Harvard has decided to stand. The most influential university in the United States has refused to meet the conditions imposed by the Donald Trump government so that the institution continues to receive almost 9,000 million dollars (about 8.4 billion euros) of federal financing that, with this decision, are at risk. But the demands of the new Trump administration are not minor: eliminating diversity programs, ceasing to take into account the race in the hiring processes, actively collaborating with immigration and putting a hand in student protests, among many other things.
The president of Harvard, Alan Garber, has made it clear in a letter sent on Monday to the academic community: “No government – regardless of the party that is in power – must dictate what private universities can teach, who can admit and hire, and what areas of study and research can carry out.”
Harvard’s response comes in full White House offensive against American universities. Trump’s new educational policy wants to end what he calls “ideological indoctrination on campus” and has put in the spotlight, acronym in English of diversity, equity and inclusion. These plans were created to expand representation in historically marginalized groups, such as women, racialized or LGTBI people. For Trump, these programs foster “reverse discrimination” and erode academic merit.
It has become a priority for its administration, and the offensive has not remained in words. He has sent Harvard a five -page letter, signed by several federal departments, with very specific conditions: suppress any criteria other than the “objective merit” in admissions and hiring, cut the power of the teaching staff, allow federal supervision in certain subjects and even prohibit protests with a mask. It also requires greater collaboration with immigration authorities to monitor foreign students.
Open war against universities
Much of this offensive has accelerated after the increase in proper protests on several campuses, which the government has put as an excuse to harden its speech. The presidential spokeswoman, Natalie Harper, has justified the new conditions ensuring that they are “necessary” to protect Jewish students. “We are not asking for anything irrational. We are demanding responsibility and respect for the law,” he said Monday.
Other universities, such as Columbia, have yielded. They have accepted similar conditions, such as the veto to the masks and the incorporation of external supervisors, and that has allowed them to recover part of the blocked financing. But Harvard did not want to go through the hoop. “We will not accept the premise that any governmental ideology, whether of the sign, can define the principles on which our academic community is built,” Garber insisted.
Trump’s plan goes far beyond Harvard. The White House has launched a full -fledged offensive against what it describes as a “radicalized” university ecosystem, dominated by progressive and “disconnected ideology from traditional American values.” In his second term, the president has turned higher education into one of the key fronts of his cultural war. From the first day, his team has promoted measures to dismantle the DEI programs, cut access to public funds for universities that “promote political activism” and demand institutional loyalty to government policies. The threats are not symbolic: the Executive has already blocked funds, forced internal audits and demanded changes in the advice of several campuses.
In Congress, Republicans have closed ranks. Senator Josh Hawley has celebrated the “end of indoctrination” and other legislators have even requested an “ideological cleaning” in higher education. On the other side, the American association of university professors has led the government to the courts for violating constitutional rights, limiting university autonomy and raising academic freedom. “We are facing an unprecedented attack on the independence of our institutions,” they have warned in a statement.
At Harvard University, for now, they don’t even flinch.
