Another in an ongoing series.
Dear Senator;
I am a resident of Pennsylvania and a constituent of yours and I'd you to answer a question or two.
I'd like to ask you about Harvard, your alma mater.
CBS News reported that:
The Department of Homeland Security is threatening to revoke Harvard University's ability to enroll foreign students and has canceled grants totaling more than $2.7 million.
The latest action from the Trump administration against Harvard comes on the heels of a $2.2 billion federal funding freeze because the university rejected a list of demands.
DHS Secretary Kristi Noem is now demanding detailed records on Harvard's foreign student visa holders' "illegal and violent" activities, or the university will lose its' Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification. In a letter to the university, Noem demanded the records by April 30.
And, according to the statement released by DHS Noem accused your alma mater of "bending the knee to antisemitism" and its "Harvard’s foreign visa-holding rioters and faculty have spewed antisemitic hate, targeting Jewish students."
Whatever one thinks of whatever the pro-Palestinian protesters have said about Israel after the attacks of October 7, 2023, those statements are protected by the First Amendment, aren't they? Have any actual laws been broken? Of course, those accused of breaking the law should be given due process and prosecuted. But is that enough to threaten the independence of an entire university?
You voted to confirm Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, didn't you?
Any comment on your vote? Any comment on this administration's attacks on Harvard?
I'll await your answer, Senator.
I'll be dropping a hard copy of this letter in the USPS and I will post the Senator's response here.
