Snapshot: Harvard's Fierce Act of Defiance

"The university will not surrender its independence," Harvard said in response to Trump's hateful campaign, providing a model to schools, law firms and others threatened by Trump

The statue of John Harvard, who founded Harvard College in 1636. (Photo by Rick Friedman via Getty Images)

Many of us ask every day, what can I do to oppose Donald Trump and his fascist regime? Well, yesterday, Harvard University stood up and showed what they could do when the dictatorial Trump tried to make Harvard capitulate to his hostile, anti-American demands. It was an act of courage—putting at risk over $2 billion in federal funding—and sorely needed after Trump’s heinous plot revealed in our Oval Office yesterday to illegally deport American citizens to El Salvador’s gulag.

Consider some of what Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in response to Trump’s effort to take control of America’s oldest and richest university. “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,” Garber said in a letter to the Harvard community.

The “unprecedented demands” 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,” he continued. “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.”

Noting that “the administration’s prescription” exceeds its power and violates the university’s First Amendment rights, Garber wrote that it also “threatens our values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge.”

Garber concluded with this statement, providing a model for principled leadership and courage for every college and university facing the threat of the vengeful Trump and his fascist regime:

The work of addressing our shortcomings, fulfilling our commitments, and embodying our values is ours to define and undertake as a community. 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. All of us share a stake in safeguarding that freedom. We proceed now, as always, with the conviction that the fearless and unfettered pursuit of truth liberates humanity—and with faith in the enduring promise that America’s colleges and universities hold for our country and our world.

With an endowment that exceeds $50 billion, Harvard is uniquely positioned to withstand Trump’s onslaught. As The New York Times reported today, Harvard “is 140 years older than the United States, has an endowment greater than the G.D.P, of nearly 100 countries and has educated eight American presidents.” The Times noted that various commentators contend that Harvard’s fierce pushback would empower law firms, the courts, the media and others against Trump’s bullying. Conservative Judge J. Michael Luttig called Harvard’s action “of momentous, momentous significance” and should be “the turning point.”

Maybe. So far we have seen no limits to Trump’s punishing campaign to make law firms, universities, the media and other institutions bend to his dictatorial demands. Today he responded to Harvard’s refusal to kowtow by threatening to take away its tax-exempt status.

But I believe in the oft-stated notion that courage is contagious—and Harvard’s courage now is a reminder that, ultimately, the oppressor can only succeed as far as the oppressed will permit.

Harvard University may be singularly positioned to fight back, but so is the combined force of millions of Americans who reject injustice and tyrannical rule. Let’s remember that long after this grievously egregious chapter ends, both Harvard and a majority of democracy-loving Americans will still be here fighting for a better future.

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