Obama, Gov. Healey back Harvard amid $2B funding freeze by Trump administration
Former President Barack Obama, Gov. Maura Healey and other prominent leaders vocalized support for Harvard University after it rejected the Trump administration's list of demands — a choice that triggered a $2.2 billion funding freeze at the school.
"Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions," Obama, a Harvard Law School alumnus, wrote in a social media statement on Monday night.
Obama called the Trump administration's demands, which seek to overhaul Harvard's leadership structure, admissions and hiring, an "unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom."
The university's rejection took "concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect," Obama said.
"Let's hope other institutions follow suit."
But hours after a formal rejection was sent by Harvard's attorneys, the government announced a freeze on $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60M in multi-year contract value to the university.
"Harvard's statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges — that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws," a statement from the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism on the U.S. Department of Education website read.
"The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable. It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support," the statement read.
In support of Harvard, Gov. Healey said, "We all agree that antisemitism has no place in America." But Trump's demands are a "brazen attempt to bully schools and weaponize the U.S. Department of Justice under the false pretext of civil rights," Healey said.
"I join others around the country in extending congratulations and gratitude to Harvard University, President (Alan) Garber and the Corporation for their leadership in standing up for education and freedom," Healey said.
"Complying with the Trump Administration's dangerous demands would have made us all less safe and less free," Healey said.
Harvard was the first school to push back against the government's efforts to restructure top schools in the country.
The Trump administration has also threatened to pull funding from Columbia University, Brown University , Princeton University and the University of Pennsylvania .
Columbia agreed to a list of demands from the Trump administration after facing an ultimatum to abide by the requirements or jeopardize federal funding. The decision was met with outrage from community members and the higher education community despite it placing Columbia "on the right track" toward recovering the funding, according to The Associated Press.
The threatened funding also comes after a series of arrests by ICE, including Tufts University doctoral student Rümeysa Öztürk who was arrested by six masked federal immigration agents in Somerville on March 25, in apparent retaliation to an op-ed article she co-authored in the school's newspaper last year.
