Harvard College President Alan Garber despatched a letter to Schooling Secretary Linda McMahon on Monday decrying the actions of the Trump administration towards his faculty whereas stressing areas of concern shared by each side.
“We share frequent floor on quite a lot of important points, together with the significance of ending antisemitism and different bigotry on campus,” Garber mentioned in his letter, including Harvard “ought to embrace a multiplicity of viewpoints slightly than focusing our consideration on slim orthodoxies.”
However these objectives are “undermined and threatened by the federal authorities’s overreach into the constitutional freedoms of personal universities and its persevering with disregard of Harvard’s compliance with the legislation,” he added.
Garber’s letter is in response to one from the Education secretary final week telling Harvard it’s not eligible for brand new federal analysis grants.
In her letter, McMahon accused Harvard of reducing its educational requirements, permitting antisemitism on campus and ignoring the 2023 Supreme Courtroom ruling eliminating affirmative motion in school admissions.
She mentioned the Trump administration needs “frequent sense reforms” similar to modifications to admissions and hiring earlier than Harvard will likely be eligible for grants once more.
“Per the legislation and with our personal values, we proceed to pursue wanted reforms, doing so in session with our stakeholders and at all times in compliance with the legislation. However Harvard won’t give up its core, legally-protected rules out of concern of unfounded retaliation by the federal authorities,” Garber mentioned.
The Hill has reached out to the Schooling Division for remark.
The Trump administration has stripped the college of greater than $2.2 billion in federal funding, threatened to revoke its tax-exempt standing and put it underneath a Title VI investigation.
“That’s the reason we’ve got gone to courtroom to handle the federal government’s illegal try to manage basic facets of our college’s operations,” Garber mentioned within the letter, referring to a lawsuit over the lack of billions of {dollars} in federal funding. The subsequent courtroom listening to on the problem is about for July.
Within the letter, Garber lists a few of the actions the college has taken to handle points on campus and pushed again on McMahon’s assertion Harvard is a “partisan establishment.”
“I hope you’ll take my response to your letter within the spirit through which it’s meant: to convey Harvard’s unwavering dedication to compliance with the legislation, to the elimination of antisemitism and different bigotry on our campus, and to educational excellence,” he concluded.