US President Donald Trump tightens the pressure at universities. The Elite University Harvard is particularly affected. After resistance to government claims, the University of Lands lost to billion dollars of $ 2.2 billion. Among other things, the US President had the abolition of diversity criteria, tougher measures against protesting students, the monitoring of foreign students and influence on the teaching content. Harvard rejected this with reference to academic freedom. Previously, Donald Trump put pressure on the Columbia University and sent similar threats to other universities. Constitutional lawyers see this a dangerous abuse of power and warn against further hollowing out democratic institutions. Rieke Havertz, international correspondent of the time, analyzes Donald Trump’s targeted approach to undermining independence from universities.
In Turkey, numerous high school students are currently protesting against the planned transfer of up to 20,000 teachers at so -called project schools. According to media reports, the implementations are particularly affected by teachers who are considered to be members of the government. In cities such as Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, there are seating strikes and spontaneous demonstrations. The pupils demand transparency and criticize political influence on the education system. The government refers to a regulation from 2020, according to which the terms of office can be regulated at project schools. The protests that had started with the imprisonment of the opposition politician Ekrem İmamoğlu have developed into a nationwide youth movement despite police presence and arrests. Dr. Ismail Küpeli is a political scientist and project coordinator at the Ruhr University Bochum. In the podcast he classifies what the student protests in the country could do.
And otherwise? Çarşema Sor: A New Year
Moderation and production: Azadê Peşmen
Editor: Helena Schmidt
Working: Kai Schnier, Celine Yasemin Rolle
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