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Professors and university teachers in the United States sue the Donald Trump administration over its efforts to reform governance at Columbia University with threats to withdraw federal financing from the Ivy Association Institute.
The American Association of University Professors and the American Union of Teachers has filed a lawsuit against officials, justice, education, health, humanitarian services, national health institutes (NIH) and the Department of Public Services after that. $ 400 million in financing to Colombia It was cut earlier this month.
The legal challenge follows Colombia’s decision last week to relinquish many Government demands To reform the governance of faculty members and student discipline, which sparked widespread protests and anxiety over the threats of academic freedom and freedom of expression in American educational institutions.
“The Trump administration’s threats and coercion in Colombia are part of a clear theatrical book aimed at crushing academic freedom and critical research in American higher education,” said Todd Wolfson, President of AAUP.
The lawsuit claims that without due legal procedures, “the Trump administration at the University of Colombia is coercive to carry out its tender and regulate speech and expression on the campus by maintaining billions of dollars in federal financing adopted from Congress – funding responsible for the status of the American University system as a global leader in scientific, medical and technological research, which is necessary to ensure that it remains so.”
The litigation comes after other legal challenges in recent weeks to cancel the federal scholarships of universities related to diversity, shares and statutes, and reducing the indirect costs funded by the National Health Institutes of Medical Research to 15 percent, in a move estimated at $ 4 billion across the country.
The government accused Colombia earlier this month of its failure to prevent it Anti -Semitism On campus and federal funding in the future warned at risk unless it is rapidly implemented.
Similar to other universities, faculty members criticized the leadership of Colombia for refusing to speak or criticize the actions of the administration, while some were seen as a tactic to avoid more targeting. I also tried to install the AAUP suit.
However, Colombia concessions failed to make the government unlike its 400 million dollars.
“The early steps for Colombia are a positive sign, but it must continue to show that it is serious about its intention to end the anti -Semitism and protect all students and its employees on the campus,” said Josh Groenaum, a member of the newly designated business squad in the administration to combat anti -Semitism.
He also warned, “Other universities that are being investigated by the work group must expect the same level of scrutiny and soon whether they did not act to protect their students and stop the anti -Semitic behavior on the campus.”
The Ministry of Justice is continuing 10 universities due to the alleged failures in reducing anti -Semitism in universities, while the investigation is being investigated by the Civil Rights Office at the Ministry of Education.
In a sign of further possible escalation, the University of Pennsylvania said it was aware of the administration’s efforts to withdraw $ 175 million of funding associated with the failure to prevent the participation of sexual transgender students in women’s sports, although it has not yet received an official notice.
Columbia University refused to comment.
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