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Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell called on students to protect democracy while praising American universities as “a crucial national asset”, days after the Trump administration escalated its attacks on higher education.
“We lead the world in so many ways, including in scientific innovation and economic dynamism,” the US’s central banker told students in a commencement address at Princeton on Sunday. “Our great universities are the envy of the world and a crucial national asset.”
This week the Trump administration barred Harvard University from enrolling international students, the latest assault on the Ivy League over perceived leftwing indoctrination and antisemitism. It has revoked student visas and demanded colleges hand over information about which students have participated in protests.
While extolling American universities, Powell, who has himself come under attack from the US president, urged Princeton graduates “to take none of this for granted”.
“When you look back in 50 years, you will want to know that you have done whatever it takes to preserve and strengthen our democracy, and bring us ever closer to the Founders’ timeless ideals,” the Fed chair said.
The bar on Harvard, which places the future of more than 6,500 international students in limbo, was temporarily blocked on Friday by a US district court judge.
The administration has also cut billions in funding for higher educational institutions in the US, leading European countries such as France to offer academic positions to leading scholars currently based in the US.
Ivy League colleges, which include Harvard and Princeton and six other universities, regularly top global rankings.
Powell called on the class of 2025 to take risks, consider public service and guard their integrity “carefully”.
“Fifty years from now, you will want to be able to look in the mirror and know that you did what you thought was right, in every part of your life,” the Fed chair said.
“At the end of the day, your integrity is all you have.”
Powell was appointed by Trump during his first term, but is now under fire from the president for not cutting interest rates fast enough.
The US president has labelled him “Mr Too Late” and a “major loser” after the Fed left interest rates on hold at between 4.25 and 4.5 per cent this year.
Powell and other Fed officials say they cannot lower interest rates until it becomes clear that the president’s global trade war will not trigger another wave of persistent US inflation.
Kevin Hassett, head of Trump’s National Economic Council, last month signalled the administration would “continue to study” ways to fire Powell before his term ended next May. Trump has since said he has “no intention” to fire the Fed chair.
Powell, who intends to serve his full term, has said he believes that firing him over differences of opinion on monetary policy is “not permitted under the law”.
A Supreme Court opinion issued earlier this week indicated that the US’s nine top justices believed the White House did not have the right to meddle with the Fed’s independence to set monetary policy as it saw fit by firing members of the central bank’s rate-setting committee.
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