LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Harvard is suing the Trump administration to stop it from taking away billions of dollars in research funding. Kirk Carapezza at member station GBH in Boston has been following this lawsuit and the broader White House crackdown against higher education, and he's with us now. Good morning, Kirk.
KIRK CARAPEZZA, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning.
FADEL: So we know the Trump administration has been making demands of top universities, threatening their funding if they don't comply. And now Harvard's suing. Could you just put this suit into context for us?
CARAPEZZA: Sure. This is the latest clash in what's really a broader culture war. The Trump administration is pressuring elite schools like Harvard and Columbia, calling for reform, slashing overhead costs, trying to tie their federal funding to hiring admissions and viewpoint diversity. And earlier this month, the administration demanded Harvard audit campus ideology and stop recognizing certain student groups accused of antisemitism. Harvard President Alan Garber, who is Jewish, refused. He called the demands illegal and unconstitutional. In response, the government froze more than $2 billion in grants, threatened to revoke Harvard's tax exempt status and to limit its ability to enroll international students.
FADEL: And now Harvard is suing. What is their legal argument?
CARAPEZZA: So Harvard says the funding freeze is retaliatory and baseless. Its lawsuit argues there's no rational link between real antisemitism concerns on campus and lifesaving research funding. In a message addressed to the Harvard community, President Garber said the government's actions will be, quote, "severe and long-lasting." At this time, the White House has not responded to our request for comment.
FADEL: And how is the campus reacting to Harvard suing?
CARAPEZZA: Students and faculty are celebrating this decision. Government professor Ryan Enos says Harvard is uniquely positioned to challenge what he and many others see as Trump's authoritarian playbook.
RYAN ENOS: What it takes is somebody that is willing to put the resources and the time, and Harvard has those things. And I think so many of us are proud that they're actually doing it.
CARAPEZZA: Alumni are proud, too, and willing to support the fight financially. One alum, who fears being targeted, told me if Harvard can't use its $50 billion endowment to fend off these threats, then what is it good for? It's also worth pointing out that one of the reasons that Colombia, facing similar demands, did not sue last month...
FADEL: Right.
CARAPEZZA: ...Was because its leaders feared the cost wasn't worth it in the long run.
FADEL: Now, Kirk, you cover higher education. What does this fight say about academia right now?
CARAPEZZA: Yeah, President Trump has long painted schools like Harvard as too elitist, too expensive and too, quote-unquote, "woke." You know, he campaigned on that message, and surveys show many Americans agree with him. A recent Gallup survey found that while Americans broadly value college, the confidence gap is growing fast. A decade ago, only about 10% of Americans said they had no confidence in higher ed. Today, the number is closer to a third.
FADEL: So why is public trust so low?
CARAPEZZA: Yeah, Americans are worried about colleges pushing political agendas, not teaching relevant skills, and of course, the cost. So higher ed is facing these existential threats from every angle. Lynn Pasquerella is the president of the American Association of Colleges and Universities. And she told me most schools can't afford to take on the government, but none of them can afford to remain silent given the circumstances.
LYNN PASQUERELLA: Everyone needs to exercise moral courage at this time and defend not only higher education and its democratic purposes, but the values that we hold dear collectively in our society.
CARAPEZZA: And just this morning, for the first time, her group and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences issued a joint statement with nearly 200 presidents signing on condemning the administration's actions.
FADEL: That is GBH's Kirk Carapezza. Thank you for your reporting, Kirk.
CARAPEZZA: You're welcome. Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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