Harvard President Alan Garber addressed the university’s clash with the Trump administration in a new NPR interview, calling the government’s recent actions toward the school “perplexing” and warning that slashing research funding “hurts the country.”
“We need to be firm in our commitments to what we stand for, and what we stand for — I believe I speak for other universities — is education, pursuit of the truth,“ Garber said in an interview with “Morning Edition” that aired Tuesday. “When we fail in that, then we can expect to be attacked.”
The interview took place before the Trump administration announced it would direct federal agencies to terminate contracts with Harvard totaling approximately $100 million as part of its continued actions against the Ivy League institution.
On April 21, Harvard filed a lawsuit in response to the Trump administration’s demands for changes to its leadership, hiring, and admissions policies. In the aftermath, the government has slashed the university’s federal funding, taken steps to block the enrollement of international students, and threatened to revoke its tax-exempt status.
The Trump administration claims Harvard has failed to combat antisemitism on campus and that there is a lack of viewpoint diversity at Harvard. Garber told NPR’s Steve Inskeep that the university has been making efforts to address such issues.
“We have been very clear that we think we do have issues, and I would particularly emphasize the speech issues,” Garber said. “We think it’s a real problem if, particularly at research universities, students don’t feel free to speak their minds.”
”And the administration and others have said conservatives are too few on campus and their views are not welcome. Insofar as that’s true, that’s a problem we really need to address,” he added.
But while the Harvard president acknowledged speech issues on campus, he said he found it difficult to see how funding cuts are connected to combating antisemitism.
“Why cut off research funding? Sure, it hurts Harvard, but it hurts the country because after all, the research funding is not a gift,” Garber added.
The government has already revoked nearly $3 billion in federal research grants to the university, which has resisted the administration’s calls to alter several of its policies.
“The research funding is given to universities and other research institutions to carry out work that the federal government designates as high-priority work,” Garber said. “It is work that they want done. Shutting off that work does not help the country, even as it punishes Harvard, and it is hard to see the link between that and, say, antisemitism.”
Garber was asked whether he believes the Trump administration aims to “damage, destroy or capture” Harvard, and what the motivation might be in targeting the university.
“I don’t know fully what the motivations are, but I do know that there are people who are fighting a cultural battle. I don’t know if that is what is driving the administration. They don’t like what’s happened to campuses, and sometimes they don’t like what we represent,” Garber responded.
Inskeep asked if Garber agrees with the Department of Homeland Security statement that the administration’s latest actions against Harvard serve as a “warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.”
“Well, they said it [in a statement], and I have to believe it, and I’ve repeated it myself. And that is how it’s understood by the other leaders of other universities that I’ve spoken to,” Garber said. “It is a warning. They see this as a message that if you don’t comply with what we’re demanding, these will be the consequences.”
Alyssa Vega can be reached at alyssa.vega@globe.com.
