Obama Rails Against Trump Administration For Punishing Harvard University

Former President Barack Obama, whose own administration excluded colleges that refused federal funds from its College Scorecard, railed against the Trump administration, calling it “ham-handed” for penalizing Harvard University for its lackadaisical response to antisemitism and reluctance to countenance conservative viewpoints.

In 2015, the Obama administration issued its “College Scorecard,” which offered information about college and universities’ graduation rates and the average salary of graduates. But schools such as Hillsdale College, Grove City College and Christendom College, none of which accepted federal funding and thus were not beholden to federal guidelines, were excluded from the list.

Obama’s own administration, as well as the Biden administration, was rife with anti-Israel sentiment and actions, as documented here.

Last Friday, the Trump administration told Harvard it had to clean up its act by August 2025 by more aggressively confronting antisemitism and its own leftist orthodoxy. Harvard University President Alan Garber responded in a letter that the administration’s demands violated “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.”

On Monday, the Department of Education informed Harvard, “The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable. It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support. The Joint Task Force to combat anti-Semitism is announcing a freeze on $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60M in multi-year contract value to Harvard University.”

“Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect,” Obama huffed. “Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”

In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against Harvard and the University of North Carolina in a suit accusing Harvard’s admissions process of discriminating against Asian-American applicants. The decision “concluded that the race-based admissions policies of both universities violate the Equal Protection Clause because their admissions process unlawfully incorporates an applicant’s race throughout and for many applicants, ‘race is a determinative’ factor,” Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation noted. “The universities also failed to show a connection between the discriminatory means they employ in admissions and their stated goal of diversity.”

Former President Barack Obama, whose own administration excluded colleges that refused federal funds from its College Scorecard, railed against the Trump administration, calling it “ham-handed” for penalizing Harvard University for its lackadaisical response to antisemitism and reluctance to countenance conservative viewpoints.

In 2015, the Obama administration issued its “College Scorecard,” which offered information about college and universities’ graduation rates and the average salary of graduates. But schools such as Hillsdale College, Grove City College and Christendom College, none of which accepted federal funding and thus were not beholden to federal guidelines, were excluded from the list.

Obama’s own administration, as well as the Biden administration, was rife with anti-Israel sentiment and actions, as documented here.

Last Friday, the Trump administration told Harvard it had to clean up its act by August 2025 by more aggressively confronting antisemitism and its own leftist orthodoxy. Harvard University President Alan Garber responded in a letter that the administration’s demands violated “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.”

On Monday, the Department of Education informed Harvard, “The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable. It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support. The Joint Task Force to combat anti-Semitism is announcing a freeze on $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60M in multi-year contract value to Harvard University.”

“Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect,” Obama huffed. “Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”

In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against Harvard and the University of North Carolina in a suit accusing Harvard’s admissions process of discriminating against Asian-American applicants. The decision “concluded that the race-based admissions policies of both universities violate the Equal Protection Clause because their admissions process unlawfully incorporates an applicant’s race throughout and for many applicants, ‘race is a determinative’ factor,” Hans von Spakovsky of the Heritage Foundation noted. “The universities also failed to show a connection between the discriminatory means they employ in admissions and their stated goal of diversity.”