In a noteworthy development, President Trump announced on September 30th that Harvard University has reached a preliminary settlement agreement with the federal government. As part of the deal, Harvard will allocate $500 million to establish a vocational school in an effort to regain the $2.4 billion funding frozen by the Trump administration. This marks yet another victory for Trump in combating the “Woke” culture and anti-Semitism prevalent in universities.
Since returning to office in January, Trump has embarked on a series of initiatives to reshape higher education in the United States by promoting a return to traditional values. The aim is to curb and end the far-left ideologies and agendas, including “DEI,” which stands for diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Despite facing numerous legal challenges to his policies and actions, the Trump administration has taken decisive steps, from issuing executive orders to freezing or cutting federal funding, pressuring Ivy League schools, dismantling the Department of Education, and revoking visas for foreign students. The multi-pronged approach seeks to restore traditional education.
From his early days in office, Trump vowed to “swiftly cancel the student visas of all Hamas sympathizers on university campuses.” In March, the U.S. State Department revoked the visas of over 300 international students who participated in supporting Palestinian protests, categorizing them as terrorism supporters.
Dr. Stanley K. Ridgley, a clinical professor of strategic management at Dresden University, pointed out that the rise in anti-Semitic violence on campuses stems from “well-funded radical organizations inciting anger and performative chaos.” He also noted that violence and threats have opened the door for the flourishing of DEI.
By August, the State Department had revoked over 6,000 international student visas, primarily due to overstaying their visas and involvement in illegal activities such as assaults, DUIs, break-ins, and supporting terrorism.
The Republican Party has long expressed concerns about foreign funds flowing into American universities, believing they could impact American research and pose national security risks related to potential espionage and sensitive information theft.
In April, Trump signed an executive order, the “Foreign Influence Transparency in American Universities Act,” requiring higher education institutions to disclose donors’ nationalities and other information. Will Scharf, the White House Chief of Staff, highlighted that certain universities, such as Harvard, had frequently violated this law without effective enforcement.
Investigations regarding foreign funding have been initiated against Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania, UC Berkeley, and the University of Michigan by the Trump administration.
A White House fact sheet released on June 4 outlined Harvard’s close ties with foreign entities, receiving over $150 million in funding solely from China. In exchange, Harvard hosted quasi-military personnel of the Chinese Communist Party and collaborated with individuals in China on research potentially advancing Chinese military modernization.
The fact sheet further revealed that the Chinese Communist Party had dispatched thousands of mid to senior officials to American campuses for education, with Harvard being considered a top “party school” outside China. Xi Jinping’s daughter also attended Harvard as an undergraduate in the early 2010s.
A BBC report previously disclosed that from 2013 to 2019, Harvard and Yale University received $93.67 million and $24.1 million, respectively, in donations and contracts from Chinese entities (excluding Hong Kong). All U.S. universities collectively received $900 million in funding from the Chinese Communist Party during this period.
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Biden administration’s Department of Education mandated school closures and pushed policies benefiting DEI and the LGBTQ+ community. This led to anger among some students’ parents and Republicans, with calls to dismantle the Department of Education gaining traction in conservative circles. They viewed the department as a symbol of bloated government, wastefulness, and overreach.
On March 20, Trump signed an executive order instructing Education Secretary Linda McMahon to take all necessary measures to assist in shutting down the Department of Education, returning educational authority to states and local communities while ensuring uninterrupted provision of services and benefits relied upon by Americans.
In July, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Trump’s plan to dismiss approximately 1,400 Department of Education staff members. While formal dissolution of the Department of Education requires congressional approval, the Trump administration has gradually transferred some of the department’s functions to other agencies, such as the student loan system to the Department of the Treasury or the Small Business Administration, vocational and adult education to the Department of Labor, and civil rights office to the Department of Justice, among others.
Education Secretary McMahon, during her “Return Education to the States Tour” in August, stated, “We will eliminate bureaucracy and hand over education to the states. Some schools are highly innovative, and I believe that when we step back as a federal government, localities will showcase more innovation.”
Certification is a required procedure for colleges to receive federal financial aid.
In April, Trump also signed an executive order calling for the reform of the higher education accreditation system to “ensure universities provide high-quality, high-value education, avoiding illegal discrimination and ideological overreach.”
In May, the Department of Education detailed guidance on expediting the process for institutional certification changes. Secretary McMahon stated that this new policy and executive order would ensure “the Department of Education no longer serves as a gatekeeper, preventing aspiring innovators from becoming new accrediting agencies, nor will it engage in unnecessary micro-management of how university entities select accrediting agencies.”
The Department of Education has informed accrediting agencies of violations of some university entities (including Harvard and Columbia University) discovered by its civil rights office, breaches of federal anti-discrimination laws. These schools seem to no longer meet accrediting agency standards, potentially disqualifying them from receiving federal funds.
In March, Trump signed an executive order limiting eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Employees in the public service sector would only have their remaining student loans forgiven after paying the minimum repayment for 10 years.
In April, the Department of Education announced the resumption of collections on defaulted student loans since March 2020. During Biden’s four-year term, approximately 5 million borrowers received around $180 billion in student debt relief.
In July, the Department of Education announced that around 8 million federal student loan borrowers would resume paying interest on their loan balances starting in August.
Trump’s “Bigger and Better Act” will comprehensively reform federal student loans in July 2026, including setting a lifetime total borrowing limit of $257,500 for all federal student loans.
Given the contrasting positions of the two parties, George, a political researcher at Harvard, pointed out that the right wing emphasizes “personal responsibility.” Without the pressure of repaying loans, students might “borrow recklessly” and not “value their learning opportunities,” lacking incentives.
In conclusion, George noted that while some Democratic policies were initially aimed at assisting the disadvantaged, they have been “abused,” elevating the “incapable” or “opportunistic” and leading to “new unfairness.” As the Democratic Party leans further left, there is bound to be backlash. Trump is presently “plugging these extremist examples,” aiming to shift back towards the center and ultimately achieve a new balance.
(Note: This article was contributed by Epoch Times journalist Liang Yao.)