Barack Obama Praises Alma Mater Harvard For Rejecting Trump’s Demands: ‘Sets An Example’

Last Updated:April 15, 2025, 14:52 IST

Barack Obama praised Harvard University for defying Donald Trump’s "ham-handed" attempt to stifle academic freedom.

Former US President Barack Obama (Image Credit: Reuters)

Former US President Barack Obama praised his alma mater Harvard for setting an example for other higher education institutions as the university rejected the Donald Trump administration’s demands to limit campus activism.

Donald Trump wrote to Harvard demanding that the university audit views on diversity on campus and stop recognising certain student clubs. Following this, Harvard university president Alan Garber wrote in an open letter to the Harvard community, “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."

Praising Harvard for defying Donald Trump’s “ham-handed" attempt to stifle academic freedom, Barack Obama posted on X (formerly Twitter), “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."

Following Harvard’s rejection of the demands, the US government announced it would freeze more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to the university. Earlier, Columbia University was targeted by the Trump administration with similar demands to which the institution acquiesced.

Federal funding has also been paused for the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Princeton, Cornell and Northwestern as the Donald Trump administration said that universities allowed antisemitism to go unchecked during last year’s campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.

Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)

News world Barack Obama Praises Alma Mater Harvard For Rejecting Trump’s Demands: ‘Sets An Example’