Harvard graduate Karl Lauterbach criticizes Trump’s dealings with university

Ex-health minister and Harvard guest lecturer Karl Lauterbach criticized the US government’s plans to dismiss international students at the elite university. The government’s attacks by US President Donald Trump are “research-political suicide,” said the SPD politician, who has also headed the Bundestag research committee since this week, the “Rheinische Post”.

“If the most important and most powerful universities are intentionally weakened, the ax is put on one of the most important pillars for the American economy,” he added. Countless companies in the United States benefited from the knowledge that Harvard graduates will benefit. “Many foreign Harvard graduates remain in the United States after completing their studies,” said Lauterbach.

According to his on the side of the Bundestag, the former Health Minister and the Harvard School of Public Health. He very much hoped that Trump’s decision will be able to turn away, said Lauterbach. “But even if that is possible, the attack on the free teaching and research assumes a deterrent signal.”

The U.S. Ministry of Department had announced in the dispute with the university that in the future they could no longer accept new students from abroad as part of a special federal program. Foreigners already registered would have to switch to other universities – otherwise they will lose their residence status in the United States. The measure is part of a persistent conflict between the Trump government and universities, which it accuses of left-liberal orientation.

Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär (CSU) has also reacted to the decision of the US government to ban Harvard University the admission of foreign students. It was a “very, very bad decision” not to spend visas for students from abroad, Bär said on Friday at the sidelines of a meeting of the EU Science Minister in Brussels. “I very much hope that the US government will reverse this decision because it is really fatal,” added the minister.

Against this background, the CDU research and digital politician Thomas Jarzombek- now State Secretary in the new Federal Ministry of Sciences- campaigned for young people from abroad. In the field of artificial intelligence and digitization, German universities and non-university institutions offer top conditions, he said. “We now want to fight for international talents who are looking for other locations than in the United States.”

The representative of the Greens in the Bundestag, Misbah Khan, responsible for the topic, called for an “ambitious recruitment program for international students” from the Federal Government. “Germany now has the task of compensating for the elimination of the USA with its strong and free universities as an educational location,” she told the German Press Agency.