Former President Barack Obama has commended Harvard University’s decision to refuse to comply with the Trump administration’s demand to limit campus activism and encouraged other institutions to follow suit.
The Trump administration sent a letter on Friday to Harvard, calling for “merit-based” admissions policies and hiring practices, the expulsion of violent anti-Israel demonstrators, and demanding a stop to diversity, equality, and inclusion programs.
In a Monday letter to the community, Harvard’s President Alan Garber stated that the demands violated the First Amendment rights of the university and “exceeded the statutory limitations of the government authority under Title VI”, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, or national origin.
Obama, who graduated from Harvard Law School in 1991, used social media to praise its actions.
“Harvard has set a good example for other institutions of higher education. They have rejected an illegal and ham-handed effort to suppress academic freedom and taken concrete steps to ensure that all Harvard students can benefit from an atmosphere of intellectual inquiry and rigorous debate, as well as mutual respect. Let’s hope that other institutions will follow suit,” Obama wrote on X Monday night.
The federal government announced that it would freeze more than $2.2B in grants to Harvard and 60M in contracts after Garber’s open letter was made public.
Harvard is just one of many Ivy League colleges targeted by the Trump administration’s pressure campaign. The administration has also halted federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania and Brown University, as well as Princeton University, in order 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.
The American Association of University Professors filed a suit on Friday to challenge the cuts. Plaintiffs claim that the administration failed to take the steps required by Title VI before cutting funding and failing to notify the university or Congress of the cuts.
Two weeks ago, Obama told a crowd at Hamilton College in New York that Americans may have to “possibly sacrifice” if they want to stick up for democratic values.
He told the crowd, “Now is one of those times when it’s no longer enough to just say that you support something. You might have to actually do something and sacrifice a little bit. If we declare that we are for equality, will we risk anything for it? We believe in the freedom to speak, but do we stand up for it when we disagree? When it hurts us, or when it enrages us?”