Harvard University remains embroiled in controversy more than a year after violent pro-Palestinian demonstrations began on its campus in April 2024.
Recently, the Trump administration asked Harvard to disclose information about foreign students seeking to enroll, after the administration alleged that the university was guilty of civil rights abuses and antisemitism from its failure to appropriately respond to the violent demonstrations. The Trump administration has also frozen $2.2 billion of Harvard’s federal grants and contracts. A court hearing on the university’s funding freeze is set for July 21.
The Daily Signal asked Jay Greene, a senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Education Policy, to explain the Harvard controversy and what’s at stake for higher education in America. Greene was previously a distinguished professor and department chairman at the University of Arkansas. His answers are below.
Philip Roberts: What’s the underlying dispute between Harvard and the Trump administration?
Jay Greene: The underlying dispute is that the Trump administration believes that Harvard has failed to fulfill its obligations to protect the civil rights of students at Harvard by failing to uniformly enforce its rules and by continuing to engage in racial preferences.
The Trump administration also believes that Harvard is shielding foreign students who have broken rules or the law, again by failing to enforce those rules and reporting violations to the government.
Roberts: Why won’t Harvard comply with the Trump administration’s requests?
Greene: Harvard believes that it has made good faith efforts to fulfill its obligations and is taking steps to improve things. It objects that Trump has failed to follow the appropriate procedures for punishing Harvard and has thus deprived Harvard of the opportunity to improve on its own.
Harvard claims that it is being unfairly targeted for violations because of the viewpoints of their students and faculty in violation of the first amendment. It also believes that as a private institution that they have autonomy to operate as they believe best.
Roberts: How do you respond to protesters who say their First Amendment rights are being violated?
Greene: There is no First Amendment exemption from Harvard’s obligations to comply with the Civil Rights Act and to enforce foreign visa rules. The only possible First Amendment claim is that they are being wrongly targeted because of the dominant politics at Harvard.
While Trump clearly has viewpoint differences with Harvard, that is not the only or even primary reason that they are being targeted for punishment. They are being targeted because they have gross and ongoing violations.
In addition, it is standard procedure for prosecutors to go after high-profile wrongdoers given the scarcity of government resources, because making an example of a prominent wrongdoer gets faster compliance from all other wrongdoers.
Harvard is being punished because it has repeatedly and continues to break the law and because it is a high-profile institution.
Roberts: What implications does the Harvard dispute have for other higher education institutions?
Greene: This is not a crisis for higher education. This is a crisis for Harvard and a few other bad-acting universities. Every other university is a potential beneficiary.
Other institutions can relocate promising research and talented scholars from Harvard. So important research and talented people will continue to make contributions in higher ed, they just may do it from some place other than Harvard or Columbia. What is Harvard’s misfortune is good fortune for Vanderbilt, Wash University, the University of Florida, University of Texas, etc.
In addition, establishing that there are consequences for rule-breaking institutions will strengthen incentives for good behavior elsewhere. Lastly, even at Harvard and Columbia, senior leadership knows that they have to regain control over their own universities from pockets of faculty and students determined to make trouble.
Ironically, Trump is helping them regain control and improve the operations at Harvard and Columbia.
Roberts: Could international students transfer to other colleges and universities if they are not allowed at Harvard?
Greene: Under Trump’s plan to make Harvard ineligible for enrolling foreign students, he is not taking away the visas of those students already enrolled at Harvard. They can transfer to other universities and complete their studies.
If you would like to learn more on this topic, read Jay Greene’s recent Daily Signal commentary, “Harvard, Please Enforce Rules for Foreign Students.”