Harvard U. stands up to Trump, will NOT comply with his DEI and student protest demands

[get these nets]

The Promise of American Higher Education

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

www.harvard.edu

04/14/25

Harvard Will Fight Trump’s Demands​

By Dhruv T. Patel and Grace E. Yoon, Crimson Staff Writers

The colonnaded Widener Library looks out over Tercentenary Theatre at the heart of Harvard’s campus. By Pavan V. Thakkar
Harvard will not comply with the Trump administration’s demands to dismantle its diversity programming, limit student protests, and submit to far-reaching federal audits in exchange for its federal funding, University President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced in a message to affiliates Monday afternoon.
“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,” he wrote.
The announcement comes two weeks after three federal agencies announced a review into roughly $9 billion in Harvard’s federal funding and days after the administration sent its initial demands, which included dismantling diversity programming, banning masks, and committing to “full cooperation” with the Department of Homeland Security.
And on Friday, the Trump administration delivered a longer and more focused set of demands than the ones they had shared two weeks earlier, asking Harvard to derecognize pro-Palestine student groups, audit its academic programs for viewpoint diversity, and expel students involved in an altercation at a 2023 pro-Palestine protest on the Harvard Business School campus.
It also asked Harvard to reform its admissions process for international students to screen for students “supportive of terrorism and anti-Semitism” — and immediately report international students to federal authorities if they break University conduct policies.
It called for “reducing the power held by faculty (whether tenured or untenured) and administrators more committed to activism than scholarship” and installing leaders committed to carrying out the administration’s demands.
And it asked the University to submit quarterly updates, beginning in June 2025, certifying its compliance

 

[Richard Glidewell]

They can stand losing whatever pittance of federal funds. Don't care for the culture of the ivies, but it's great to see when people/institutions actually take a stand

 

[Vandelay]

These nikkas gonna bend the knee eventually.

All these ivy leagues have endowments as big as Fortune 500 companies annual revenue and they still capitulate.

Hopefully they stick it out, but this gen don't have no fight in them. I'm including myself in that analysis.

 

[get these nets]

Trump administration freezes $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard over campus activism

The federal government says it is freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and contracts to Harvard University.

apnews.com

04/14/25

 

[Goat poster]

Good

Columbia went out like some hoes

 

[chineebai]

Harvard is rich as fukk with the biggest and richest alumni network ever. I think they’ll be fine without the billions they get from the government.

 

[Regular Developer]

I wonder how many alumn that donate a lot are going to side with trump instead of their alma mater. Glad Harvard is taking this stance though, I'd like there to be more

 

[Yinny]

Good

Columbia went out like some hoes

President Bollinger (the former and longest Pres from just a few years ago) would’ve NEVER agreed to what the new interim Pres did, it’s embarrassing

 

[richaveli83]

I wonder how many alumn that donate a lot are going to side with trump instead of their alma mater. Glad Harvard is taking this stance though, I'd like there to be more

I doubt it. Harvard is super up there when it comes to colleges. Harvard, Princeton, Yale, etc have too many wealthy donors and alumni to cave to Trump.

 

[TRUEST]

I’d tell the president to apologize by noon tomorrow. Now he has to beg us to take that money. It was 2 billion before? Make that 3.

 

[TELL ME YA CHEESIN FAM?]

Stand on business

 

[IsThatBrothaMouzone?]

These nikkas gonna bend the knee eventually.

All these ivy leagues have endowments as big as Fortune 500 companies annual revenue and they still capitulate.

Hopefully they stick it out, but this gen don't have no fight in them. I'm including myself in that analysis.

Harvard got like $30 or $40 billion at least. Pretty sure Clinton AND Obama went there. They're not worried about Mr. "My daddy got my degree from Penn" Orange.

State schools gotta bend the knee but Haaaavaaard DGAF.

 

[Vandelay]

Harvard got like $30 or $40 billion at least. Pretty sure Clinton AND Obama went there. They're not worried about Mr. "My daddy got my degree from Penn" Orange.

State schools gotta bend the knee but Haaaavaaard DGAF.

30-40 bill is enough to operate by when he is supposed to be out of office.

Folks are so corrupt they CAN'T TAKE 2-3 YEARS OFF of hard times with 40 Billion in the bank? That's how you know what we're doing isn't sustainable.

 

[peppe]

Good

Columbia went out like some hoes

also it brings down the name of the university. They really fukked up their legacy for a president that is going to be in office for a few years. Doesn't help that their students are getting ICE'd away

 

[get these nets]

Trump official threatens Harvard foreign student admissions as more universities rally in support

Kristi Noem demands university’s records on foreign students’ ‘illegal’ activities while president threatens to strip it of tax-exempt status

www.theguardian.com

04/16/25
Other universities responded quickly. In a statement on Tuesday, the acting president of Columbia University said that it would “reject any agreement in which the government dictates what we teach, research, or who we hire”.

This comes after Columbia agreed to several demands from the administration last month after the White House pulled $400m of research grants and other funding from the school over its handling of the protests against the war in Gaza.

“To put minds at ease,” Columbia’s acting president, Claire Shipman, wrote on Tuesday, “though we seek to continue constructive dialogue with the government, we would reject any agreement that would require us to relinquish our independence and autonomy as an educational institution.”

The president of Stanford University, Jonathan Levin, and the school’s provost, Jenny Martinez, also released a statement in response to Harvard’s decision, praising the university.

“Universities need to address legitimate criticisms with humility and openness,” Levin and Martinez wrote. “But the way to bring about constructive change is not by destroying the nation’s capacity for scientific research, or through the government taking command of a private institution.”

Christopher Eisgruber, the president of Princeton University, also weighed in. “Princeton stands with Harvard,” he wrote. “I encourage everyone to read President Alan Garber’s powerful letter in full.”

So did Barack Obama. “Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect,” the former president wrote. “Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”

Maura Healey, the governor of Massachusetts, where Harvard is located, also praised the university for “standing against the Trump Administration’s brazen attempt to bully schools and weaponize the US Department of Justice under the false pretext of civil rights”.

In response, Trump threatened Harvard’s tax-exempt status. Most universities in the US are exempt from federal income tax under the US tax code because they are considered to be “operated exclusively” for public educational purposes.

Later on Tuesday, the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, told reporters that Trump “wants to see Harvard apologize”.

Then on Wednesday morning, Trump took to social media again to attack Harvard on his social media platform, Truth Social.

“Harvard is a JOKE, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds,” Trump wrote in the lengthy post. “Thank you for your attention to this matter!”