U.S. campuses protest Trump Administration’s threats to university tax-exempt status

The Star

Students, faculty, and staff protested across U.S. campuses on Thursday (April 17) against the Trump administration’s attacks on universities, including threats to revoke tax-exempt status from institutions like Harvard.  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00Students, faculty, and staff across U.S. campuses staged protests on Thursday in

00:08response to the Trump administration's efforts to undermine American universities.

00:13Demonstrations at American University in Washington, D.C., and Northwestern University in Illinois

00:19reflected growing concern as President Donald Trump questioned whether institutions, like Harvard,

00:26still deserve their tax-exempt status.

00:29We have students who are fearful that if we say the words protest in a group chat that

00:34they're going to end up having their visas revoked, that they're going to have their

00:39citizenship revoked.

00:42And so it's a very stressful time for students, especially international students, and they

00:49deserve to be as civically engaged as I'm able to.

00:54And so that's really been like a major concern for me, is that these students don't have

00:59equal access to civic engagement.

01:02Watching Harvard, Columbia, and other Ivy League institutions is a warning shot.

01:07This is the playbook of the Trump administration.

01:09American universities on the list of 60 that were targeted by a letter from the Department

01:15of Justice back at the beginning of March.

01:18So we look around and we say, this is what's coming.

01:21We know what's coming.

01:22There's absolutely no question.

01:24Probably freezing of federal funds.

01:26The administration has repeatedly criticized universities over their handling of pro-Palestinian

01:31protests, which intensified across campuses from Columbia in New York to UC Berkeley in California

01:38after the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel and the subsequent Israeli strikes on Gaza.

01:45Trump has called the protests anti-American and anti-Semitic, accusing universities of promoting

01:52Marxism and radical leftist ideologies.

01:55On Thursday, he called Harvard, which he has attacked multiple times this week, a disgrace,

02:01and suggested that other universities may also face scrutiny.

02:05When asked about reports that the IRS was reviewing Harvard's tax-exempt status, Trump said he was

02:10unsure if a final decision had been made, but confirmed other institutions were also under

02:16review.

02:17I'm leaving today, I'm going to make a mess of it across the USA.

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