In a letter to Harvard, dated April 11, 2025, the federal government, via the Department of Education, The General Services Administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, demanded Harvard, arguably the most prestigious university in the nation—and the alma mater to 17% of U.S. presidents, four current Supreme Court Justices and 22 SCOTUS alumni in total—comply with a list of demands or face the revocation of billions in federal funding to the university.
Hitler can only claim a move against education so glorious.
Harvard, the birthplace of some of the world’s greatest technological and medical advances—let alone thinkers—was not one to back down. In its response letter to the government, Harvard president Alan M. Garber noted how this affects the lives of millions of people, not just the students and staff who depend on the billions in grant money from the government to fund their projects, but also the millions who the research has saved from these studies.
While MAGATS are celebrating this loss and even justifying that it should not have private funding, there are many private institutions that receive public funding, like…charter schools, for instance.
Even trying to argue that any K-8 school, uncredentialed or otherwise Christian school, is more essential than an institution like Harvard, let alone any private university known for half the academic output and contribution to the country that Harvard has, is too ridiculous to give more ink to.
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… https://t.co/gAu9UUqgjF
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 15, 2025
In the letter, the federal government is basically bullying a private institution into changing its hiring practices, admission practices, and how much power students and faculty have, and demanding access to their information for three years to come. The letter is bulleted and named by section, and is summarized as follows:
- “Governance and leadership reforms.” The government is demanding that tenured professors have more power, and students have less. Then counters by makings specific targets of faculty or students who are engaged in activism, by stating, “reducing the power held by students and untenured faculty; reducing the power held by faculty (whether tenured or untenured) and administrators more committed to activism than scholarship.” Essentially, making sure only certain people have power and anyone can be stripped of any authority if they participate in protest.
- “Merit Based Hiring Reform.” Yes, I am aware that the previous bullet point in quotation in the last paragraph is not all capitalized, but that is how it appears in the letter, including the period. In this bullying point, sorry, bullet point, the government is demanding Harvard stop hiring practices that include preferences “based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.” All staff must go through a plagiarisms review, however there is no mention of the rigor required for First Lady’s speeches. The paragraph also specifically states, “[s]uch adoption and implementation must be durable and demonstrated through structural and personnel changes.” Are they saying people need to be fired?
- “Merit-Based Admissions Reform.” This section basically reiterates the last bullet point, but for students and subjects Harvard to having its records audited as proof of merit-based admissions. It’s nice that the president finally believes audits are a good thing. Even in its clamor for merit-based admissions, the letter makes no mention of the children of donors or legacy admissions. This not only reinforces but also forces Harvard to rely on legacy or the children of donors in admissions because that is where the rest of the funding will have to come from. Children of donors over a million dollars have remarkable odds of getting in. In fact, did you know that the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who was a C student with less than stellar SAT scores, went to Harvard? His felon father didn’t go there, but he did donate a significant amount of money to the school and Donald Trump’s campaign.
- “International Admissions Reform. Basically, Harvard must turn over students to the federal government, and is specific about international students who are “supportive of terrorism and antisemitism.” Interesting how only one group is considered marginalized and in need of protection from hate and language.
- “Viewpoint Diversity in Admissions and Hiring.” Immediately after a paragraph about limiting viewpoints, it then demands Harvard hire a third party to audit its admissions for viewpoint diversity, basically in the remarkable chance that a Nazi has enough neurons to rub together to be admitted or hired, they cannot be denied a place, even though their poison may be a threat to others.
- “Reforming Programs with Egregious Records of Antisemitism or Other Bias.” After making a stance of viewpoint diversity, it immediately launches into a long and sub-bulleted passage on demanding the school “audit those programs and departments that most fuel antisemitic harassment or reflect ideological capture.” For those unfamiliar with the term “ideological capture,” it is an alt-right term for being brainwashed by knowledge. The campus groups mentioned to be audited are the Harvard Divinity School, The Graduate School of Education, School of Public Health, Medical School, Religion and Public Life Program, FXB Center for Health and Human Rights, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Carr Center for Human Rights at the Kennedy School, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures and the Harvard Law School International School Human Rights Clinic. This is certainly not a group to fuck with, but alas.
- “Discontinuation of DEI.” You already know the vibes, so there is no need to go into detail.
- “Student Discipline Reform and Accountability.” Tuh, I know this is not the same government that pardoned all the January 6ers, demanding Harvard get tough on its student body for exercising their FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT to peaceful assembly, and specifically targets many Palestinian campus organizations in this passage. Oh, and for some reason, this passage includes a ban on masks, which is punishable by suspension; there is no mention of this, excluding the medical department.
- “Whistleblower Reporting and Protection.” This is demanding everyone tell on each other, for not following any of the rules,
like the Nazis. - “Transparency and Monitoring,” A party which fashions itself as being for less government intervention wants transparency and the rights to monitor a private university.
Garber, writes in his rejection of the terms that the proposal “violates Harvard’s First Amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI. No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, who they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
A government bullying an institution known for such incredible intellectual output, is a sign of true trouble. It is the same thing that happened in Nazi Germany. When idiocy is preferred over education, a society is all but doomed.
