Harvard rejected numerous demands from the Trump administration that it said would cede control of the school to a conservative government that portrays universities as dangerously leftist.
Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in a public letter that demands made by the Department of Education last week would allow the federal government “to control the Harvard community” and threaten the school’s “values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge”.
“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,” Garber wrote.
However, he also said, viewing allegations of antisemitism, “As we defend Harvard, we will continue to nurture a thriving culture of open inquiry on our campus; develop the tools, skills, and practices needed to engage constructively with one another; and broaden the intellectual and viewpoint diversity within our community.”
Harvard President Garber said the federal government’s demands that it “audit” the viewpoints of its students, faculty, and staff to ferret out left-wing thinkers generally opposed to the Trump administration violated the university’s First Amendment rights to freedom of speech.
“The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Garber wrote.
He added that while Harvard is taking steps to address antisemitism on campus, “these ends will not be achieved by assertions of power, unmoored from the law, to control teaching and learning at Harvard and to dictate how we operate”.
Garber said, “Freedom of thought and inquiry, along with the government’s longstanding commitment to respect and protect it, has enabled universities to contribute in vital ways to a free society and to healthier, more prosperous lives for people everywhere.”
Within hours of Harvard taking its stand, the administration of President Donald Trump announced it was freezing $2.3 billion in federal funding to the school.
White House spokesman Harrison Fields said in a statement that Trump was “working to Make Higher Education Great Again by ending unchecked anti-Semitism and ensuring federal taxpayer dollars do not fund Harvard’s support of dangerous racial discrimination or racially motivated violence.”
The funding freeze comes after the Trump administration said last month it was reviewing $9 billion in federal contracts and grants to Harvard as part of a crackdown on what it claims is antisemitism that erupted on college campuses during pro-Palestinian protests in the past 18 months.
The exchange escalated the high-stakes dispute between the Trump administration and some of the world’s richest universities that has raised concerns about free speech and academic freedoms.
