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Front Burner

'Professors are the enemy': Trump's war on higher education.

A dispatch from Columbia University, ground zero for the Trump administration's war on higher education. Following a year of pro-Palestinian protest, America’s ‘Activist Ivy’ finds itself in the crosshairs of the federal government.
CBC News ·
Four masked people are shown leaning out a building window with a homemade banner that says, Hind's Hall.
Students with the Gaza Solidarity Encampment take over Hamilton Hall at Columbia University naming it Hind's Hall, on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 in New York. Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine called for mobilization close to midnight. Protesters named it Hind's Hall as an homage to Hind Rajab, who was found dead 12 days after she called for help in Gaza. Students have been occupying part of campus calling for the university to divest from institutions that have ties to Israel. (Submitted by Marco Postigo Storel/The Associated Press)
Front Burner34:44‘Professors are the enemy’: Trump’s war on higher education

In a 2021 speech entitled 'The Universities are the enemy,' Vice President JD Vance laid out a plan for America's universities saying in part "we have to honestly and aggressively attack the universities in this country."

Columbia University has become ground zero for the Trump administration's war on higher education. Following a year of pro-Palestinian protest on campus, Trump revoked $400-million in funding and has instructed federal agents to oversee raids on campus, looking to deport international students and permanent residents that have been involved in protest. 

Joseph Howley is a professor at Columbia and joins the show to discuss the last year and a half on campus, at a time students are being hunted, and some feel the university has capitulated to the demands of a hostile government.

For transcripts of Front Burner, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/frontburner/transcripts

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