May 24 2025, 09:53 PM, updated 7 months ago
PETALING JAYA: American economist Jeffrey Sachs has slammed the move by the Donald Trump administration to bar international students from enrolling in Harvard University, the oldest and most prestigious Ivy League institution in the US.
“The US yesterday banished foreign students from Harvard University. That’s not a joke, that’s insane,” said Sachs, a professor at Columbia University, New York, and UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network president.
“It is self destruction at a rate that is absolutely impossible to understand other than in psychological terms.
“This is a backlash, resentment, aggression, and arrogance that will destroy the core of (America’s) prosperity,” he said in his presentation at the “Asean amidst shifting global order” forum organised by the Sunway Group yesterday.
Sachs also linked this unprecedented move by President Trump to “America’s Cultural Revolution”.
He compared it to China’s Cultural Revolution launched by Chinese leader Mao Zedong in 1966 that lasted till his death in 1976. “Cultural revolutions do not go well. It set back China for 20 years,” he said.
In an earlier interview with Hindustan Times, Sachs noted that the Cultural Revolution was a “disastrous period for China”, where universities were closed down, and the economy was in turmoil.
“The Trump administration is attacking universities. It’s said to be on the basis of antisemitism in these (elite) institutions.
“That is both a laughable and tragic claim. The whole idea is completely absurd,” said Sachs, who was a student and professor at Harvard.
The university and US government have been at loggerheads for months as the administration demanded the university make changes to campus operations.
The administration has homed in on foreign students and staff it believes participated in contentious campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war.
On Thursday, Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem dropped the bombshell that Harvard’s student and exchange visitor programme certification has been revoked, effective immediately. This affects thousands of international students, who would have to transfer or face deportation.
Noem accused Harvard of “fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party”.
Harvard responded with a suit the next day, citing “blatant violation” of the US constitution. A federal judge in Massachusetts temporarily blocked the White House from revoking Harvard’s ability to enrol foreign students, who make up an estimated 27% of the student body or about 6,700 students.
Malaysian support for Harvard
The Harvard Club of Malaysia has rallied behind the institution against the Trump administration’s shock move.
“We fully support our alma mater’s stand and affirm our commitment to openness, inquiry, and service – principles that not only define Harvard, but also our enduring role in society,” it said in a statement yesterday.
“We are confident the university’s ongoing commitment to its values, globalism, rule of law, and the betterment of humanity will continue to stand it in good stead, whatever the political winds of the day.”
Club deputy president Krishnavenee Krishnan said the association is deeply concerned for Malaysian students at the university.
“They should not be robbed of their opportunity to receive a world-class education and to make world-class contributions,” she said.
Earlier, Perikatan Nasional criticised the US decision, with its education portfolio chairman Saifuddin Abdullah calling the move “uncivilised”. Saifuddin said universities are institutions of knowledge that “cherish the values of truth and justice”.
The former deputy higher education minister also urged Putrajaya to promptly engage with Malaysian students at Harvard and other US universities to ensure their welfare is safeguarded.
Woke runs deep, even in Malaysia
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