Harvard is getting what all of academia thoroughly deserves — a reckoning for unfair practices, failure to protect all students, and deviating from the high academic standards it was supposed to uphold. President Donald Trump has made several moves toward giving this “elite” school an impressive enough penalty to whip other universities into line.
First, he canceled Harvard’s federal grants to the tune of billions of dollars. As columnist David Harsanyi observes, “Harvard, a private institution, can do as it likes. There’s nothing illegal about coddling extremists or pumping out credentialed pseudointellectuals.” The government, however, is under no obligation to subsidize with taxpayer dollars an institution that is upholding values contrary to federal law and American ideals. Naturally, Harvard has protested and is acting oppressed and entitled to taxpayer funding.
Next, the Department of Homeland Security canceled Harvard’s certification in the Student and Exchange Visitor Program. This action has been stayed for the time being by a federal judge, but the message is clear: Harvard is being dressed down. Why? Harvard claims that its free speech is under attack and that the Trump administration is trying to dictate who it can and cannot admit as students or hire as staff.
This is not a free speech issue. Harvard has broken the law and continues to break the law. Here’s how:
The university is continuing its discriminatory policy of affirmative action in both its admissions and hiring processes. What got affirmative action shot down by the Supreme Court in the first place in Students for Fair Admission v. Harvard was students in the same academic institution being discriminated against by race. This was particularly true for Asian Americans and whites.
Nevertheless, Harvard hasn’t stopped this practice even after the SCOTUS ruling. According to The Daily Wire, Harvard’s latest admissions data showed the “highest academic decile were 56% for African Americans, 31% for Hispanics, 15% for whites, and 13% for Asians.”
Harvard is more concerned with hitting a racial quota than with being equal. This is also true vis-à-vis its hiring practices, which have already come back to bite them. (See former Harvard President Claudine Gay.)
Harvard has shown an unwillingness to reform in this area, but it’s not the only area of complaint — though affirmative action is reason enough to end taxpayer funding. The rampant anti-Semitism on Harvard’s campus is yet another strike against it. Not only should anti-Semitism affect taxpayer funding, but this is where the halting of foreign students begins to make sense.
Foreign students have been the main drivers of anti-Israel/pro-Hamas protests on campus. Harvard itself receives money from foreign countries like Qatar, which is a funder and facilitator of terrorism.
While media outlets like The Wall Street Journal object to Trump’s canceling of Harvard’s Student Exchange and Visitor Program eligibility on the grounds that many of these foreign students are the best and the brightest, they fall for the classic leftist “diversity is our strength” blunder.
At this point, Harvard isn’t really an America-centric school. Not when 13% of its revenue comes from foreign countries, and foreign students can disrupt campus life and harass their Jewish peers. The United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Bangladesh are some of the countries that Harvard takes money from. Harvard takes monetary gifts from China, too, but the connection to the Chinese Communist Party is far more entrenched. Harvard has research ties and campus academic centers that are dedicated to China and CCP propaganda.
Another nail in Harvard’s coffin happened earlier this week when celebrated behavioral scientist and Harvard Business School professor Francesca Gino was stripped of her tenure. Her work was scrutinized after allegations of fraud came to light. Gino is accused of tweaking her results to suit her narrative. Ironically, the research that got her in trouble was all about honesty. Harvard, like many higher education institutions, promotes false academia, and Gino, like Claudine Gay before her, displayed the sickness of the dubious standards present even at Harvard.
Harvard is paying the piper now, but I wouldn’t be surprised if institutions like Columbia are next on the hit list. If this drastic action can help Harvard get back on track, oust its feckless leaders, and start anew, that’s a big win for higher education and a big win for the country.
