After Harvard University rejected the Trump administration’s demands to limit campus activism, former US President Barack Obama praised the university for setting an example for other higher education institutions.
On Friday, US President Donald Trump wrote to Harvard demanding the university audit views on diversity on campus and stop recognising certain student clubs. In response, University President Alan Garber wrote in a letter to the Harvard community on Monday, “No government-regardless of which party is in power-should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
Commending Harvard for defying what he described as the government’s “ham-handed” attempt to stifle academic freedom, Obama posted on X, “Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”
Just hours after Harvard’s rejection of the demands – which called for broad institutional reforms, changes to admissions policies, or risk losing $9 billion in grants and contracts – the US government announced it would freeze more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to the university.
Columbia University was the first to be targeted by the Trump administration, ultimately agreeing to the demands under the threat of massive funding cuts. The administration has also paused federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Princeton, Cornell, and Northwestern.
Trump’s administration has increasingly used the extraordinary tactic of withholding federal funds to pressure academic institutions to align with its political agenda and influence campus policies. The administration has argued that universities allowed antisemitism to go unchecked during last year’s campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
Garber stated that Harvard has already enacted extensive reforms to address antisemitism. He argued that many of the government’s demands are unrelated to antisemitism and instead aim to regulate the “intellectual conditions” at the university.
Garber said that withholding federal funding from Harvard, one of the nation’s top research universities in science and medicine, risks not only the health and well-being of millions of individuals but also the economic security and vitality of our nation. He also claimed the action violates the university’s First Amendment rights and exceeds the government’s authority under Title VI, which prohibits discrimination based on race, colour, or national origin.
Among the government’s demands were requirements that Harvard implement “merit-based” admissions and hiring policies, conduct an audit of students, faculty, and leadership on their views about diversity, and ban face masks on campus-an apparent move against pro-Palestinian protesters. The administration also called for a ban on face masks at Harvard – an apparent target of pro-Palestinian campus protesters – and pressured the university to stop recognising or funding “any student group or club that endorses or promotes criminal activity, illegal violence, or illegal harassment.”
In response, the federal antisemitism task force said Monday that Harvard’s defiance “reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges-that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws.”
“The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable.”
Trump has promised a more aggressive approach to combatting antisemitism on campus, accusing President Joe Biden of being too lenient. His administration has launched new investigations, and in some cases, detained and deported foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian protests.
The Trump administration’s actions prompted a group of Harvard alumni to write to university leadership, urging them to “legally contest and refuse to comply with unlawful demands that threaten academic freedom and university self-governance.”
“Harvard stood up today for the integrity, values, and freedoms that serve as the foundation of higher education,” said Anurima Bhargava, one of the alumni behind the letter. “Harvard reminded the world that learning, innovation and transformative growth will not yield to bullying and authoritarian whims.”
The government’s pressure on Harvard also sparked a protest over the weekend from the campus community and residents of Cambridge and a lawsuit from the American Association of University Professors on Friday challenging the cuts.
In the lawsuit, plaintiffs argue that the Trump administration failed to follow the procedures required under Title VI before initiating cuts, including the obligation to notify both the university and Congress.
“These sweeping yet indeterminate demands are not remedies targeting the causes of any determination of noncompliance with federal law,” the plaintiffs wrote. “Instead, they overtly seek to impose political views and policy preferences advanced by the Trump administration, and to commit the university to punishing disfavoured speech.”
(With inputs from AP)
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