Guess Whose Side Obama’s On In The Fight Between Taxpayers And Wealthy Elite Universities

Former President Barack Obama came out in support of Harvard University Monday evening after the Trump administration moved to freeze billions of dollars from the university over its handling of antisemitism.

The Trump administration Monday afternoon announced it was freezing over $2 billion in funding from Harvard after it publicly rejected demands to address antisemitism on campus. Obama, who himself attended Harvard Law School, stated in a recent X post that the school should serve as “an example” for other universities that find themselves in the administration’s crosshairs and praised Harvard for “rejecting” what he called an “attempt to stifle academic freedom.”

“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,” the former president said. “Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”

The Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, made up of the Department of 🎓Education (ED), Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), issued a list of demands to Harvard on April 11, calling on the university to reform and better enforce disciplinary processes for students who participate in antisemitic protests, improve screening of international students for “hostile” views towards America and audit “programs with egregious records of antisemitism.” Harvard claimed that caving to the demands would threaten the university’s academic freedom and free speech rights.