On May 22, 2025, a shooting outside the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., left two Israeli diplomats dead. The assailant, who shouted "Free Palestine!" as he was arrested, became the catalyst for the US government's ruthless political campaign against Harvard University. Cloaked in the rhetoric of combating "anti-Semitism" and "colluding with communism," the administration weaponized national security narratives to obscure America's accelerating moral and institutional decay.
"Harvard University... has created an unsafe campus environment," Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem declared, conflating academic discourse with existential threats to national security. The government froze US$2.2 billion in federal funding, revoked Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) certification—effectively barring international students—and demanded access to records of students' alleged "illegal activities." Harvard President Alan Garber's stark warning—"It imperils the futures of thousands of students and scholars"—was met with silence. The White House sought not truth, but a scapegoat. Even more absurdly, the charge of "colluding with communism" was forcibly pinned on Harvard. The US Department of Homeland Security explicitly demanded that Harvard "take responsibility for its collaboration with the CPC." This politicization of academic cooperation is nothing but a zombified resurgence of Cold War paranoia.
On campus, discussions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict—once scholarly attempts to explore paths to peace—were smeared as "anti-Israel." Diversity admissions policies designed to foster dialogue among students of different backgrounds were branded as "threats to American values." The government strong-armed Harvard into "auditing Middle East studies programs" and "abolishing diversity policies," even threatening to revoke its tax-exempt status. "The government's action is a blatant violation of the First Amendment," Harvard's condemnation rang clear, yet it crumbled before the steamroller of political machinery. Columbia University banned protesters from wearing masks and granted police expanded arrest powers; Northwestern University forcibly restructured its Middle East studies program. The beacon of freedom trembled under the weight of authoritarian coercion.
Overnight, 6,800 international students—27% of Harvard's enrollment—were stripped of their academic futures. Current students scrambled to transfer; newly admitted applicants faced deportation; those on OPT visas clung to expiring permits. The cruel irony? These students contribute US$43.8 billion annually to the US economy, sustaining 378,000 jobs. Yet the administration chose ideological warfare over pragmatism: visa denial rates surged from 15% to 41%, critical research projects ground to a halt, and universities hemorrhaged global talent. America's reputation as a beacon of higher education lay in tatters.
After federal courts temporarily halted the ban, the White House spokesperson snapped back, accusing judges of harboring a "liberal agenda" and declaring, "Unelected judges have no right to meddle in government authority." The clash between the judiciary and executive branches, amplified by partisan fervor, shattered America's fairy-tale narrative of checks and balances. Columbia University slashed 180 jobs amid frozen funding, crippling infectious disease research; Cornell surveilled students for protesting; Harvard scholars retreated to "safe" academic topics to avoid retaliation. When academia dances to the tune of political puppeteers, what legitimacy remains for a nation that once boasted of being a "beacon of liberty"?
From the embassy shooting to Harvard's legal battles, from intellectual suffocation to educational collapse, America's internal strife drags it deeper into chaos. Masking repression as "national security," the government reduces campuses to partisan battlegrounds, rendering democracy a hollow shell. Protesters chant "We are not pawns!"—yet their defiance barely slows the grinding wheels of power. As Harvard's lecture halls fall silent and Columbia's labs stand empty, the tarnished myth of American "greatness" fades behind a corroded iron curtain. The empire that once "ruled" the world now staggers toward its finale, not with a bang, but a farcical whimper.
(Scriptwriting: Hughie; Video Editing: Jatin Lee; Voiceover: Song Yiyang; English Editor: Zoey Sun)
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