Donald Trump has been extremely busy since returning to the Oval Office following his defeat of the Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the November Presidential election. Trump has made sure to find time to golf, heading to Florida for a weekend surrounding the sport after announcing his tariffs for a number of foreign countries and sending the global economy into turmoil.
Since returning from his golf outing, Trump has made walked back some of his tariffs, but he is standing firm on his moves to make sure colleges across the country agree to his terms on how campus life is to be conducted if they want to receive federal funding, such as dissallowing Trans athletes to compete and preventing protests of Israel.
However, one institution, Harvard University, has stood up to the President.
“No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” said Harvard President Alan Garber in a statement.
Former United States President Barack Obama responded to Harvard‘s pushback against Trump, and he blasted Trump’s tactics as “unlawful.”
“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. Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”
People reacted to Obama on social media.
“Harvard’s stand is more than institutional self-defense. It’s a declaration that the pursuit of truth must remain untamed by politics. Academic freedom is not a privilege; it is a pillar of democracy. When universities teach without fear, society learns without limits,” one person wrote on Twitter.
“Harvard values constitutional liberty over billions of dollars used as a bribe from the Trump administration? It’s great to see some institutions with backbone,” another person added.
“Columbia can learn a thing or two,” someone else wrote.
It’ll be interesting to see how Trump responds to Obama.
