Harvard University President Alan Garber on Monday sent a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon criticizing the Trump administration’s actions against the school while noting both groups share “common ground” on a number of issues.
“We share common ground on a number of critical issues, including the importance of ending antisemitism and other bigotry on campus,” Garber said. “Like you, I believe that Harvard must foster an academic environment that encourages freedom of thought and expression, and that we should embrace a multiplicity of viewpoints rather than focusing our attention on narrow orthodoxies.”
However, Harvard’s goals are undermined and threatened “by the federal government’s overreach into the constitutional freedoms of private universities and its continuing disregard of Harvard’s compliance with the law,” Garber said.
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“Consistent with the law and with our own values, we continue to pursue needed reforms, doing so in consultation with our stakeholders and always in compliance with the law,” he wrote. “But Harvard will not surrender its core, legally-protected principles out of fear of unfounded retaliation by the federal government.”
Garber’s remarks are in response to a scathing letter last week from McMahon telling the university that it will no longer be eligible for federal grants over its handling of antisemitism on campus.
“Receiving such taxpayer funds is a privilege, not a right,” she wrote. “Yet instead of using these funds to advance the education of its students, Harvard is engaging in a systemic pattern of violating federal law. Where do many of these ‘students’ come from, who are they, how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country – and why is there so much HATE?”
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“These are questions that must be answered, among many more, but the biggest question of all is, why will Harvard not give straightforward answers to the American public?” she added.
The Trump administration has frozen $2.2 billion in funding to the university and threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status.
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In his letter, Garber listed some of the actions Harvard has taken to address issues on campus, including installing new deans and clarifying the school’s discipline structures and procedures. He noted that Harvard, like many universities, has work to do to foster intellectual diversity on campus.
Garber also pushed back on McMahon’s claims that Harvard is a “partisan” institution.
“I must refute your claim that Harvard is a partisan institution. It is neither Republican nor Democratic,” he wrote. “It is not an arm of any other political party or movement. Nor will it ever be. Harvard is a place to bring people of all backgrounds together to learn in an inclusive environment where ideas flourish regardless of whether they are deemed ‘conservative,’ ‘liberal,’ or something else, a place where assumptions and claims are tested and challenged, respectfully and thoughtfully, in pursuit of knowledge and truth.”
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