Harvard University verklagt Trump Administration

Harvard Law School is/has some of the top lawyers in the country. This should be interesting. It would also be a fun class project.

You know, I certainly would not want to be sued by Harvard University, of all people. But that’s just a me thing I guess.

I hope some of the sleeper alums will start giving for the first time. The university needs their support during this turbulent period.

Even if the courts side with Harvard, I’m curious what mechanisms are available to compel the administration to unfreeze the promised grants.

This whole fiasco illustrates the extent to which the Trump administration is descending into authoritarianism.

Republicans are under the impression that this unconstitutional attack on multiple universities is justified. So much for „small government“ when your party is interjecting itself into the affairs of American citizens, private institutions and the press, especially those critical of its policies.

These efforts are clearly dishonest and ideologically driven and are just an extension of the right’s culture wars.

The Trump administration is targeting universities under the guise of some virtuous effort to combat anti-semitism, but in reality, Republicans don’t care about anti-Semitism, they’re just using this narrative of rampant anti-Semitism on campuses as leverage to seize control over academic decision-making.

As an American Jew myself, I say there is no justification for these authoritarian measures.

And not just because of the blatant unconstitutionality of it, but also because I recognize that Republicans are using Jews as a political prop, exploiting us to try and flip the script in an effort to characterize „the left“ as antisemitic. When in reality, Republicans have been perpetuating antisemitic tropes for years while appealing heavily to white nationalist grievances.

I should also say that by ostensibly aligning themselves with Jews, Republicans are committing us to their own cause. They’re demanding that we take on their misgivings, their hate, their reasons for trespassing on the rights and freedoms of others. We become unwittingly associated with their draconian crusade against anti-Semitism. They’re trying to force us into agreeing with their means to an end approach.

But this effort is driven almost entirely by their ideological convictions, their irrational fears, their prejudices, their culture wars… It’s wholly unconstitutional and a pretty flagrant example of the government infringing on the rights and civil liberties of American citizens and higher learning institutions.

Keep in mind that this is all while Harvard University has already taken major steps to counter anti-Semitism on campus.

So then why is the government still pushing these demands and ultimatums?

Because this agenda is a ruse designed to undermine higher education. It is certainly *disguised* as some broader fight against anti-Semitism, but the real goals of the Trump administration align with textbook fascistic strategies rooted in anti-intellectualism and disdain for diverse beliefs and perspectives that challenge the strongman’s authority and the party’s dogma.

When you look at what the Trump administration is actually trying to accomplish, you see that their goals have very little to do with combatting anti-Semitism and much more to do with gaining control over academic departments, programs and decision making. This effort has more to do with punishing dissenting viewpoints; with eliminating all antithetical perspectives and ideologies; with ending diversity; with fracturing the education system itself; with anti-intellectualism, not antisemitism.

This is an authoritarian and fascistic attack on higher learning institutions, opposing ideas and diversity. It’s an assault on outsiders and foreign students, as well as students, administrators and faculty who don’t subscribe to the current administration’s philosophy or its belief in a white, Christian hegemony and its heteronormative ideas about American culture.

This is made even more evident by the fact that this administration is targeting programs and teachings that are not even remotely associated with anti-Semitism, including programs related to racial diversity and gender.

The right-wing hysteria around this topic is fueled by persistent efforts to scapegoat and characterize universities, students, teachers, foreigners, Muslims, the LGBTQ community and protestors as common threats to the American way of life, *their* way of life. Threats to *their* safety, threats to western culture and *their* „values,“ threats to *their* race and religion, threats to *their* country. This is their unifying cause.

It’s all a means to an end. And that end? Justifying the current administration’s enforcement of draconian policies and unconstitutional executive actions.

Some of the Trump administration’s demands of these universities include that they:

– Report on foreign students
– Allow the government to bring in outside parties to make sure these universities are promoting Trump administration approved „viewpoints.“
– Supply all hiring and admissions data to the government so that the Trump administration can dictate the qualifications and ultimately decide on who is admitted and hired and who is not.
– Shut down programs that the Trump administration has flagged as teaching opposing ideologies.
– Overhaul certain programs and conduct comprehensive audits of departments that aren’t even vaguely promoting anti-Semitism
– Place middle Eastern studies departments under oversight of government selected security forces. (Literal thought police)

But it doesn’t stop there..

The Trump administration is also threatening to slash funding for grants and scientific research.

This includes research that could lead to medical and scientific breakthroughs in cancer research and infectious diseases.

These cuts to grants also limit educational and training opportunities for future researchers, which can prevent the advancement of the next generation of scientists.

Republicans might not care about scientific progress, but some of this research is vital to national security, American manufacturing, economic and global competitiveness and progress toward energy independence.

We need to drag these officials through the courts. Make them hire lawyers. Make their lives miserable, and make an example of them. Welcome them to the FIND OUT part of FAFO.

We don’t want a quick resolution we want a SLOW SLOG through the LEGAL SYSTEM for these folks who think fucking with our institutions is fun and games and a laugh.

These nepo-babies have never faced anything real.

The lawsuit names as defendants Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health and human services secretary; Linda M. McMahon, the education secretary; Stephen Ehikian, acting administrator of the General Services Administration; Attorney General Pamela J. Bondi; and several other administration officials.

This is beautiful

These series of events are so strange but will only seem clearly so to most people in about 20 years time in retrospect

Non-paywalled article link: https://archive.is/2025.04.21-233916/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/us/harvard-lawsuit-trump-administration.html

Finally. Someone is fighting the Trump administration. God knows the Dems aren’t doing shit.

Get um Harvard!!!

All students who work on this suit, if the case is won, will forgo the final exam and will get a full letter grade increase to their current grade.

Hoping this is a biopic later

That’s a lot of powerful alumni with deep pockets who, I’m guessing, didn’t much care for Trump even before he picked a fight with their alma mater

Time for maga to get outclassed.

The last thing I would want is to be sued by an actual law school that graduates over 1,000 law students per annum.

Get his ass

MIT gave in to trump as . They released a university introduction video which was more like patriotic video towards america , with america in literally every sentence.

[THIS IS MIT](https://youtu.be/r7R8ewU1Wqc?si=m2mPjSnf6eV9Z93A)

Well done Harvard! Anti-education policies should be illegal.

So rich white ignorant people of privilege pissing Off rich white educated people of privilege becomes the ultimate fuck around and find out. Harvard is well connected and with more friends in high places than Trump. I hope they go after every last dollar.