Legal expert backs Trump admin's crackdown on Harvard: 'Accountability must be enforced'
The Trump administration garnered mixed reactions after announcing it would stop all future grant funding for Harvard University unless the school complied with its demands. This latest move adds to the escalating tensions between the White House and elite universities.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to Harvard University President Alan Garber, which she also shared on social media. In the letter, McMahon ripped the university, accusing it of "engaging in a systemic pattern of violating federal law."
"Harvard University has made a mockery of this country’s higher education system," McMahon wrote. "In every way, Harvard has failed to abide by its legal obligations, its ethical and fiduciary duties, its transparency responsibilities and any semblance of academic rigor."
The Trump administration has implemented a broader crackdown on several universities, including Harvard and Columbia, over allegations of antisemitism linked to campus anti-Israel protests. Some view the administration’s actions as a form of accountability, while others question whether it’s the appropriate approach.
Yael Lerman, the director of the StandWithUs Saidoff Legal Department — which aims to aid those seeking to take legal action to combat antisemitism and anti-Zionism — told Fox News Digital that she supports the Trump administration’s effort.
"The recent findings from the antisemitism report at Harvard University are deeply troubling and underscore a broader failure to protect Jewish students and foster a safe, inclusive campus environment," Lerman said. "Given these findings, we believe it is both appropriate and necessary to take lawful measures to pause any new federal funding to Harvard until meaningful corrective action is taken. Federal support should be contingent on a university’s commitment to upholding civil rights, including actively addressing antisemitism. Accountability must be more than a principle—it must be enforced."
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Eli Solomon, a first-year student at Harvard studying Government and Philosophy, also spoke in favor of the administration’s crackdown on the elite school, viewing it as a way of holding the university accountable.
"The Trump administration’s decision is a serious but necessary step in helping Harvard become the place I know it can be and live up to its motto of ‘Veritas.’ I am grateful to have the opportunity to attend Harvard, but it is unfortunate that the university has embraced a culture that silences conservative voices and allows antisemitism to thrive," Solomon told Fox News Digital in a statement.
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However, a Jewish Harvard graduate who requested anonymity, told Fox News Digital that the Trump administration was not approaching the issue in the right way.
"Rather than guarantee freedoms, the Trump administration is attempting to dictate the exact ideological leaning that they find acceptable in university life. The university is rampant with people who lack common sense as we have seen with the pro-Hamas supporters here, but we need to attack the issue in a different way," the Harvard grad said.
On Friday, President Donald Trump announced that his administration was seeking to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
Fox News Digital reported in April that the administration asked the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to take away the university’s status. Additionally, last month the administration froze $2.2 billion in funding to the university, which the president labeled as "antisemitic" and "a threat to democracy."
In April, Garber made it clear that the university would not comply with the Trump administration’s demands. Garber asserted that "no government… should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and areas of study and inquiry they can pursue."
Additionally, the university filed a lawsuit against the admin over its "unlawful" freezing of funds.