Ten days ago the Trump administration sent Harvard a letter with a list of ten demands. Harvard looked at it over the weekend and on Monday announced that it would not comply with the demands.
The administration’s prescription goes beyond the power of the federal government. It violates Harvard’s First Amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI. And it threatens our values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge. 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.
Since then the Trump administration has floated several new possibilities for pressuring Harvard to fall in line including cutting their tax-exempt…
