Pulls billions in funding

Obama praises Harvard after the Trump administration pulls billions in funding

The former president urged universities to resist the White House’s attempts to “stifle academic freedom.”

By Amanda Friedman

Former President Barack Obama criticized the Trump administration’s freeze of over $2.2 billion in federal funding for Harvard University following the Ivy League school’s rejection of a list of demands from the White House.

Obama praised Harvard’s response as an example of how other universities should respond to President Donald Trump’s widespread efforts to punish higher education institutions he views as adversarial.

“Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions — rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect,” Obama wrote Monday night on X. “Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”

The former president’s comments come after the oldest university in the country decided to defy the Trump administration’s so-called Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism’s demands to adopt new policies on student and faculty conduct and admissions, to rein in what the administration describes as antisemitism on campus.

Obama graduated from Harvard Law School.

In a letter sent to Harvard last week, the administration called for the university to implement broad changes to its governance, such as establishing new disciplinary actions against student protesters, decertifying pro-Palestinian student groups and closing its diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

But Harvard President Alan M. Garber said in a message to the campus community on Monday that “the administration’s prescription goes beyond the power of the federal government” and the university would not comply with the demands.

A few hours later, the Education Department fired back.

“It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support,” the task force said in its statement on the funding pull.

Harvard’s response reflects a significant act of defiance against the White House’s ongoing attacks on higher education institutions, including the freezing of federal funds and investigations into what the administration describes as on-campus antisemitism and civil rights issues. The Trump administration has also targeted universities and schools over trans athletes competing in sports.

Some other elite universities, including Columbia University, have seemingly bent the knee to the Trump administration in an effort to avoid further targeting.