At Harvard, it’s business as usual – even though it isn’t

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Harvard Yard was decked out in all its regalia Tuesday in preparation for this week’s graduation, Harvard University’s 374th.

Crimson banners adorned with “Veritas” — the school’s Latin motto, which translates to “truth” — hung from trees and between various sets of Corinthian columns. Thousands of white folding chairs were set out in neat rows facing a stage erected in front of the white-steepled Memorial Church.

On one of the few warm days that Cambridge has seen this year, thousands of smiling celebrants and their families wandered through the bucolic quads during the first of three days of graduation-related events. Some were teary eyed watching their loved ones take pictures in their gowns.

The celebratory atmosphere, however, stood in contrast to the escalating series of actions taken by the Trump administration toward the school, with two more coming within a week of commencement ceremonies.

Last Friday, the Department of Homeland Security revoked the university’s ability to offer international student visas, an action now pending following a temporary stay from the courts. And then on Tuesday, The New York Times reported that all of Harvard’s government contracts are set to be terminated, adding another $100 million to the $3.2 billion of federal grants already cut.

The series of events cast a pall over the campus right before graduation.

“Honestly, it’s been really, really tumultuous,” said Maya Douglas, a graduating senior from the class of ‘25, who was sitting in the shade with her family near the statue of John Harvard.

A history of Trump-Harvard hostility

On April 11, the Trump administration sent a letter — later said to have been issued by mistake — outlining a series of reforms it expected the school to make in order to continue receiving governmental grants and contracts. The administration requested changes to governance, hiring and admissions, addressing “egregious records of antisemitism or other bias,” prioritizing “viewpoint diversity” and discontinuing anything DEI related.

“The overall view is pretty simple: Harvard and other top schools are far too left-wing,” wrote Tyler Cowen, an economics professor at George Mason University, summarizing the issue for The Free Press. “The overall environment is not always kind to professors and students who are not.”

Harvard refused to comply but its president, Alan M. Garber, said in a written statement that the school had “unfinished business” and needed to make several course corrections. Those included addressing antisemitism and anti-Arab behavior on campus.

Garber wrote, “We need to ensure that the University lives up to its ideals by taking concrete steps to reaffirm a culture of free inquiry, viewpoint diversity, and academic exploration.”

In subsequent weeks, Harvard did not comply with any of the administration’s requests. As a result, the administration cancelled billions of dollars in federal funding, paused other grants, disqualified future contracts and threatened to revoke the school’s tax-exempt status.

Even before the cancellation of international student visas (which could affect nearly 7,000 people and cost the university substantial income) and the termination of remaining contracts, it was a lot of information for the students to juggle while finishing up the semester.

What is the mood like at Harvard?

“There’s constantly changing news,” said Evan MacKay, a sociology graduate student and teaching fellow at Harvard. “You’ll be in a meeting and then 45 minutes into the meeting, somebody will drop another piece of breaking news.

“It’s really difficult to stay on top of everything …. ‘Oh, we hear this thing from the Trump administration. Maybe the university will sue? Maybe there will be some type of injunction?’ Who knows really what’s going on? So, there’s a lot of uncertainty,” MacKay said.

MacKay was participating in a “solidarity demonstration” May 23 after the Department of Homeland Security termination of international student visas. MacKay and several other students and professors made signs and took photographs to show their support for the international student community.

“It is hard to overstate what a devastating loss the departure of our international students would be — and I don’t just mean a loss for Harvard. The very best minds from across the world, they come here in the pursuit of knowledge and discovery,” said Naomi Weiss, professor and chair of the Department of the Classics, in a press release.

“A lot of international students are really worried, especially because they may not be able to go here anymore,” said Douglas, the graduating senior.

Several students said they did not wish to speak on the record because they were worried about their visa status.

MacKay said there is probably a sense of relief among the students who are graduating, as they no longer have to worry about waking up to another day of news that could affect them personally. “There’s more of a sense of it casting a shadow for students who are returning — for faculty, for staff. A lot of staff are incredibly worried about layoffs and cuts in funding.”

Douglas, a chemistry major about to embark on a graduate degree program at George Washington University, said several of her friends had fellowships or campus work cancelled. But even so, she thinks Harvard is doing a great job under the circumstances. “The research that they do, in my opinion, is insane.”

And she is not worried that all of this controversy will affect her degree or her school’s reputation in the long run.

“If Harvard continues to go the way that they’re going right now with standing up for academia and high-level academics, I think the reputation will be, as Harvard’s always been, one of the biggest universities in the world,” Douglas said. “As long as they keep taking a firm stance with what they believe is right … I’ll think they’ll be fine.”