Harvard University has refused to comply with the Trump administration’s demand to curb campus activism. The federal government is freezing the university’s grants worth more than $2.2 billion and contracts worth $60 million.
In a Friday letter to Harvard, the administration demanded broad government and leadership changes, that Harvard implement a “merit-based” admissions and hiring policy, and conduct an audit on the views of diversity among the student body and faculty.
They also demand a ban on masks, which appears to be aimed at pro-Palestinian demonstrators. The letter also urges the university not to recognize or fund “any student club or group that endorses or encourages criminal activity or promotes illegal violence or illegal harassment”.
In a letter sent to the Harvard community on Monday, Harvard President Alan Garber said that the demands violated First Amendment rights of the university and “exceeded the statutory limitations of the government’s power under Title VI”, which prohibits discrimination based upon race, color or national origin.
Garber wrote that no government, regardless of the party in power, should dictate what private universities can teach, who they can hire and admit, or which areas of inquiry and study they can pursue. The university has taken many reforms to combat antisemitism.
He wrote: “These ends cannot be achieved through the assertion of power that is unanchored from the law to control and learn at Harvard, and to dictate our operations.” The work of addressing shortcomings, fulfilling commitments, and embodying our values are ours as a group to define and undertake.
Harvard’s demands are part of an effort to use taxpayer money to press major academic institutions into complying with President Donald Trump’s political agenda and to influence campus policies. The administration also claimed that the universities had allowed what they considered to be antisemitism at protests on campus last year against Israel’s war in Gaza to go unchecked; however, these schools deny this.
Harvard is just one of many Ivy League colleges targeted by the Obama administration’s pressure campaign. The administration has also halted federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton to enforce compliance with their agenda. Harvard’s letter of demand is similar to that which prompted Columbia University to make changes under threat of millions of dollars of cuts.
A group of university alumni was prompted by the demands made by the Trump administration to write to university leadership urging them to “legally challenge and refuse to comply” with illegal demands that threaten academic autonomy and self-governance.
Anurima Bhargava, an alumnus who wrote the letter, said that Harvard stood up for the values and freedoms of higher education. Harvard reminded the world of its commitment to learning, innovation, and transformational growth, which will not be compromised by bullying or authoritarian whims.
The cuts sparked protests from residents of Cambridge, as well as members of the Harvard Community over the weekend. On Friday, the American Association of University Professors filed a lawsuit to challenge the cuts.
Plaintiffs claim that the Trump Administration has not followed Title VI requirements before cutting funding and failing to notify Congress and the University of the cut.
“These broad-brush yet undefined demands do not target the causes of any noncompliance determination with federal law.” They seek instead to force Harvard University to adopt the political and policy views of the Trump administration and to commit the University to punishing any disfavored speech.