Undaunted: Harvard University

Cambridge's Crimson Distinguishes Itself by Defying the Bullies

Harvard is hardly the perfect institution. However, when it does something right and uses its significant status to induce and inspire others to stand up to authoritarian bullies, we should give credit where credit is due.

Early this week, Harvard President Alan M. Garber wrote a letter to his university’s community declaring, “In recent weeks, the federal government has threatened its partnerships with several universities, including Harvard, over accusations of antisemitism on our campuses.” However, in a lesson to all capitulators and appeasers, the federal government upped its demands, Garber explained. “Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the ‘intellectual conditions’ at Harvard.”

It demanded nothing less than state control of the private university:

They include requirements to “audit” the viewpoints of our student body, faculty, staff, and to “reduc[e] the power” of certain students, faculty, and administrators targeted because of their ideological views. We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement. The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.

The administration’s prescription goes beyond the power of the federal government. It violates Harvard’s First Amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI. And it threatens our 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.

In contrast to Columbia University, which crumbled and still has yet to see funding restored, Harvard drew a line in the sand. Garber smartly delinked MAGA’s power grab from antisemitism—the pretext for stripping Harvard of academic freedom—which the university has addressed. He reaffirmed,

“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.”

He added: “All of us share a stake in safeguarding that freedom.”

Moreover, Harvard selected two well-known Republican lawyers, including former special counsel Robert Hur (whose age-related comments turned the investigation into former president Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents into a partisan food fight) and Bill Burck, who drafted a powerful letter excoriating the Trump attack on the First Amendment. The lawyers denounced the government for ignoring Harvard’s efforts to combat antisemitism in favor of contravening the First Amendment, a move that would “invade university freedoms long recognized by the Supreme Court.” After reviewing the Trump regime’s overreaching, tyrannical demands, the lawyers concluded:

“The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.”

(Trump, true to form, is now threatening further retaliation—including ending Harvard’s tax-exempt status.)

Perhaps that show of principle, in contrast to other institutions—including timorous media outlets and law firms like Paul, Weiss (which Burck represented when it contemplated litigating instead of folding)—will stiffen others’ spines. It may have already had that effect. As we often affirm, Courage is Contagious.

A group of higher education institutions including Cornell University, the University of Illinois, the University of Michigan, Michigan State University, Princeton University, the University of Rochester, the Association of American Universities, the American Council on Education, and the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities have all sued to stop the Department of Energy’s announced cuts to federal research grants, NBC News reported.

“Besides its destructive impact on research and training, this new action by the government again runs afoul of the longstanding regulatory frameworks governing federal grants and administrative law. Judicial relief is amply justified and urgently needed,” the American Council of Education asserted in a written statement. “This action is ill-conceived and self-defeating for the American businesses, workers, and families who benefit from these scientific and technological advances as well as the nation as a whole. We look forward to presenting our case in court.”

As with his unilaterally imposed, job-killing tariffs, Trump’s decision to punish American universities for refusing to bend to his demands is both evidence of his dictatorial ambitions and his willingness to inflict pain on the people and the nation he was elected to lead. Simply put, bullying his opponents—i.e. never putting America First—takes precedence over fulfilling any official or promised duties of his office.

So kudos to Harvard (as well as to other law firms that have held their ground, including WilmerHale, Jenner & Block, and Susman Godfrey, the latest firm to sue and obtain a TRO to halt Trump’s threatened punishment) for refusing to bend the knee. Only by setting an example, as Harvard has done, and rallying similarly situated targets can major players in civil society arrest the authoritarian assault MAGA Republicans are waging. Harvard, at least in this case, has remained unbowed, unafraid, and undaunted.