After Trump barred billions to Harvard, Columbia tries to negotiate

The Trump government stated that anti -Semitism exploded amid protests. Protesters say their criticism of Israel and US foreign policy were mistakenly confused with anti -Semitism.

In a letter on Monday, Harvard President Alan Garber rejected the Trump government’s demands that the institution ended its diversity-related efforts and to take other measures to ensure funding, considering “statements of unprecedented power, detached from the law” which violated the constitutional rights of freedom of expression of the school and the law of civil rights.

He wrote that under threat financing was used in medical, engineering and other scientific research that led to innovations that “made countless people in our country and around the world healthier and safer.”

Hours after Garber’s letter, the Trump’s joint anti-Semitism task force said it was freezing Harvard contracts and subsidies, the oldest and most rich university in the country, worth more than $ 2 billion out of a total of $ 9 billion.

Later, still on Monday, Shipman said the institution will continue with what it considers “discussions of good faith” and “constructive dialogue” with the task force against the US Department of Justice’s anti-Semitism, which began from the government announcement in early March that it was ending Columbia concessions and contracts worth $ 400 million.

“These discussions have not been completed and we have not reached any agreement with the government to date,” Shipman wrote.