'We're going to stand behind freedom' - Harvard students rally against Trump's demands
World
About a hundred people showed up with posters condemning Trump and listened to a lineup of speakers
CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) – It took Ezekiel Wells, 20, a sophomore at Harvard College, and his school friends about ten hours and no sleep to prepare a rally at his school's campus after the Trump administration threatened Harvard with a foreign student ban.
About a hundred people showed up to their protest on the Harvard Widener Library's steps on Thursday with posters condemning Trump and listened to a lineup of speakers, who assured the audience that they didn't want the university to comply with the government's demands.
"We wanted to show that Harvard can stand together united," said Wells in an interview outside campus. "We're not going to cave to demands that we turn in some international student names so that they can have their visas revoked without a just cause, and they can be deported back to their home countries, and that instead we're going to stand together as a university, as Harvard College, saying that, look, we are not doing anything for you. And we're going to stand behind freedom."
The university didn't let the press on the campus to cover the protest. Interviews and filming were conducted outside, in public spaces.
The US Department of Homeland Security said on Wednesday that Harvard University will lose its ability to enroll foreign students if it does not meet demands from the Trump administration to share information on some visa holders, marking the government's latest escalation against the educational institution.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem also announced on Wednesday the termination of two DHS grants totaling more than $2.7 million to Harvard.
"You know, I want to do my part to help my country overcome this dangerous, dangerous pestilence," said a performer, who went by the name 'Mad King Drumpf' and participated in the protest. "We're in a very, very tough space. But I came down to congratulate Harvard and to support Harvard for what they did this week."
The Trump administration said late last month it was reviewing $9 billion in federal contracts and grants to Harvard and later called for restrictions – including a mask ban and removal of diversity, equity and inclusion programs – to be put in place for the university to continue receiving federal money.
Harvard on Monday rejected numerous demands that it said would cede control to the government. The Trump administration subsequently said it was freezing $2.3 billion in funding.
