Forget Princip. Maybe it should have been the Ruth Galanter award

In a prior post, we awarded the Gavrilo Princip prize in connection with the letter that went from the feds to Harvard.* But maybe it should have been the Ruth Galanter award. From the Washington Post:

On Friday, the New York Times reported that two Trump administration sources said an April 11 letter signed by three federal officials to Harvard President Alan Garber was “unauthorized” and should not have been sent. The letter demanded the Massachusetts university come under government oversight and make changes related to student and faculty conduct, admissions, alleged antisemitism on campus and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

Harvard on Saturday pushed back on the assertion that the letter was sent in error, pointing out that the Trump administration had “doubled down” on its threats... “It remains unclear to us exactly what, among the government’s recent words and deeds, were mistakes or what the government actually meant to do and say,” the university said Saturday in a statement to The Washington Post. “But even if the letter was a mistake, the actions the government took this week have real-life consequences...

The White House did not respond to requests for comment, but a senior official there told the Times that the administration stood by the letter...

Full story at https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/04/19/harvard-trump-letter-mistake-unauthorized/.

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*https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2025/04/we-have-winner-of-gavrilo-princip-award.html.