The counter-march through the institutions continues as the Trump Administration wages unholy war against Harvard. While other Ivy League universities have compromised with Trump in his pushback against their politics, Harvard refuses to buckle. But this is politics. Academic freedom is, at best, a smokescreen in front of the real show. It takes courage to stand up against Executive power, but it takes wisdom, too. Harvard is destined to lose the battle. What matters is the compromises it can win in the process.
Harvard messaging
Harvard’s messaging is quite easy. In a world where the majority does not read beyond the headlines, it is not difficult to curry sympathy with some well-placed sob stories in the media. Add in some claims of ‘academic freedom’ and ‘free speech’ – terms largely misunderstood by the public – and the court of public opinion is on Harvard’s side. Supporters of Harvard – or rather, opponents of Trump – are pushing their story a little too far, however. Nothing is as disingenuous as a claim that Trump decided to attack Harvard over a heretofore unreported rejection letter from admissions 60 years ago. Obama graduated from Harvard, the rumor continues, and so Trump is doubly jealous. It does not take a Harvard graduate to understand, however, that a multi-billionaire two-term President who holds a higher-ranked Ivy League degree is probably not thinking too much about college admissions as he counts down the days to his 80th birthday. All this rumor does is prove that Harvard’s support is not drawn exclusively from its alumni base.
Trump attack
The Trump Administration may not win in the court of public opinion, but it almost certainly will in the court of public policy. As previously discussed on this blog, Ivy League universities are bastions of left-wing thought. Most recently, this was on full display as the ‘Campus Intifada’ started in New York last year and spread across the globe like wildfire. Left-wing thought is united entirely in its opposition, not in its proposition. Only by uniting disparate groups against America and the Western, post-Christendom culture for which it stands could you find ‘Queers for Palestine’ comparing Netanyahu to Hitler. The paradoxes can only be explained by aligned hatred, not logical support.
Retaking Harvard
It makes sense, then, for the Trump Administration – the bastion of pro-Americanism and the leader of the Western world – to lead the charge back through the institutions. The Department of Education and federal student loans are the target, certainly. But these are not the immediate threat to the re-Americanization project of Trump 2.0. The Ivy League is. As they are the elite educators of the West, Trump must show that he can beat Harvard and co if the rest of his education reforms are to mean anything. He has been successful so far, as one university after another has given in to his demands. Yet Harvard remains steadfast, using its massive financial warchest to protect it from Trump’s attacks.
Leverage
The federal government’s funding programs create a lot of leverage. While maintaining the independence of education institutions, the government can pressure them in certain directions. Go against federal policy and funding disappears. It is, in effect, a fine for disobeying the government. But this leverage falls a little flat when you’re Harvard. Not only does Harvard have the largest endowment in the US to fund it without federal aid, it has elite donors and an international reputation for excellence carefully built up over four centuries. To have the requisite effect, Trump must attack Harvard from all sides. Most recently, this includes its ability to sponsor the visas of its high-paying, disproportionately large international student base.
How Harvard can beat Trump
Against an administration that has the resolve of Donald Trump, it’s hard to see how Harvard emerges victorious in this battle. Yet Harvard does have some key advantages. Most importantly is Trump’s approach to political dealmaking. Trump has a pattern. Typically, he makes his opponents bend until they come to the table. After that, all restrictions disappear in exchange for the specific goals he has in mind. Much like China tariffs dropping by 110% in exchange for talks or EU tariffs surging to 50% as talks broke down, Trump’s funding withholding and visa withdrawal is a temporary tactic to get Harvard to the table. Once they get there, the money will come flowing back – along with the foreign fees. Trump will come away with his goals achieved – commitments to clamp down on pro-Hamas activism with, perhaps, some pro-bono legal work from Harvard Law faculty thrown in – and claim victory. As the smart negotiators at Harvard likely already understand, they get to name the price of those commitments. If they’re really smart, they’ll join Trump’s victory parade as the losers, letting the fanfare cover the true cost they extract in exchange.
