Tag Archives: Harvard University

Irish Star: Donald Trump’s chilling four-word attack on Harvard as he rips apart 110-year-old rule

Posted on by
Reply

U.S. President Donald Trump has announced that he will yank Harvard University‘s exemption status as tension between the esteemed university and the president has reached a boiling point. Trump’s pulling of the status brings an end to a 110-year-old rule that allowed schools to a tax break.

In a chilling post on his Truth Social media website, Trump stated, “We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!” The post comes after the university received several orders from the Trump administration and refused to implement them. Trump was previously branded the ‘dumbest president ever’ following a shocking 6-word geography comment.

The president’s orders also demanded that Harvard reform its admissions process for international students and screen for students who are “supportive of terrorism and anti-Semitism.” The demands also call on Harvard to report any international students to federal authorities should they break the University’s conduct policies.

“Supportive of terrorism and anti-Semitism?” As in supportive of the Palestinian (Gaza) victims of Israel’s genocide and ethnic cleansing? Screw you, King Donald!

Donald Trump’s chilling four-word attack on Harvard as he rips apart 110-year-old rule
Trump’s pulling of the status brings an end to a 110-year-old rule that allowed schools to a tax break.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/donald-trump-s-chilling-four-word-attack-on-harvard-as-he-rips-apart-110-year-old-rule/ar-AA1E31Tk

Wall Street Journal: Trump Officials Explore Ways of Challenging Tax-Exempt Status of Nonprofits

Posted on by
Reply

Trump administration officials are exploring ways of challenging the tax-exempt status of nonprofits, according to people familiar with the matter, in a move that some IRS staffers fear could damage the agency’s apolitical approach.

In hourslong meetings that continued over a recent weekend, Internal Revenue Service lawyers explored whether they could alter the rules governing how nonprofit groups can be denied tax-exempt status, the people said.

…

Another senior IRS official, Gary Shapley, separately said in at least one meeting that he’s giving priority to investigating the tax-exempt status of a select group of nonprofit organizations, according to people familiar with his remarks. Shapley made the comments as deputy head of the criminal investigations unit. Shapley, who is also an adviser to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, didn’t name any specific groups, the people said.

Some current and former IRS officials fear that the deliberations appear to depart from longstanding practice at the IRS. They come as Trump has said his administration will strip Harvard University of its tax-exempt status and suggested the administration could target other organizations.

Trump officials outside the IRS have also had ongoing conversations about how to potentially target nonprofits’ tax-exempt status and endowments for months, an administration official said.

MSN | Outlook, Office, Skype, Bing, Breaking News, and Latest Videos
Your customizable and curated collection of the best in trusted news.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-officials-explore-ways-of-challenging-tax-exempt-status-of-nonprofits/ar-AA1E5RzU

NBC News: Trump, asked if he has to ‘uphold the Constitution,’ says, ‘I don’t know’

Posted on by
Reply

Trump said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that he’s following lawyers’ advice as he tries to execute rapid deportations, arguing that giving immigrants due process is time-consuming.

President Donald Trump argued in an interview with NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that fulfilling his ambitious campaign promise to rapidly carry out mass deportations may take precedence over giving immigrants the right to due process under the Constitution, as required by courts.

A central part of Trump’s agenda has been implementing the “largest deportation operation” in U.S. history, as he vowed during the 2024 campaign. In service of that goal, his administration has pressed the courts to allow the immediate removal of immigrants it accuses of being members of a Venezuelan gang, without giving them a chance to plead their case before a judge.

In an interview last month with “Meet the Press,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “Yes, of course,” when asked whether every person in the United States is entitled to due process.

Trump, however, isn’t so sure.

Does he remember his Oath of Office? Did he understand it when he took the Oath? What a total dufus!!!

Trump, asked if he has to ‘uphold the Constitution,’ says, ‘I don’t know’
Trump said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that he’s following lawyers’ advice as he tries to execute rapid deportations, arguing that giving immigrants due process is time-consuming.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/rcna204580

Fox News: Harvard professor reveals university was ‘not ready’ after Oct 7 as Trump revokes tax-exempt status

Posted on by
Reply

An adjunct professor at Harvard spoke out Thursday after the Ivy League university’s president, Alan Garber, apologized as scathing internal reports exposed that antisemitism and Islamophobia were prevalent on campus. 

Eugene Litvak, who teaches at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview that one of the nation’s top universities “was not ready” for the anti-Semitic and anti-Islamic behavior that has plagued Harvard since the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel.

“Obviously, I was really, really upset,” Litvak told Fox. “What happened at Harvard after October 7th, and [at] the university, in my opinion, again, that’s my personal opinion, the university was not ready to face these kinds of challenges. None of the universities were ready.”

“I’m commending, actually, the letter from the president of the university,” the Harvard professor added. “What I really like, in science, we say that you cannot solve any problem unless you formulate it. So he formulated the problem in his letter. He acknowledged that there is a problem. Otherwise, nothing would happen.”

Harvard president Alan Garber apologized in a letter Tuesday after internal reports unveiled antisemitism and Islamophobia’s presence at the Ivy League school. Garber described the findings as “disturbing.”

“I think that’s a step in the absolutely right direction,” Litvak told Fox News Digital. “I would like to see the fruits of it. But again, I was very, very pleased because of the acknowledgment that there is such a problem.”

But:

Despite Garber’s apology and admission, President Donald Trump posted to Truth Social Friday stating that the administration will be “taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status,” noting “It’s what they deserve!” 

Harvard professor reveals university was ‘not ready’ after Oct 7 as Trump revokes tax-exempt status
A Harvard school of Public Health professor spoke out after scathing internal reports unveiled antisemitism and islamophobia at one of America’s top universities.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/harvard-professor-reveals-university-was-not-ready-after-oct-7-as-trump-revokes-tax-exempt-status/ar-AA1E6efu

RNS: 550 US rabbis sign letter condemning Trump’s antisemitism policy

Posted on by
Reply

More than 550 rabbis and cantors have signed a letter objecting to President Trump’s crackdown on universities for what the administration calls tolerance of antisemitism, calling Trump’s executive orders and detentions of students who criticized Israel “cynical attacks on higher education.”

…

Rabbi Elliott Tepperman of Bnai Keshet, a Reconstructionist synagogue in Montclair, New Jersey, who helped edit the statement and is co-chair for the rabbinic cabinet for J Street, said the 550 rabbis and cantors who signed were the “tip of the iceberg.”

“I’m quite sure that the vast majority of American Jews support the sentiment behind this,” Tepperman said on Monday.

The letter begins by saying that the signatories are committed to fighting the rising tide of antisemitism. But it quickly adds: “… we cannot allow the fight against antisemitism to be twisted into a wedge issue, used to justify policies that target immigrants and other minorities, suppress free speech, or erode democratic norms.”

The Trump administration has launched a war against higher education for what it insists is a dangerous culture of antisemitism, cutting off federal funding for scientific and other research to Harvard, Columbia and Cornell Universities, among others, and threatening to investigate dozens more colleges and universities.

It has also sought to cancel visas and begin deportation proceedings against a number of students who had participated in demonstrations against Israel during the wave of campus protests last year over the war in Gaza.

“We reject these cynical attacks on higher education — institutions that have long been strongholds of Jewish academic and cultural life — under the pretense of protecting Jewish students,” the letter says.

A poll last week found that most American Jews oppose the way President Donald Trump is handling antisemitism. The poll, conducted by the Mellman Group in mid-April among 800 registered Jewish voters, found that 56% do not approve, while 31% do approve of how Trump is handling antisemitism.

550 US rabbis sign letter condemning Trump’s antisemitism policy
(RNS) — The letter comes after a poll found that most American Jews oppose the way President Donald Trump is handling antisemitism.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/550-us-rabbis-sign-letter-condemning-trump-s-antisemitism-policy/ar-AA1DNhfZ

Washington Post: Trump approval sinks as Americans criticize his major policies, poll finds

Posted on by
Reply

Trump’s overall approval rating is lower than it was only two months ago. The poll shows that 39 percent of adult Americans approve of the way Trump is handling his job, compared with 55 percent who disapprove, including 44 percent who disapprove strongly. In February, those numbers were 45 percent positive and 53 percent negative.

39% and dropping!

Worst.

President.

Ever.

Trump approval sinks as Americans criticize his major policies, poll finds
President Donald Trump’s 100 days poll finds a lower approval rating, growing opposition to his agenda and opposition to many of his major initiatives.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-approval-sinks-as-americans-criticize-his-major-policies-poll-finds/ar-AA1DGR4Y

Mediaite: Kristi Noem [Bimbo #2] Threatens to Revoke Harvard’s Ability to Enroll Foreign Students Over ‘Cesspool of Extremist Riots’

Posted on by
Reply

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem [Bimbo #2] has threatened to remove Harvard University from the Student and Exchange Visitor Program and block the school from enrolling foreign students.

In a letter sent to Harvard’s leadership that was released publicly Wednesday via a DHS press release, Noem [Bimbo #2] demanded records on foreign students involved in protests or activities she described as promoting terrorism and antisemitism.

The university has until April 30 to respond to Noem [Bimbo #2] with the information she demanded, or it risks being removed from the SEVP program.

Noem [Bimbo #2] also announced the cancellation of two federal grants awarded to Harvard totaling $2.7 million. She blasted the school in a statement:

Harvard bending the knee to antisemitism — driven by its spineless leadership — fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security. With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory. America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars.

Incredible overreach ….

Kristi Noem Threatens to Revoke Harvard’s Ability to Enroll Foreign Students Over ‘Cesspool of Extremist Riots’
In a letter sent to Harvard that was released publicly Wednesday via a DHS press release, Noem demanded records on foreign students involved in protests.
Kristi Noem Threatens to Revoke Harvard’s Ability to Enroll Foreign Students Over ‘Cesspool of Extremist Riots’

Robert Reich: Ineptitude, incompetence, stupidity, and chaos

Posted on by
Reply

Trump is fundamentally incapable of governing. That’s the theme that unites everything.

Some Democrats fear they’re playing into Trump’s hands by fighting his mass deportations rather than focusing on his failures on bread-and-butter issues like the cost of living.

But it’s not either-or. The theme that unites Trump’s inept handling of deportations, his trampling on human and civil rights, his rejection of the rule of law, his dictatorial centralization of power, and his utterly inept handling of the economy is the ineptness itself.

In his first term, not only did his advisers and Cabinet officials put guardrails around his crazier tendencies, but they also provided his first administration a degree of stability and focus. Now, it’s mayhem.

Ineptitude, incompetence, stupidity, and chaos
Trump is fundamentally incapable of governing. That’s the theme that unites everything.

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/ineptitude-incompetence-stupidity

CNN: IRS making plans to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status

Posted on by
Reply

The Internal Revenue Service is making plans to rescind the tax-exempt status of Harvard University, according to two sources familiar with the matter, which would be an extraordinary step of retaliation as the Trump administration seeks to turn up pressure on the university that has defied its demands to change its hiring and other practices.

…

President Donald Trump in recent days raised the idea of punishing the Ivy League university for not complying with what the administration has sought to portray as a campaign to fight antisemitism.

Big problem here: Just as the First Amendment protects what you say, it also prohibits others from forcing you to support their causes. Whatever the administration has in mind “as a campaign to fight antisemitism”, Harvard’s participation cannot be compelled.

IRS making plans to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status
The Internal Revenue Service is making plans to rescind the tax-exempt status of Harvard University, according to two sources familiar with the matter, which would be an extraordinary step of retaliation as the Trump administration seeks to turn up pressure on the university that has defied its demands to change its hiring and other practices.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/taxes/irs-making-plans-to-rescind-harvard-s-tax-exempt-status/ar-AA1D3yDY

Raw Story: ‘Off the rails’: WSJ’s conservative editors tear down Trump’s ‘biggest overreach’

Posted on by
Reply

The Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial board went after President Donald Trump for what they framed as an unconstitutional attempt “to run Harvard” University after the Ivy League school rejected his demands for a MAGA-inspired policy overhaul.

Trump’s funding freeze of $2.2 billion in retaliation for the university’s snub drew the ire of the Journal’s board, which scorched the action in a Tuesday opinion piece that detailed the “good reasons to oppose this unprecedented attempt by government to micromanage a private university.”

…

“The Administration runs off the legal rails by ordering Harvard to reduce ‘governance bloat, duplication, or decentralization.’ It also orders the school to review ‘all existing and prospective faculty . . . for plagiarism’ and ensure ‘viewpoint diversity’ in ‘each department, field, or teaching unit,’” according to the board.

“These reforms may be worth pursuing, but the government has no business requiring them….”

‘Off the rails’: WSJ’s conservative editors tear down Trump’s ‘biggest overreach’
The Wall Street Journal’s conservative editorial board went after President Donald Trump for what they framed as an unconstitutional attempt “to run Harvard” University after the Ivy League school rejected his demands for a MAGA-inspired policy overhaul. Trump’s funding freeze of $2.2 billion in retaliation for the university’s snub drew the ire of…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/off-the-rails-wsj-s-conservative-editors-tear-down-trump-s-biggest-overreach/ar-AA1CZV7z