Obama praises Harvard for having rejected the requests from the White House while Trump says that she should lose tax exemption status

Former President Barack Obama in a declaration Monday evening, congratulated Harvard University for rejected President Donald Trump’s requests while the University is faced with a freeze freezing for an alleged inaction on anti -Semitism.

“Harvard has given the example for other higher establishments – rejecting an illegal and brown attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete measures to ensure that all Harvard students can benefit from an environment of intellectual investigation, rigorous debate and mutual respect,” published on X.

Obama’s remark came after Harvard University said on Monday that she refused to comply with a series of requests from the Trump administration. On Monday evening, the joint administration working group to combat anti -Semitism announced a freezing of several billion dollars on the financing of the university. (Harvard University said it was determined to fight anti -Semitism and make changes to create a welcoming environment.)

Obama, a former student of the Harvard Law School, did not address the freeze of funding.

In recent remarks at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, Obama said he was concerned about the movements of the White House against universities.

“I do not think that what we have just seen in terms of economic policy and prices will be good for America, but it is a specific policy. I am more deeply concerned about a federal government that threatens universities if they do not abandon students who exercise their right to freedom of expression,” said Obama, According to a transcription of his remarks.

He also called on universities not to give in to what he formulated as intimidation.

“If you are a university, you may have to understand, do we actually do things correctly? Have we violated our own values, our own code, violated the law in one way or another and that you are simply intimidated, well, you should be able to say, that is why we have obtained this great endowment,” said Obama, according to the transcript.

“We will defend what we believe and we will pay our researchers for a while to get out of this endowment and we will abandon the additional wing or the fantasy gymnasium-that we can delay this for a few years because academic freedom could be a little more important,” he added.

Trump, Tuesday morning, called for Harvard to lose its tax exemption status after the university said that it would not respect the Trump administration series.

“Perhaps Harvard should lose its status as a tax exemption and be taxed as a political entity if it continues to push political, ideological and terrorist” disease “? Do not forget that the status of tax exemption depends completely on the action in the public interest!” written in a post On his social media platform.

The University of Harvard is exempt from federal income tax because it is an educational institution. He is also exempt from the income tax of the Massachusetts State, According to the university.

ABC News Kelsey Walsh Walsh, Peter Charalambous, Selina Wang and Arthur Jones II contributed to this report.