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May 2025

20m 35s

Swamp Notes: Trump takes on higher ed

Financial Times

About this episode

Description: US President Donald Trump is in an ongoing standoff with America’s top universities. Harvard lost $2.3bn in federal funding after it refused to comply with the administration’s demands on admissions and diversity, equity and inclusion. Columbia complied with a similar set of demands, but still lost $400mn. The FT’s global education editor Andrew Jack and acting Washington correspondent Myles McCormick join to discuss the issues at hand and why other universities could be next.

Mentioned in this podcast:

Trump to block Harvard from federal grants

Harvard sues Trump administration over funding freeze

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Swamp Notes is produced by Katya Kumkova. Topher Forhecz is our acting co-head of audio. Special thanks to Pierre Nicholson.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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