They are afraid to write on social media. They are afraid to talk in the classroom and they are afraid of silent. Life at American universities has changed dramatically. – There is fear culture everywhere. That’s what Bilal Irfan tells news. He is 21 years old and from Michigan. A young man with intense eyes, an impressive resume and a great commitment. He has been lucky. It is extremely difficult to enter the US’s oldest and most prestigious universities, Harvard. Only about 2 percent of applicants enter bachelor’s studies. The university is located in idyllic surroundings outside the metropolis of Boston with several venerable, old buildings. Several places on Harvard can remind a little of Galtvort in the Harry Potter films. Photo: Sophie Park / AFP / NTB Here is also the Great Hall that makes many people think of the Harry Potter films. Recently, the rude has also sneaked in at the real university. – We are afraid to speak freely. This means that there is no freedom of speech. People dare not say what they mean. They are afraid of the consequences, says Bilal. Bilal is one of the lucky ones to have entered the prestige university Harvard. Photo: Andreas Vingaard / news Illegal admission In a group room at Harvard, the teaching is underway. Jocelyn Viterna is a professor of sociology and notices that there are new times. news gets to join her in the classroom. The students first have to choose whether they want to be present. None of them will talk on TV. – Those who have said that it is not academic freedom or freedom of speech at the universities are the same who now make students be afraid to talk in the classroom and say their opinion, says Viterna. Students who jocelyn the viterna teach are afraid to talk and will not be interviewed. Photo: Andreas Vingaard / news She tells a story from the week before. People outside the university were invited to a digital meeting. The students spoke freely. The conversation was recorded, without the permission of those who participated. The entire meeting was then posted online. The viterna says that it is no longer unusual. – I have to write explicitly in the curricula that no one has permission to reproduce anything from the classroom, says Viterna. Professor Jocelyn Viterna talks about a new everyday life at Harvard characterized by fear. Photo: Andreas Vingaard / news – dominated by Marxistist deeds and fools Harvard has become a political battlefield in Trump’s cultural war. Already in the election campaign, Trump went hard against the universities. – When I return to the White House, I will kick the left -wing radicals who have let our universities be dominated by Marxist deeds and fools. Trump believes the universities are dominated by “Marxistist deeds and fools” Photo: Reuters Trump believes universities engage in unilateral political activism and allow or promote anti -Semitism. Universities that do not follow Trump’s demands may lose billions in support. In April, Harvard sued the Trump administration. The university believes it is illegal to freeze the support. Trump’s demands include banning study space for students who show “hostility” against “American values”. He will also kick employees who have participated in activism. And he wants to hire people who control “point of view” among employees. Demonstration in Boston in support of students and universities. Photo: Andreas Vingaard / news The authorities have also made a list of so -called FYORD. They are going out of research and teaching. Among them are woman, diversity and lgbt. – The classrooms have often been a place where we ask students to care for difficult topics. Now it is said that we promote an ideological agenda, says Viterna. – Got death threats Bilal is on its way to another teaching hour within the Majestic gates at Harvard. He studies bioethics. The goal is to become a doctor and help people who have difficulty in other countries. Bilal on the way to a new teaching hour at Harvard. Photo: Andreas Vingaard / news He has Pakistani parents and has been strongly involved in the Palestine case. Last year he visited the West Bank. It has become more and more risky in today’s United States to support the Palestinians’ case. He has received several threats. – It was especially shocking to get it from a heart specialist. It is shocking that a health worker sends you death threats, says Bilal. Several students who have participated in the protests against Israel’s warfare in Gaza have been arrested. Just after the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, students at Harvard demonstrated against the Israeli warfare in Gaza. Photo: Joseph Prezioso / AFP / NTB The most famous is Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia University in New York. He was transferred to a detention center in Louisiana in March and risks being sent out of the country. This happens despite the fact that he has a so -called green card that gives a permanent residence permit. The doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk from Turkey was arrested on an open street. The video shows how student Rumeysa Ozturk from Turkey was surrounded by masked men and women and brought away. In the video, the agents say they are from the police. She had written a critical chronicle. It was about the university’s handling of the Palestinian demonstrations. Öztürk was released Friday after six weeks at the Louisiana detention center. -Attacks those who do not agree with him Bilal are not afraid of the consequences of criticizing either the school or the Trump administration. – You fight on. You don’t fear spoiling your career? – I also think I’m true to my career choice. I want a career rooted in principles. “Kate” does not dare to stand with face and name. Photo: Andreas Vingaard / news Ein who is afraid of the consequences will not appear either with a name or picture. We call her “Kate”. As a stroke activist, she feels exposed. She says that slicing students are being attacked across the country. “Kate” came into Harvard, partly because she wrote about her engagement in the essay that applicants must deliver. Now she is worried about the future. – What do you think Trump is trying to achieve? – He attacks those who do not agree with him. It is quite obvious that he attacks slightly sloping people and their way of living. Being slower is something very different from the traditional nuclear family, says “Kate”. Harvard is one of America’s foremost prestigious universities where it is very difficult to enter. Photo: Andreas Vingaard / news hung out on social media in both Harvard and other universities, several students from abroad have been deprived of the visa. Thus, they cannot continue their studies in the United States. Jocelyn Viterna says she asks foreign students to safeguard her own safety. She has gone much further than she could ever imagine in her advice to the students. – Here’s the number of a lawyer. Have it on you. Not on the phone. They can take it. Call me, says Viterna to the students. She also asks them to be careful about what they write on social media. – Check on social media that you have not liked something that can create fear or can make you a goal for the authorities. Over the gate to Harvard it says “Veritas”, or “truth” in Latin. Photo: Sophie Park / AFP / NTB Bilal says people have been afraid to write on social media. And they are afraid of being hung out on special websites. They publish pictures of people they believe have expressed hateful about the United States, Israel or Jews. – People say to me: We want to publish, write and say. But we are scared. – What do I have to fear? news has talked to people who say that many dare to write on the most famous social media. They are afraid that people are silent on them. They dare just write on encrypted websites. They are also afraid to talk in canteens and gathering places. Nor do they dare to be interviewed. Bilal is one of many American students who now notice the culture of fear at universities. Photo: Andreas Vingaard But Bilal will stand up. He refuses to be intimidated into silence. – I don’t think I have the right to be scared. I was in Palestine last year. I talk to colleagues daily in Gaza. My home was not bombed. What do I have to fear compared to that?
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