Why Is Trump furious with Harvard university?

The 2024 Harvard University poll highlighting a rising wave of opposition among American youth to Zionism has sparked intense anger from Donald Trump toward the university, prompting retaliatory measures against this academic institution. Consequently, the U.S. President has initiated an inhumane policy of expelling students opposing the Gaza war from various educational institutions across the country, from Harvard to Stanford. 

It is evident that Trump is strongly supported in this endeavor by the AIPAC lobby. Beyond that, the vast majority of Congress members—both Democrats and Republicans—not only fail to obstruct these extralegal restrictions against Harvard but actively endorse the White House’s ideas and actions in this regard. 

The unprecedented and unjustifiable political interference by the White House, which stands in direct opposition to the will of American students under the pretext of their opposition to the Gaza genocide, constitutes a clear violation of educational rights and human rights by Washington. 

The peculiar silence of the UN Human Rights Committee in the face of this unlawful obstruction by the U.S. government is another issue that has fueled significant anger and dissatisfaction among American students toward so-called international human rights organizations. 

Recently, in response to the U.S. government’s decision to block federal aid to Harvard University, dozens of prominent U.S. universities, including Yale, Princeton, and Harvard, issued a joint statement warning of the “unprecedented political interference” by Donald Trump’s administration in higher education. 

The statement, signed by approximately 100 university presidents and academic association leaders, reads: “We stand united against the unprecedented government interference and political influence threatening American higher education.” 

This protest comes as Harvard University has sued the Trump administration for withholding $2.2 billion in federal aid. Some weeks ago, Harvard rejected the government’s demands, leading to the subsequent cutoff of financial resources. In a sharp response, Donald Trump has threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status, accusing the institution of promoting “hatred and stupidity”! 

In recent weeks, the U.S. government has intensified its attacks on prestigious universities, accusing them of allowing antisemitism to flourish during student protests against the Gaza war—an accusation the universities have rejected. As is clear, Trump, in the typical style of American politicians, equates anti-Zionism with antisemitism, criminalizing it and exerting the harshest possible pressures on educational institutions in his country.