Will Harvard Continue to Lead the Charge?

Harvard has been leading "The Resistance" to the Trump administration's various cuts of funding and legal threats. But leading the charge does not always produce happy outcomes:

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

“Forward, the Light Brigade!

Charge for the guns!” he said.

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred...

Cannon to right of them,

Cannon to left of them,

Cannon behind them

Volleyed and thundered;

Stormed at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell.

They that had fought so well

Came through the jaws of Death,

Back from the mouth of hell,

All that was left of them,

Left of six hundred...

The Light Brigade - at least in the poetic version - made its disastrous charge against a better equipped enemy. Harvard, in contrast, probably has a winning hand in court as far as arbitrary cancellations of existing grants and penalties imposed without due process. And it has hired a roster of conservative lawyers to improve the odds should the case go to the Supreme Court.* But courts can take a long time and may produce decisions subject to appeal. It's not clear that in the court of public opinion, as opposed to the judicial courts, Harvard has the advantage. And in any case, unlike the Light Brigade, Harvard has to contend with something of its own making: the report of its internal antisemitism committee which recently emerged in final form.** 

“The 2023-24 academic year was disappointing and painful,” [Harvard President Alan] Garber, who took office in January 2024, wrote.... “I am sorry for the moments when we failed to meet the high expectations we rightfully set for our community.” 

Full story at:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/29/us/harvard-antisemitism-islamophobia-reports.html.

What will happen in the longer run in part depends on political developments not controllable by Harvard. However, the legal issues that will surround new grants that aren't made or existing grants that aren't renewed will be murkier than those surrounding existing grants that were arbitrarily interrupted. Not all grants are approved, even in the best of times. All new applications and applications for renewal go through a review process. 

So don't be surprised if, at some point, Harvard cuts a deal to avoid the Light Brigade scenario.

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*https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/us/harvard-trump-conservative-lawyers.html.

**https://ia600402.us.archive.org/9/items/2-final-hjaa-report.-the-soil-beneath-the-encampments/Harvard-Antisemitism-Report-4.29.25%20final.pdf.