Trump administration again pleads administrative error, this time to explain its open war with Harvard

Hours after Harvard announced its refusal to comply with a series of demands from the Trump administration, Donald Trump retaliated by announcing the freezing of more than $2 billion in federal funds and contracts earmarked for the university.

According to a letter from the Trump administration to Harvard, obtained by the New York Times, the White House demanded that the university comply with a series of measures, or risk losing its funding, notably for reasearch.

Harvard accuses the government of concealing, behind some of these demands linked to the fight against anti-Semitism, an attempt to directly regulate intellectual conditions within the university.

The Harvard University president’s message to the Trump administration is unequivocal: «The University will not surrender its independence or its constitutional rights».

He also said, «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».

This strong statement was quickly applauded by former President Barack Obama, himself a graduate of the renowned Harvard Law School. He called the Trump administration’s attempts to control academic freedom «unlawful and ham-handed». Obama expressed the hope that Harvard’s decision would serve as an example and encourage other universities and institutions to follow suit.

Trump’s demands included that the university eliminate its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, change its admissions policies to base them solely on merit, restrict the admission of international students deemed hostile to american values, ban pro-Palestinian student groups, cooperate with immigration authorities and impose a ban on the wearing of masks during campus demonstrations.

American universities are facing pressure from the Trump administration, accused of attacking the fundamental principles ofa democratic society, such as freedom of expression, association and academic freedom. The attempt was denounced in a letter signed by nearly 900 institutions, including Yale faculty members, according to The Guardian. A few days later, however, the situation changed…

…as the New York Times is now reporting that a member of the Trump administration is pleading administrative error, once again, to explain the sending of the now infamous letter, a sending that would not have been approved by the president, according to this source. This open war would therefore be the result of an error, even if the Trump administration says it regrets that Harvard decided to come out publicly to “play the victim” instead of pursuing negotiations that would have been underway for some time before the letter was sent.