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NEED TO KNOW
- A spokesperson for Melania Trump claimed that Barron Trump never applied to Harvard University
- The comment comes amid online conspiracy theories that the Trump administration is targeting Harvard after it allegedly rejected Barron
- Trump is slashing all federal funding to Harvard after it refused to cave to his administration’s demands regarding DEI and international students in April
First Lady Melania Trump is dismissing a viral online theory that the President Donald Trump‘s administration is targeting Harvard University after it allegedly rejected their son Barron Trump.
“Barron did not apply to Harvard, and any assertion that he, or that anyone on his behalf, applied is completely false,” a spokesperson for Melania, 55, tells PEOPLE.
PEOPLE reached out to Harvard University admissions, but did not immediately hear back.
Barron, 19, is currently a student at New York University. His college admissions have been the subject of speculation since the Trump administration’s Tuesday, May 27, decision to slash all remaining federal funding to the Ivy League institution. The move came after Harvard refused to bow to the administration’s list of demands issued in April, which targeted Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, the admission of international students and more.
The remaining federal funds to be cut add up to $100 million, per the New York Times. Over the course of the last month, the Trump administration has frozen about $3.2 billion in grants and contracts with Harvard, the outlet additionally reports.
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The most recent letter delivered to Harvard officials instructs the Ivy League institution to respond to the contract cancellations by June 6. Anything deemed vital will be transferred to other vendors, the New York Times reports.
Last week, the Trump administration attempted to stop international students from attending Harvard. On Friday, May 23, the university sued the administration and a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, per the Times.
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In April, a researcher at Harvard said that their research monkeys were at risk of being euthanized amid the slashed federal funding. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) issued a stop-work order to researchers that month.
Sarah Fortune, the lead scientist on a tuberculosis study being conducted at Harvard, told The Boston Globe in April, “It’s such a heavy responsibility to work with them and to just be asked to kill them halfway through the study…”
While Harvard has fought the Trump administration in court, fellow Ivy League institution Columbia University agreed to the administration’s demands in March, allowing new government oversight for their Middle East studies department and more.
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The Trump administration asserts that these demands to higher education institutions are aimed at curbing anti-semitism and discrimination against female athletes, but critics of such policies have accused them of actually being anti-Palestinian and anti-transgender athletes.
