Larry Summers, former president of Harvard, said in an interview that President Trump won’t end the war with Harvard until the Ivy League bows to the administration’s demands.
“I think [Trump’s] end game is to try to get the university to bend the knee,” Summers said in an interview with CBS News that aired Sunday.
The comments come after Trump has taken away $2 billion from the university, opened up investigations into the school’s foreign donation and has threatened to take away the Ivy League’s tax-exempt status.
Trump took away the $2 billion after the university refused to cave to demands that it changes policies on admissions and hiring practices, as well as eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
The Trump administration has said it is going after Harvard for alleged inaction on antisemitism and has criticized the school for its “woke ideology.”
“Harvard’s has a big problem with antisemitism. It’s got a big problem with too many progressives relative to the number of conservatives. It’s got a big problem with paying too much attention to identity politics,” said Summers, who served as a Treasury secretary under former President Clinton.
But Trump is not acting in good faith to want to correct these issues at the university, Summers added.
“The laws say you have to have hearings. The laws say you have to give notice. The laws don’t say you can engage in extortion, and when you simply cut off all funding based on a set of conditions, that’s extortion,” he said.
Harvard has been fighting back, suing the administration for cutting off funding and saying it would be illegal for its tax-exempt status to be taken away.
The university has admitted to problems with antisemitism and has said it will be creating programs to help students of differing viewpoints come together to engage in dialogue.
While Harvard said it is willing to work with the Trump administration, many of its demands are nonstarters in negotiations and the tactics it is using to try to make the university cave will harm medical research and advancement.
Summers was asked what he would say people who think Harvard is biased and why they should care about the pressure by the Trump administration.
“I would say they’re right to worry about Harvard being a little tilted to the left, but I would also tell them that if we cut off funding for cancer research, cancer cures are going to come more slowly,” Summers responded.