Some background. In March, the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights said Harvard was under investigation for alleged anti-Semitic activity. In April, the government sent Harvard a list of demands the school would have to abide by to remain “in good standing.” Harvard refused, and we know how Trump acts when he’s told no. In addition to the hundred million, Trump wants to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status, stop its ability to enroll foreign students, and revoke $3 billion in federal grants.
In other words, bring Harvard to its knees.
Here’s the kicker. Harvard often collaborates with other universities and uses federal money to support that research. Harvard hasn’t announced which research will cease, but it knows some must.
Will the university have to stop its research into how cancer tumors develop and come back? Will its work on identifying treatments for drug-resistant forms of tuberculosis go away? What components of its AI work, which include cancer diagnosis, face cuts?
The Ohio Department of Education partners with Harvard’s Proving Ground program and others to maximize K-12 attendance. Schools in the program reduced chronic absenteeism at more than twice the rate of all Ohio schools, Harvard reported.
In 2021, the University of Dayton partnered with McLean Hospital, a Harvard affiliate, to study the link between childhood hardships and mental health disorders. Two Wright State faculty members were selected for a Harvard fellowship to brainstorm solutions to challenges in healthcare. Central State University held leadership development workshops produced by Harvard.
The lists show that Trump’s attack on Harvard impacts more than the students and academics at the Boston-based school. The federal action takes funds from life-saving research, might stop studies that help children, and could prevent opportunities for the brightest minds to come together to help solve complex problems.
The Harvard story doesn’t resonate with many voters because the boring coverage of the latest developments ignores the impact these cuts have on people, including Trump voters. Ohio’s a reliably red state that will feel the downstream impact. Harvard has spent substantial resources studying economic development in Appalachia. Can it afford to continue to do so?
Lots of people have bought into the antisemitic message, largely because of the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on Harvard‘s campus.
That fails to acknowledge that America’s built on the right to peacefully protest. (Violence should never be tolerated.) But every protest has been turned into a referendum on antisemitism and gives the Trump administration a justification for trying to crush one of the country’s most prestigious universities. It also sends a message to others:
Don’t cross me, because if you do, this is what awaits.
Trump’s fight with Harvard sends a message to colleges and universities across the country. If you refuse to bend the knee, you’ll feel my wrath. Anyone hurt by these cuts, even those downstream, is simply collateral damage.
The administration could have offered to meet with Harvard to discuss its concerns, but instead it took the bully’s path and tried to bludgeon the school into submission.
Harvard will survive, but the shortsighted and unjust decision to punish the university is an example of what happens when vengeance rears its ugly head.
Ray Marcano’s column appears on these pages each Sunday.
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