Some faculty members at Harvard, the elite university that refused to comply with demands for reforms to stop racial discrimination, are donating 10 percent of their salaries to fight President Donald Trump.
The more than 80 faculty have said they will give the portion of their pay for up to a year to support the “resistance” against the president after his administration froze $2.2. billion in grants, The Harvard Crimson reported on April 30.
The article continued:
“If we as a faculty are asking the University administration to resist the Trump administration’s attacks on academic freedom, we should also be willing to share in the financial sacrifice that will be necessary,” Harvard Kennedy School professor Dani Rodrik ’79, a signatory, wrote in an emailed statement.
The pledged donations come as Harvard faces lean times and continuing attacks on its funding. The Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in federal funding on April 15, as well as an additional $1 billion on April 21 after Harvard publicly rejected the White House’s sweeping demands for policy changes at the University.
According to Breitbart News, Harvard said it would not comply with demands for reforms to halt antisemitism and other forms of discrimination and it is one of several other universities being watched by a federal antisemitism task force.
Harvard argued reforms in those areas should not be linked to federal funding. The university has since filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration.
“According to the New York Times, the lawsuit filed in federal court on Monday accused the Trump administration of launching an unfounded attack as ‘leverage to gain control of academic decision-making at Harvard,’ citing other universities that allegedly had funds cut,” the Breitbart News report said.
During an interview on Wednesday, President Trump said Harvard may stop getting federal funds altogether so “We can grant that money to people that really need it.”
Trump explained, “And you say, ‘Well, Harvard’s supposed to be so great, why do people have to have remedial, that’s basic, very simple mathematics?’ So, we’re looking into Harvard. But we give them billions of dollars a year, and that may very well stop. And that’s up to the president, it’s up to our government. We don’t have to grant their money.”
