Explained: What Donald Trump Wants From US Universities, Why The Crackdown

Donald Trump's crackdown on top universities in the United States has taken a more aggressive stance within three months of the Republican leader taking office for the second term. Trump, who is seeking to eliminate anti-semitism on campuses and push his demands, had even accused his predecessor, Joe Biden, of letting the universities off the hook. The latest Ivy League to fall prey to Trump's crackdown was Harvard University - to which the White House put a $2.2 billion freeze in federal funding.

Before this, many colleges, including Columbia and Brown, had millions in federal funding suspended with the Trump administration upending a multigenerational pact between the government and universities.

What does Trump want?

Donald Trump has a list of demands from the elite universities - which, if followed, will continue to get federal funding from the government. If not, the US President freezes them. Here are the demands Trump wants from US universities:

Eliminating diversity programs: Trump has complained about "racial discrimination" in higher education, suggesting universities were increasingly hostile to white students. He vowed to eliminate universities' diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and instead call for screening international students for purported support of terrorism, antisemitism, and hostility. "Illegal DEI and DEIA policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system," the White House said in a statement.

With the elimination of DEI programs, Trump is seeking merit-based hiring for jobs in the US.

Banning masks at campus: The US President wants universities to ban face masks on campuses - to stop protesters from concealing their identity. This is seen as a move to target pro-Palestine protesters.

Stop 'anti-semitism': Campuses across the US have been witnessing student protests against Israel's war in Gaza, with some resulting in violent clashes involving police and pro-Israel counter-protesters. Trump and other Republicans have accused the activists of supporting Hamas. The US Department of Education announced in March that it had opened an investigation into 60 colleges and universities for alleged "anti-semitic harassment and discrimination."

Expunging 'woke ideology: Trump's battle against 'woke' universities began on March 13 when he sent a letter to Columbia University, saying it was holding $400 million in federal grants hostage until the university complied with his administration's demands. The US also targeted two students of the university, Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi, for participating in the pro-Palestine protests. Last month, a 37-year-old Indian student, Ranjani Srinivasan, who was pursuing a doctoral degree in urban planning at Columbia Univeristy, self-deported - days after their student visa was revoked for participating in pro-Palestine protests.

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A task force to remove 'antisemitic harassment'

Just a couple of weeks after taking office, Trump announced a task force to "eradicate antisemitic harassment" on college campuses. The force, led by Leo Terrell - the senior counsel in the Justice Department's civil rights division - includes officials from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which is investigating dozens of antisemitism complaints on college campuses, reported the NYT.

The task force members had announced a special focus on 10 universities - Columbia, Washington University, Harvard, John Hopkins, NYU, Northwestern, the University of California in Berkely and Los Angeles, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Southern California. They planned to visit each school and hold meetings with its administration to set the tone announced by Trump.

Universities hit by Trump's crackdown

Columbia University has been the most hit by the US President's crackdown amid its pro-Palestine campus protests. After a series of student protests, the Trump administration froze $400 million in federal funding to the university.

However, Trump did not stop there.

Earlier this month, Trump took aim at Princeton University by stripping off almost its $4 million in federal funding. The government research grants to the university were cut off because the White House reportedly considers its work on topics including sea level rise, coastal flooding and global warming to be promoting "exaggerated and implausible climate threats".

The US also suspended over $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell University and around $790 million for Northwestern University.

The prestigious Johns Hopkins University said it is being forced to lay off more than 2,000 employees in the aftermath of the Trump administration's massive reduction in foreign aid funding. "The termination of more than $800 million in USAID funding is now forcing us to wind down critical work here in Baltimore and internationally," the school, a leading institution of scientific research, said in a statement.

Columbia gives in Trump's demands

Columbia University gave in to the Trump administration's demands, agreeing to implement significant changes in exchange for the reinstatement of $400 million in federal funding. The university's decision came after the government pulled its funding last month, citing allegations of antisemitism on campus.

As part of the agreement, Columbia agreed to ban face masks on campus, empower security officers to remove or arrest individuals, and place its Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies department under a new official. This move has been met with criticism from professors and academics, who worry that it sets a dangerous precedent for government control over academic institutions.

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The Harvard crackdown

Trump announced a pause on federal funding of $2.2 billion and another $60 million in multi-year contracts to Harvard after the university said it would not comply with policy demands from the administration.

The move came after the White House sent a letter to Harvard on Friday, calling for broad government and leadership reforms at the university and changes to its admissions policies. The letter demanded the university audit views of diversity on campus, and stop recognising some student clubs. It also ordered the school to ban face masks.

However, Harvard President Alan Garber, in a letter, vowed to defy the Trump government, insisting that the school would not "negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights."

"Harvard's statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges - that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws," it said.