The Trump administration will punish Harvard University after the institution refused to comply with a list of federal government demands.
Harvard became the first university to refuse to meet the government’s demands, sparking a confrontation between the federal government and the country’s richest university. Federal authorities announced they would freeze $2.2 billion in multi-year grants to Harvard, along with a $60 million contract.
Harvard’s response, which described the Trump administration’s demands as illegal, marked a significant shift in tone in universities’ reactions to the federal government’s attempt at interference and could encourage other universities to take a similar stance.
In a letter sent to Harvard on Friday (11), the Trump administration demands that the university reduce the power of students and professors over university matters; immediately report foreign students who commit conduct violations to federal authorities; and hire an external team to ensure that every academic department has “diversity of viewpoints,” among other measures. The government did not define what it means by ‘diversity of viewpoints,’ but generally referred to seeking a range of political views, including conservative perspectives.
“No government—regardless of the party in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and research they can pursue,” said Alan Garber, Harvard’s president, in a statement to the university on Monday (14).
Since taking office in January, the Trump administration has aggressively targeted universities, claiming to be investigating dozens of institutions in its effort to eradicate diversity programs and what it considers widespread antisemitism on campuses. The administration has suspended hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research funding to universities across the country.
The administration has shown particular interest in a short list of the country’s most prominent educational institutions. They first targeted Columbia University and then other Ivy League members, including Harvard. Columbia, however, yielded to Trump’s demands.
Harvard, in turn, has faced intense pressure from its own students and professors to resist more firmly the Trump administration’s incursion into the university and higher education.
Last month, more than 800 Harvard professors signed a letter urging the university to “organize a coordinated opposition to these antidemocratic attacks.”
The university appeared to take a step in that direction on Monday. In its letter rejecting the administration’s demands, Dr. Garber said Harvard had few alternatives.
“The university will not relinquish its independence or its constitutional rights,” he wrote. “Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be dominated by the federal government.”
The government’s letter to Harvard demands an extraordinary set of changes that would have reshaped the university and given the federal government an unprecedented degree of control over Harvard’s operations. The changes would have violated cherished principles on university campuses, including academic freedom.
Some of the actions the Trump administration demands from Harvard are:
• Conduct plagiarism checks on all current and future faculty members.
• Share all its hiring data with the Trump administration and submit to audits of its hiring practices while “the reforms are being implemented,” at least until 2028.
• Provide all admissions data to the federal government, including information on rejected and admitted applicants, categorized by race, nationality, grade point average, and standardized test performance.
• Immediately end any programming related to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
• Overhaul academic programs that, according to the Trump administration, have “flagrant histories of antisemitism,” including submitting certain departments and programs to external audits. The list includes the Divinity School, the Graduate School of Education, the School of Public Health, and the Medical School, among many others.
Source: The New York Times