Dr. Noah Schwartz is an assistant professor in the Political Science department at UFV, with research interests in politics and social movements. In an interview with The Cascade, he shared his understanding on the political battle between Harvard University and the White House.
This past April, Harvard filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, intensifying a political battle against the U.S. president over policies that threatened its federal funding, international student enrollment, and tax-exempt status.
Schwartz reflected on what made Harvard a perfect target.
“Harvard is seen as the symbol of American academia, alongside Columbia and Yale, and all these other Ivy League schools.”
He added that this target was scrutinized when the former Harvard President Claudine Gay gave her congressional testimony on anti-semitism and faced backlash. Her testimony sparked criticism on Harvard’s ability to protect Jewish students on campus.
Schwartz further elaborated on the controversy with Gay.
“She gave a very legalistic answer to a question that was very emotional … They dredged up a whole bunch of dirt on her, passed plagiarism allegations, and she ended up having to resign because of it. I think that also put a target on Harvard’s back, from the perspective of the Trump administration and the Republicans.”
It all began when Harvard turned down the administration’s demands for changes in their governance policies for continued federal funding. In retaliation, the government took multiple actions, including freezing around $2.2 billion in research grants and $60 million in multi-year contract value to the school. As universities like Harvard rely primarily on the government for their fundings, these freezes have forced them to halt valuable research in subjects including cancer and heart diseases.
Kristi Noem, United States secretary of homeland security, also removed Harvard’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program Certification, which takes away their ability to enroll international students and forces existing students to transfer schools, leave the country, or lose their legal status. Schwartz said that international students are crucial for the university as they keep them afloat during inflation.
“Universities have used international students to make up for the fact that governments aren’t giving them enough money they need to operate.”
Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that the decision to remove Harvard’s tax-exempt status was justified.
“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve!”
Schwartz commented that this clash is reflective of the divide between conservative political movements and academics.
“Trump is doing this because it will get his base excited, because they have been programmed over the past 40 years plus to think that academics are all … Liberals and Democrats that are brainwashing our young people.”
Schwartz added that Trump is using the feud for his political gain by distracting them from the fact that his economic policies aren’t going well and that his immigration policies are unpopular.
He also highlighted how the core mission of Harvard is at risk here.
“If universities can’t be places where freedom of speech is prioritized, where people have the right to assemble and protest freely … if we lose that, then I think we lose something very important in academia and in society.”
Schwartz put emphasis on the extended consequences of the battle.
“It’s going to ultimately harm America’s ability to be the leader of science and innovation in the world, but it has been. And it’s going to hurt their university’s ability to retain the best talent in the world.”
Schwartz pointed out that Canada has the advantage as they are very well positioned to use the battle as an opportunity to bring in more talent from across the globe.
“This is an opportunity for us to attract the best and brightest minds in the world who want to find the American dream in Canada, where I think it’s actually easier to live [it] here than in the United States.”
