refusals," the NAFSA website states.

At the same time, there is not only the danger of refusing to extend the visa, but also of specific detention and expulsion, as was the case with Mahmoud Khalil, who organized the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia, or Rumeysa Ozturk, who criticized her Tufts University, because she did not like how it reacted to what she said were human rights violations in the Gaza Strip.

In particular, the pro-Palestinian protests of last summer, which broke out, partly violently, at many American universities, now give the new government a reason to clash with university administrations, accusing them of anti-Semitism.

Some are calling to take to the streets

Donald Trump's attacks on universities have also caused resistance outside the academic sector. Former Republican politician Jamal Bowman recently participated in student protests in Washington, and on that occasion he assessed that the attitude of the Trump administration towards the academic world is also a symbol of his broader policy.

"The more uneducated, the easier it is to manipulate them. Trump and the conservative 'Project 2025' want to control what we read, what we think and how we act, because it gives them more power, while it takes away our power," said Bowman.

He called on students across the US to take to the streets to send a signal to those in power. "We need everyone to fight back, because democracy and humanity are in danger," the Republican politician concluded.