‘Proud To Be a Harvard Student’: Undergrads Laud Garber’s Message to Trump

Harvard students breathed “a sigh of relief” Monday afternoon after University President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced Harvard would not comply with a lengthy list of White House demands — a move students said left them “pleasantly surprised.”

The Crimson spoke with more than two dozen undergraduates who applauded Harvard’s leadership for standing their ground against a “blatant attack on academic freedom.”

“One of the big reasons I chose Harvard was a place to explore intellectual freedom, explore interests, learn about different perspectives,” Henry D. Pahlow ’28 said. “The statement really ties down those values. It’s Garber standing up to the administration — which is trying to silence us.”

“I think it was a very brave stand, and I’m glad he took it,” he added.

On Friday, the Trump administration laid down a list of demands to Harvard, including calls to end recognition of pro-Palestine student groups, screen for international applicants “supportive of terrorism and anti-Semitism,” utilize Harvard police to stop campus disruptions, and suspend students involved in occupations of University buildings.

The demands built on an initial list sent to Harvard two weeks earlier, which had conditioned nearly $9 billion in federal grants and contracts on the dismantling of diversity programming and increased restrictions on campus protests. Following Garber’s Monday announcement, the White House froze $2.2 billion in federal funding to the University.

Several students, including Yaroslav Davletshin ’28, said the demands to Harvard were a blatant act of censorship, more concerned with “silencing voices of dissent” than eradicating campus antisemitism.

“Trump is trying to send a clear message that pro-Palestinian opinions are not welcome in the United States,” Davletshin said. “This is not about antisemitism, as Trump claims.”

Ethan Hooper ’25 took issue with the Trump administration’s call for Harvard to implement “a comprehensive mask ban” across campus.

“What’s funny to me is throughout 2020, and a lot of Covid, it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s my right not to wear a mask,’” he said. “It should equally be your right to wear a mask.”

Hooper added that he views the White House’s fight against antisemitism as inconsistent with its harsh policies on immigration.

“I think it’s total BS to be like, ‘Oh, we’re gonna combat antisemitism by being xenophobic and anti-immigrant,’” Hooper said. “I don’t really see how those two things work together.”

A spokesperson for the Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this article.

With billions on the line, students said they were invigorated after Garber’s Monday statement hit their inboxes.

“It made me feel really proud to be a Harvard student, actually,” Eric D. Hwang ’25 said.

Several undergraduates said Harvard’s Monday messaging — including Garber’s email, a new website showcasing the impacts of University research, and a blitz of posts on official social media channels — set a courageous example for the rest of higher education.

“Harvard has such a huge influence that whatever Harvard does, it’s gonna obviously impact what other schools end up doing,” Muhammed U. Khan ’28 said. “A big name like Harvard ends up setting an example for other schools.”

Hooper said Harvard’s stand could pave the way for higher education institutions to form a united front against the federal government’s threats to revoke funding.

“If you have a bunch of universities who stiffen up or are like, ‘Hey, we’re not gonna comply,’ what is the U.S. government gonna do?” he said.

Some students, however, said University leadership did not speak out against the White House as early as they should have.

“I was happy with the message of the email, but I think that the call to action was sort of long overdue,” Maya I. Dailey ’28 said. “He owed the community a response a little earlier.”

Davletshin said Harvard’s Monday firestorm caught him off guard because top leadership did not similarly condemn the Trump administration’s decision to revoke the student visas of 12 Harvard affiliates.

“I was pleasantly surprised that Harvard has some guts because I was disappointed that they did not offer a strong response to the revocation of international student visas,” he said.

“This response on their part has changed, to a certain degree, my opinion of the Harvard administration,” Davletshin added.

Several student groups with political affiliations took to social media Monday evening with strong statements in response to the University’s messaging.

Harvard College Democrats wrote in a statement on Instagram that they were “pleased by Harvard’s decision to stand firm in the face of threats to academic freedom, free speech, and student safety.”

The Harvard Republican Club, however, wrote that private institutions are not entitled to “receive federal funding in perpetuity” in an Instagram post.

“Harvard has shown itself to be a partisan consumer of the American taxpayer dollar,” the group wrote, adding that they are “hopeful that a resolution can be reached and that Harvard will return to the American principles that formed the great men of this nation.”

The Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee — a group the Trump administration specifically said Harvard must “end support and recognition for” in the demands — wrote in a Monday Instagram post that Garber’s email fell short.

The PSC added that the University announcement failed to make tangible commitments to international students or student activists — common targets of the White House’s recent demands.

“Stand up Harvard,” they wrote. “We cannot rest until every one of Trump’s demands is fought off.”

—Staff writer Samuel A. Church can be reached at samuel.church@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @samuelachurch.

—Staff writer Cam N. Srivastava can be reached at cam.srivastava@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @camsrivastava.