Trump vs. Harvard

NY Times - Harvard University is 140 years older than the United States, has an endowment greater than the G.D.P. of nearly 100 countries and has educated eight American presidents. So if an institution was going to stand up to the Trump administration’s war on academia, Harvard would be at the top of the list.

Harvard did that forcefully on Monday in a way that injected energy into other universities across the country fearful of the president’s wrath, rejecting the Trump administration’s demands on hiring, admissions and curriculum. Some commentators went so far as to say that Harvard’s decision would empower law firms, the courts, the media and other targets of the White House to push back as well.

“This is of momentous, momentous significance,” said J. Michael Luttig, a prominent former federal appeals court judge revered by many conservatives. “This should be the turning point in the president’s rampage against American institutions.”

Michael S. Roth, who is the president of Wesleyan University and a rare critic of the White House among university administrators, welcomed Harvard’s decision. “What happens when institutions overreach is that they change course when they meet resistance,” he said. “It’s like when a bully is stopped in his tracks.” 

Washington Times - President Trump on Tuesday called for Harvard University to lose its tax-exempt status over its left-leaning campus activism.  “Perhaps Harvard should lose its tax-exempt status and be taxed as a political entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological and terrorist inspired/supporting ’sickness?’ Remember tax-exempt status is totally contingent on acting in the public interest!” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The president’s push to revoke Harvard’s tax exemption status comes one day after his administration froze $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard after the school announced it would defy the government’s demands to limit activism.

NPR - The Trump administration yesterday froze over $2.2 billion in multiyear grants and contracts to Harvard University. The move came quickly after Harvard President Alan Garber wrote a letter to faculty rejecting the administration's demands to eliminate DEI programs, screen international students who are “supportive of terrorism or anti-Semitism,” ensure “viewpoint diversity” in hiring and more. Garber stated that most of the demands were trying to regulate intellectual conditions at the institution and threaten free speech.

On Up First, NPR’s Jonaki Mehta emphasized a portion of Garber's letter that said the government's "retreat from these partnerships now risks not only the health and well-being of individuals, but also the economic security and vitality of our nation." Mehta says much of the money that has been frozen goes towards research and helps pay for innovations in engineering and medicine. The administration has threatened billions of dollars of funding for other universities, and some have said they would cooperate with demands.