Harvard University Prepared for Long-Haul Battle with US Government, Says Professor
Harvard University is well-equipped to withstand a long and potentially protracted battle with the US government, according to Ryan Enos, a politics professor at the prestigious institution. Enos, the director of the Center for American Political Studies, expressed confidence in the university’s financial reserves and its ability to weather the storm, citing a recent surge in donations from wealthy alumni.
The university has been at the forefront of a resistance movement against the Trump administration, which has sought to cut off over $3 billion in federal research funding to the institution. Enos, along with his colleague Steven Levitsky, had earlier called on the university’s administration to resist the government’s attempts to erode the autonomy of elite American universities.
The petition, which garnered over 800 signatures from Harvard faculty members, ultimately led to the university’s president, Alan Garber, publicly condemning the Trump administration’s actions. Enos views Harvard as a beacon of resistance in the face of a growing authoritarianism in the United States and is urging other institutions, groups and individuals to join the fight.
The Trump administration’s recent announcement to ban international students from Harvard, which was later blocked by a court, has already had a chilling effect on the university’s international student population, Enos said. He warned that the number of international students would likely decline, as some would choose to leave the country out of fear of being arrested on the streets, while others would be deterred from applying to the university in the first place.
Despite the uncertainty, Enos would still advise German high school graduates to apply to Harvard, but with a caveat. “I would make them aware of the unprecedented uncertainty and the potential for the Trump administration to disrupt their lives” he said.