Garčević Opines on the Federal Government’s Harvard Crackdown
Ambassador Vesko Garčević, professor of the practice of international relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies, was interviewed by the Serbian TV Network N1 on the U.S. administration’s latest multi-pronged assault on higher education and what it hopes to accomplish.
Garčević highlighted that the attack on Harvard University is only the tip of the iceberg. By cutting research grants, planning to tax college endowments, detaining international students, and halting visa appointments for international students, the current U.S. administration targets the so-called liberal universities that, in their view, nurture “radical left ideology.” The goal is to undermine their financial autonomy and make them vulnerable to the federal government’s influence, which may eventually enable the reshaping of their ideological profile. He further noted that without investments in research and innovation, America will find itself lagging behind other nations, harming the country’s intellectual and scientific advancements.
According to Garčević, financial vulnerability of universities coupled with dependence on the federal government will possibly impact their capacity to assist the most vulnerable student groups who often rely on scholarships, tuition remission, or research grants. These new policies are expected to disproportionately affect first-generation students, students from underrepresented groups, or students with financial problems.
“Harvard and universities like it existed long before this administration,” concluded Garčević. “And it will outlast this administration, I’m sure, but the damage will be incalculable, both for the universities and for American society.”
To watch Prof. Garčević’s complete interview, click here.
Professor Vesko Garčević is a former ambassador of Montenegro to Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. He is the interim director of the Center for the Study of Europe and an expert on multilateral issues, especially in the field of European Security. He is the author of Montenegro and Serbia: A Velvet Divorce? (Bloomsbury Academic) which explores the divergent past between Serbia and Montenegro between 1988 and 2023.