The Trump Administration has instituted a policy of leveraging Federal resources to push its political and cultural ideology on American Universities and their students. They demand the deconstruction of independent and influential academic institutions, injection of more conservative idelogoy within those institutions, and creation of long term monitoring and control of those institutions.
While some may sympathize with the administration's cultural values, no one should consider their tactics acceptable. Leveraging federal power to coerce an ideological outcome is a threat to free speech, and democracy.
Timeline
- March 7, 2025 - The Trump administration pulls $400M in grants from Columbia University making clear that $5B in grants would be at risk if Columbia did not bow to a list of the administration's demands.
- March 21, 2025 - Columbia agrees a list of demands from the Trump administration in an effort to save its funding.
(ap link)
- March 31, 2025 - The Trump administration threatens to pull $9B in funding from Harvard if it does not agree to a list of demands it planned to send to the university.
- April 11, 2025 - The Trump administration d Harvard University rdmissions,ring, instruction, and operations with the purpose of making the institution more conservative by force.
(link to letter)
- April 14, 2025 - Harvard rejected the administration's demands. Harvard's response can be summarized by this excerpt:
"The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government. Accordingly, Harvard will not accept the government’s terms as an agreement in principle."
(link to letter)
- April 14, 2025 - The Trump administration responses to Harvard's rejection of it's terms by freezing $2.2B in funds.
- April 15, 2025 - Trump threatens Harvard's tax exempt status in a Truth Social post. It is later reported that the IRS was instructed by members of the administration to investigate Harvard's tax exempt status.
- April 16, 2025 - DHS threatens to prevent Harvard from enrolling international students.
(nyt link)
Sign the Letter!