Amid the Trump administration's effort to cancel federal contracts with Harvard, estimated at $100 million, the White House intensified its denunciation of Harvard University.
According to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, taxpayer dollars would be better spent on vocational and technical schools compared to institutions like those in the Ivy League.
Leavitt issued the statement as part of the Trump administration's push to end federal contracts with Harvard.
Also, previous President Donald Trump has signaled the potential reappropriation of the about $3 billion worth of federal grants that are presently going to Harvard, redirecting those funds rather to trade schools all over the nation that provide training in crucial areas like plumbing and electrical engineering.
"The President wants to have that money go to trade schools and programs and state schools where they're teaching American values but, most importantly, they're teaching the next generation on skills that we need in our society and our economy," Leavitt said on Fox News.
She also blasted the university's ideology, asking why a university with a huge $53 billion endowment and what she termed "anti-American values" is still funded by the government.
"Apprenticeships, electricians, plumbers — we need more of those in our country and fewer LGBTQ graduate majors from Harvard University and that's where this administration stands," she added.
Leavitt's statements rekindled the scandal over Trump's wider agenda, including reversing protections for LGBTQ communities in his second term. Her statements immediately provoked outrage on the internet.
One person on social media joked, "From now on, Trump only gets to hire plumbers and electricians to represent him in court." Another joked, "Those LGBTQ graduate majors dominate most of Wall Street.
A third commenter snarkily interjected, "Just wait until she discovers electricians and plumbers can be GULP. GAY TOO."
The administration's growing showdown with Harvard is a piece of a larger effort, with Trump charging the institution with promoting liberal thought and campus-based anti-Semitism.
In another move, federal agencies have been directed by the administration to reconsider their contracts with Harvard, with potential cancellations or redirections under consideration.
In recent times, the university was dealt another blow when it was temporarily shut out of enrolling international students—a step that left thousands of Indian and other overseas scholars in limbo. That step, however, has been suspended by a federal judge in Boston.
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