Cracking down on some of America’s most elite universities, Trump orders
embassies to stop preparing student visa appointments. Instead plans for
social media vetting to help the US use “every tool” to decide who enters
the country. This comes as Trump reduces funding for institutions and
revokes the student visas of some international students.
Viewing some of the top schools to be too left-wing,
the BBC says
that Trump accuses these institutions of “failing to combat antisemitism
when pro-Palestinian protests have unfolded on campuses.”
Infringing upon free speech
American courts have blocked many of these actions, and as a result of his
attitude, universities in different states have accused Trump and his
administration team of trying to infringe on free speech.
Despite this, the BBC says that throughout his presidency, Trump has stated
that he is working to defend free speech.
Funding
BBC reports show that Trump’s team has frozen “hundreds of millions of
dollars” in funding for universities and has made moves to deport students,
while revoking the visas of thousands of others.
So far, $2.65bn in federal grants to Harvard University have been frozen
and it is reported that another $100m of funding is currently under review.
In response to the freezing of funding, Harvard Professor Steven Pinker
told Newsnight,
“It is illegal, it is utterly inappropriate…”
Rights
The new policy proposed by Trump to increase social media vetting is
supposedly a further abuse of the rights that are supposed to be protected
by the First Amendment in the US Constitution.
The First Amendment as a part of the Bill of Rights, protects several key
rights to freedom: the right to freedom of speech, freedom of the press,
freedom of religion, freedom of assembly, and the right to petition the
government. Many of which would be violated by Trump if this policy was
approved.
Another policy that was blocked by a federal judge occurred after Trump
revoked Harvard’s ability to enrol international students last week. He
also blocked the US from hosting foreign researchers.
If the measure to stop international students from entering the US is
ultimately allowed, the BBC says “it could deliver a devastating blow to
the university (Harvard), where more than a quarter of students are from
overseas.”
Students were seen protesting against the move at Harvard University’s
campus near Boston on Tuesday 27 th May.
Drastic turn-around
Just a few months ago,
more than half of international students reported an increased appeal
to the US since Trump had been elected, but this interest could be seen to
massively decrease is Trump prohibits foreign students from entering the
country in the future.
