During an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday, Harvard Professor and former Harvard President Larry Summers said that Harvard still doesn’t handle antisemitism as strongly as it should and still has excessive identity politics but the Trump administration isn’t following the law by cutting off funds to the school and axing money for research doesn’t make sense.
Summers said, “I’ve been sharply critical of Harvard, and I continue to be critical on many dimensions. Antisemitism is still not responded to strongly enough. There are still excesses of identity politics. There are still concerns about intellectual diversity. That’s all right.”
He continued, “But here’s the thing: In America, you have to follow the law. And the approach the Trump administration is taking of simply announcing an across-the-board freeze is wildly extralegal in its approach. It is not at all consistent with the Civil Rights Act. It is probably not consistent with Harvard’s First Amendment rights. And so, the right thing to do was surely for Harvard to respond vigorously and strongly, all the more because this is not an isolated thing what’s being done to Harvard. This is not a manifestation of a particular concern about aspects of universities. This is a part of a broad and sweeping effort to suppress institutions that challenge the presidential administration.”
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