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Harvard University president Alan Garber said in a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon that the federal government’s encroachment on institutional independence is diminishing Harvard’s efforts to end antisemitism on campus, promote viewpoint diversity and be a world leader in academic research.
Garber was responding to a letter McMahon addressed to Harvard and posted on X a week ago. In it, she said federal agencies will no longer provide the institution with any grant funding, alleging that Harvard has engaged in a “systemic pattern of violating federal law” and calling it a “mockery of this country’s higher education system.”
“I hope you will take my response to your letter in the spirit in which it is intended: to convey Harvard’s unwavering commitment to compliance with the law, to the elimination of antisemitism and other bigotry on our campus, and to academic excellence,” Garber wrote.
He said that he and McMahon “share common ground on a number of critical issues,” including the need to end antisemitism, “foster an academic environment that encourages freedom of thought” and ensure “that American universities continue to be global leaders in innovative and life-saving research.”
He added, however, that the government’s recent actions ignore the steps the institution has taken toward these aims. “Harvard’s efforts to achieve these goals are undermined and threatened by the federal government’s overreach into the constitutional freedoms of private institutions and its continuing disregard of Harvard’s compliance with the law,” he wrote. “Harvard will not surrender its core, legally-protected principles out of fear of unfounded retaliation by the federal government.”
He concluded by saying that Harvard and other research universities have had a “long and productive” relationship with the federal government.
“That relationship has driven economic growth, innovation, and life-saving discoveries to the benefit of our nation and all humanity,” he said. “We hope that the partnership between higher education and the federal government will be vibrant and successful for generations to come.”
Garber’s message is the latest installment in a series of public communications between Harvard and the Trump administration, which has sent a number of punitive letters threatening to cut off the institution's federal funding if it does not comply with a list of sweeping demands.
