‘Unlawful Attempt To Stifle Academic Freedom’: Obama Backs Harvard As Trump Admin Hits Univ With $2Bn Fund Cut

Amid Harvard University fund cuts, former US President Barack Obama shows his support to the institution, saying it was a setting an example for other higher education institutions.

Obama called the Trump administration’s demands “an unlawful".

Source : X

Former United States President Barack Obama has shown his support for the stand, Harvard University, against the Trump administration by rejecting its numerous demands. Obama, who is a Harvard Law alumnus, said that the university has "set an example for other higher-ed institutions".

He called the Trump administration’s demands "an unlawful and ham-handed 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. Let’s hope other institutions follow suit," he wrote in an X post.

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… https://t.co/gAu9UUqgjF

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 15, 2025

On Monday, Harvard University said it would reject the Trump administration’s demands for policy changes at the school because it views the institution as excessively left-leaning.

Hours later, President Trump's administration announced a freeze on $2.3 billion in federal funding allocated to the university. Last month, after a review, the Trump administration froze $9 billion in federal contracts and grants to Harvard.

It was part of a crackdown on what it said was antisemitism that erupted on college campuses during pro-Palestinian protests in the past 18 months.

On Monday, a Department of Education task force on combating antisemitism criticised the university in Massachusetts while accusing it of exhibiting a "troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges - that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws."

The high-stakes dispute between the Trump administration and some of the world’s richest universities has sparked concerns over freedom of speech and academic independence.

The administration froze millions in federal funding to several universities in a move to pressure them to implement policy changes and claimed it is a failure to adequately address antisemitism on campus, as per the Reuters report.

However, Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in a public letter that the Department of Education's demands would allow the federal government to control Harvard and threaten the school’s "values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge."

"No government - regardless of which party is in power - should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue," Garber wrote.

The issue of antisemitism on campus surfaced before Donald Trump’s second term in office in the wake of pro-Palestinian student protests held at multiple universities last year.

In 2023, demonstrations followed the Hamas attack inside Israel and the subsequent Israeli military response in Gaza.