Full disclosure: I worked in university communications back in the day — at Harvard.
I know, first hand, exactly how carefully Harvard manages its public image. Every word, every statement, every move is deliberate. Nothing gets out by accident. And Harvard-bashing has always been a blood sport. Some of it earned. A lot of it just, well, because it’s Harvard.
Which is why what’s happening now — the public battle over higher ed’s future — is even more remarkable. Because this time, Harvard isn’t managing its way out of the crosshairs.
It’s standing in firmly in them.
You’ve probably seen the headlines:
👉 Why Harvard Resisted Trump’s Demands (New York Times)
Here’s the short version:
The federal government is threatening to pull billions in funding unless universities crack down on certain kinds of campus speech. It’s part of a much bigger pattern — putting colleges, law firms, and corporations under intense pressure to “prove” they aren’t supporting the wrong causes, the wrong movements, the wrong ideas.
This isn’t just about campus politics. It’s about the First Amendment.
It’s about whether higher education — a system built to protect open inquiry, free thought, and ideas that challenge the status quo— will be allowed to survive on its own terms. Or whether it will be forced to serve whichever political agenda is holding the purse strings.
And Harvard said: No.
Not by waving a flag. Not by grandstanding. By doing what it’s always done best — setting a standard that others will quietly follow. Because if Harvard folds, everyone folds. And they know it.
This moment isn’t just about Harvard protecting itself. It’s about Harvard — finally, maybe even reluctantly — using its position to protect the independence of higher education as a whole. And by extension, the independence of law firms, businesses, nonprofits — anyone who depends on the ability to question authority and pursue the truth without political interference.
This is what leadership looks like when the stakes are real.
Not a press release. Not a slogan.
A decision to act — and to accept the consequences.
I know Harvard. I know how risk-averse it is, how many decades it’s spent avoiding any appearance of a public fight. The fact that it’s in one now — and refusing to cave — should tell you exactly how high the stakes are.
Higher ed’s survival isn’t guaranteed. Its credibility, its funding, its future — they’re all on the line. But for the first time in a long time, Harvard is doing what only Harvard can do: Holding the line when it matters. Not just for itself. For all of us.
It’s Harvard’s fight right now. But it’s ours too.
