CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — It would seem a daunting task — even a fool’s errand — to try and take down the academic reputation of Harvard University.
The nation’s oldest, richest, and arguably most prestigious college can claim more than 160 Nobel prize winners connected with the institution.
But none of that seems to phase President Donald Trump. After calling Harvard a joke earlier this week that teaches hate and stupidity, Trump stepped up his campaign against the university in a way that could really hurt — proposing to end its tax-exempt status and its ability to accept international students.
Democratic political figures in Massachusetts are furious.
“This is what is so stupid,” said Governor Maura Healey at the groundbreaking for a new youth center in Dorchester. “We’ve got a hundred thousand foreign students coming to Massachusetts to study, to do research. They win Nobel prizes, they start our companies, they’ve grown our economy.”
Healey said Trump isn’t putting America first by putting Harvard last.
“There’s a reason Massachusetts is number one in innovation and education,” she said. “In part it’s because we attract talent from all over the world. Right now, because of what Donald Trump is doing, China is looking to hire our researchers and scientists — and not just our foreign students and postdocs. But all of our faculty members, all of our researchers.”
Harvard drew the ire of the White House earlier this week when it refused to accept contingencies on federal grants and contracts set to come its way — because, in part, the university said they would infringe on academic freedom.
The administration attached strings to an overall complaint that Harvard isn’t doing enough to battle antisemitism on campus. Harvard denies that.
But in response, Trump rescinded more than two billion dollars in funding to Harvard. Healey said this is directly hurting vulnerable Americans.
“Because of what Donald Trump is doing, clinical trials have been shut down in our teaching hospitals, in our research institutions,” she said. “I’m talking about clinical trials and studies that are on right now to find the cure for cancer, for ALS, for Alzheimer’s. It’s a shame and we’re giving it all away to China. That’s not America first.”
Massachusetts federal lawmakers said while they are proud of Harvard’s stand against the Trump White House, it may not be enough.
“He has no right to threaten Harvard University,” U.S. Sen. Edward Markey said. “He will not win this battle. They are standing up for their academic independence and President Trump is absolutely constitutionally wrong in trying to undermine the funding for that university.”
“They’ve got a record of 388 years of fighting for academic freedom,” said U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch. “We can’t back down on this — this goes to the very heart of our democracy. It is gestapo-like trying to take over what is taught at our leading universities.”
“We are not in a constitutional crisis yet,” added Markey. “But we will be if the Supreme Court does not rule in favor of Harvard University and all these immigrants being whisked off the streets. We need the Supreme Court to strike down this authoritarian dictatorial power which Donald Trump is trying to aggregate into the Oval Office.”
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