{"id":5160,"date":"2025-04-15T18:27:28","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T01:27:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5160"},"modified":"2025-04-15T18:27:58","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T01:27:58","slug":"how-harvards-pushback-against-trump-may-embolden-more-us-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5160","title":{"rendered":"How Harvard\u2019s pushback against Trump may embolden more US resistance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It may be a turning point in the White House\u2019s attempt to gut allegedly liberal universities and punish law firms
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It might come to be seen as the moment the \u201cwoke liberal empire\u201d of Donald Trump\u2019s most fevered imaginings struck back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harvard University, the world-renowned institution emblematic of the elitism that Trump and his coterie hold in contempt, received an extortive demand from the administration that it surrender the core of its academic freedoms \u2013 and promptly told it to get lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That, in shorthand, is a summary of the exchange of letters between three Trump officials and Harvard\u2019s president, Alan Garber, that may in time be seen as something of a turning point in relations between the administration and academia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Echoing pressures imposed on other elite colleges, notably Columbia University, the Trump team \u2013 representing the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, and the General Services Administration \u2013 had demanded sweeping reforms in how Harvard is run, including the installation of viewpoint-diverse faculty members and the end of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programmes.

The backdrop to a demand for what would be unprecedented government interference in the affairs of the world\u2019s richest university is the alleged rise of campus antisemitism, arising from an upsurge of pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have gripped Harvard and other colleges following Hamas\u2019s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel and Israel\u2019s retaliatory military offensive in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics, however, see a more nefarious White House agenda \u2013 namely, gutting universities of what it sees as a liberal-left bias, while using antisemitism as a cudgel in an authoritarian power grab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having seen Columbia cave in to similar demands and threatening $9bn in federal funding, the White House may have thought it was on to a winner with Harvard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInvestment is not an entitlement,\u201d the administration\u2019s 11 April letter<\/a> read, accusing Harvard of having \u201cfailed to live up to both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The missive then set out a detailed list of 10 conditions that Harvard needed to satisfy in order to received continued funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bolstered by a financial endowment that reached $53.2bn in 2024 and which might cushion the blow of federal cuts, Garber called the White House\u2019s bluff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He did so in terms clearly expressing his belief that the government\u2019s stated goals of stamping out antisemitism \u2013 an issue Harvard had already taken steps to address, including, controversially, by adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of the prejudice<\/a> \u2013 masked more insidious aims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The administration\u2019s demands made \u201cclear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner\u201d, Garber wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlthough some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the \u2018intellectual conditions\u2019 at Harvard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo government \u2013 regardless of which party is in power \u2013 should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The university\u2019s lawyers, William Burck and Robert Hur, both of whom have conservative credentials, starkly set out the broader constitutional stakes, writing<\/a> that the government\u2019s demands were \u201cin contravention of the first amendment\u201d and concluding that \u201cHarvard is not prepared to agree to demands that go beyond the lawful authority of this or any administration\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within hours of Harvard\u2019s rebuff, the administration retaliated by freezing $2.2bn in grants along with a $60m contract.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seemed somehow fitting that Harvard\u2019s stand was being made on the same day that the Trump administration<\/a> was openly defying a supreme court ruling to return a wrongfully deported Salvadorian man, Kilmar Abrego Garc\u00eda, and El Salvador\u2019s president, Nayib Bukele, was visiting the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That posture appeared to put the onus on the supreme court to take a more forceful stand against the White House\u2019s defiance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, thanks to Harvard\u2019s stance, some establishment figures hope the court may just find the spine to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Luttig, a conservative-leaning former federal appeals court judge who has previously accused the administration of \u201cdeclaring war on the rule of law<\/a>\u201d, said Harvard\u2019s pushback had \u201cmomentous significance\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis should be the turning point in the president\u2019s rampage against American institutions,\u201d\u00a0he told the New York Times<\/a>.

Other universities, faced with similar demands to capitulate, now have a stronger impetus to fight back, said Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, although most others lack Harvard\u2019s financial reserves. \u201cIf Harvard had not taken this stand, it would have been nearly impossible for other institutions to do so,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may also provide inspiration for law firms \u2013 several of whom have already agreed to demands that they provide pro bono services to Trump as he seeks retribution against those who have represented his adversaries \u2013 to stand firm in the face of future intimidation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and head of policy, is said to have wanted a fight with Harvard, believing it essential to break a liberal hold on higher education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if the university\u2019s response serves as an example to others, the battle may turn into a wider front than he envisioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reprinted from The Guardian<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It may be a turning point in the White House\u2019s attempt […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[4712,4514,1891],"class_list":["post-5160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-usa","tag-harvard","tag-may","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nHow Harvard\u2019s pushback against Trump may embolden more US resistance - abovecloud<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5160\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"zh_CN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Harvard\u2019s pushback against Trump may embolden more US resistance - abovecloud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It may be a turning point in the White House\u2019s attempt […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5160\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"abovecloud\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-16T01:27:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-16T01:27:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-9.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"928\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"619\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"\u4f5c\u8005\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"TSOC\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"\u9884\u8ba1\u9605\u8bfb\u65f6\u95f4\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 \u5206\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/\",\"name\":\"abovecloud\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"zh-Hans\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5160#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-9.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/image-9.png\",\"width\":928,\"height\":619},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5160#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/abovecloud.xyz\/?p=5160\",\"name\":\"How Harvard\u2019s pushback against Trump may embolden more US resistance - 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