In recent years, sharp-eyed parents and investigative reporters have exposed the racial resentment and antisemitism prevalent in DEI. But as public opinion and policymaking turn against this racial discrimination in disguise, a large association of private schools continues to push the radical agenda.
If the biased activity at these elite schools remains unchecked, legal advocates and policymakers will be fighting the same civil rights battles with the next generation of college students.
Today’s battles are certainly yielding good fruit. Lawsuits exposing segregation in schools under DEI’s banner have prompted state and federal lawmakers to reinforce civil rights laws. These laws have helped snuff out mandated “affinity groups” (where participants are separated by race, ethnicity, and/or sex), illegal hiring quotas, and doctrinaire DEI statements required by so-called diversity staff in K-12 schools and universities.
Curiously, the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS), a K-12 private school association, is not moved by the lawsuits and new legislation — nor by DEI’s racial preferences. Later this month, on <a href="https://www.nais.org/events/nais-meetup-for-dei-practitioners-8">April 29</a>, NAIS will even hold a “meetup” for DEI staff working at the association’s institutions.
NAIS is a membership organization for private schools. The group holds conferences and posts job openings for its member institutions on its website and otherwise provides resources on what NAIS deems as best practices.
Some of the “practices,” though, are little more than exercises in segregation. Member schools tout race-based <a href="https://www.merion-mercy.com/about/blog-posts/single-blog/~board/blog/post/what-is-an-affinity-group-and-why-do-they-matter">affinity groups</a> on their <a href="https://www.tescharlotte.org/diversity/affinity-groups.cfm">websites</a>, and NAIS advertises diversity staff positions at its member schools via its <a href="https://careers.nais.org/jobs?keywords=diversity&amp;place=">job bank</a>.
Institutions infused with DEI crowd out competing opinions and create radical echo chambers of a biased orthodoxy. Small wonder that NAIS had to issue an apology in 2024 when <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/15/nyregion/antisemitism-conference-private-schools.html">speakers</a> at one of the association’s DEI events “characterized Israel’s war in Gaza as a genocide and the establishment of the state of Israel as a racist project.”
The American Jewish Committee and Prizmah, an organization for Jewish day schools, were among the groups that wrote to NAIS, saying, “The pervasiveness of this rhetoric and the absence of any alternate perspectives created an atmosphere that was hostile for many Jewish students and faculty members in attendance.”
In 2025, NAIS <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/04/12/us-news/private-school-group-axes-dei-events-over-political-landscape/">canceled</a> its “People of Color Conference,&#8221; but resources on its website suggest DEI remains a priority. NAIS simply <a href="https://www.nais.org/events/gather">renamed</a> the conference, now calling it the “Gather: A Convening for Renewal and Growth, Belonging, and Impact.” This title sounds benign, but NAIS specifically describes the event as a reinvention of its People of Color meeting. The conference will feature more “affinity group work,” as well as sessions on “inclusion and belonging,” a new title for “diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
NAIS remains out of step with civil rights laws. The U.S. Department of Education has been ferreting out racial discrimination in K-12 schools across the country. In February, the agency announced it is investigating Portland public schools because the district operates a racially <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-educations-office-civil-rights-initiates-title-vi-investigation-portland-public-schools">segregated</a> academic program.
The federal agency has opened similar cases over the last year. In 2025, the Education Department canceled some $600 million in grants to schools for teacher training because the grant applications contained racial preferences, some in the form of DEI initiatives.
State lawmakers in Arkansas, Ohio, and Kentucky <a href="https://datavisualizations.heritage.org/education/dei-a-state-legislation-tracker/">adopted</a> prohibitions on DEI in 2025, following earlier legislative activity in Florida, Idaho, and Texas. Today, there are nearly two dozen states with such legislation.
NAIS member schools are preparing the next generation of college students, likely students at elite universities. Faculty and staff at schools like Harvard and Columbia have been among the worst violators of civil rights, allowing antisemitism to persist. DEI offices on these campuses and others have done nothing to stop such activity. Just last month, the Education Department opened yet <a href="https://www.ed.gov/about/news/press-release/us-department-of-educations-office-civil-rights-opens-two-new-probes-harvard-university-continued-discrimination-campus">another</a> investigation into Harvard for racial discrimination.
Independent schools are private institutions, but that does not exempt them from all civil rights laws nor does it excuse antisemitism. Racial discrimination should be exposed to withering scrutiny in public schools, universities, and yes, even private schools.
* * *
Jonathan Butcher is Acting Director of the Center for Education at The Heritage Foundation.

Trump Administration Freezes Federal Funding To Harvard And Threatens School’s Tax-Exempt Status

Elite Schools Insist It’s About ‘Belonging’ — Critics Say It’s Discrimination All Over Again

antisemitism

BIPOC

Civil Rights

Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI)

Education

Harvard

Heritage Foundation

Ivy League

Private Schools

Teachers Unions

Former Harvard University President Claudine Gay is set to teach multiple courses at the Ivy League school in the upcoming academic year, including a class on university &#8220;preservation and governance,&#8221; nearly three years after multiple scandals led to her resignation in early 2024.
For the fall semester, Gay will teach GOV 94HE: &#8220;What is a University?: Purpose and Politics in Higher Education,&#8221; the Harvard Crimson <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/3/23/claudine-gay-returns-to-teaching/">reported</a>. The class goes over the history of higher education in the United States and addresses modern-day arguments on &#8220;curriculum, admissions, research, preservation, and governance.&#8221;
According to the description, &#8220;A central goal of the course is to encourage Harvard students to engage in critical thinking about their own institution and to understand the background political, social, and market pressures that influence their college experience.&#8221; Gay&#8217;s short stint as Harvard&#8217;s president could also become a topic of discussion in the class, which looks at &#8220;Harvard-specific cases, histories and examples&#8221; to study debates in higher education.
Gay resigned in early 2024 in the wake of a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/harvards-gay-accused-of-6-more-instances-of-plagiarism-in-new-complaint">plagiarism scandal</a> and after she was blasted over Harvard&#8217;s response to anti-Israel protests on campus following Hamas&#8217; October 7 attack on Israel. Gay was accused of plagiarizing numerous passages in at least eight of her 17 published works.
Even before the plagiarism accusations surfaced, many questioned Gay&#8217;s ability to lead America&#8217;s oldest university. After anti-Israel demonstrations popped up at colleges across the country in late 2023, Gay testified before Congress on what Harvard leaders were doing to address the growing problem and protect Jewish students. In a viral exchange with Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Gay was asked if calling for the genocide of Jews violated Harvard&#8217;s code of conduct against bullying and harassment.
&#8220;It can be, depending on the context,&#8221; Gay replied, saying the statement would have to be &#8220;targeted at an individual&#8221; to violate Harvard rules.
Gay was criticized for her response to Stefanik&#8217;s simple question by people across the political spectrum, including Harvard faculty members and alumni. Shortly after her testimony, Gay apologized for how she answered the question, saying, &#8220;Words matter. When words amplify distress and pain, I don’t know how you could feel anything but regret.&#8221;
Gay resigned just a month after her testimony, becoming the shortest-serving president in Harvard&#8217;s history. She faced more criticism when she stepped down for claiming in her resignation letter that she was &#8220;subjected to personal attacks and threats fueled by racial animus.&#8221;
Despite her plagiarism scandal and the embarrassing end to her leadership post, Harvard kept Gay on as a professor and even assigned her to teach a course on &#8220;reading and research,&#8221; the College Fix <a href="https://www.thecollegefix.com/claudine-gay-will-teach-class-on-governance-of-universities/">reported</a>. The Fix noted that Gay is set to teach that course again in the 2026-2027 school year.
Gay is also set to teach GOV 94GC: “African American Politics” and GOV 2576: “Politics of Race, Ethnicity and Immigration&#8221; in the upcoming academic year, according to the Harvard Crimson.

Claudine Gay

She Had To Resign After Major Ivy League Scandal. Now She’s Teaching Students About Leadership.

Former Harvard President Who Resigned After Major Scandals To Teach Course On University Leadership

Larry Summers, a former president at Harvard University who served in the Clinton and Obama administrations, resigned from his academic appointments at the Ivy League school on Wednesday. The resignation comes after the recent release of Epstein-related documents revealed Summers&#8217; extensive correspondence with the convicted sex offender, which lasted from 2013 until just four months before Epstein&#8217;s arrest on federal charges.
Summers also relinquished his Harvard University Professorship, which is the highest faculty honor at the school, the Harvard Crimson <a href="https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2026/2/25/summers-retire-harvard-epstein/">reported</a>. The former U.S. Treasury secretary and National Economic Council director said the decision to step down from his role at Harvard was &#8220;difficult,&#8221; but added that it would give him more time to focus on &#8220;research, analysis, and commentary on a range of global economic issues.&#8221;
Summers has faced increasing criticism over his close relationship with Epstein, the extent of which was revealed when the Justice Department began releasing millions of documents from Epstein&#8217;s estate. As the backlash grew, Summers <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ex-harvard-president-retreats-from-public-life-after-epstein-correspondence-revealed?author=Hank+Berrien&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Ex-Harvard+President+Retreats+From+Public+Life+After+Epstein+Correspondence+Revealed">announced</a> last November that he would take a step back from his regular public appearances. Summers has not been accused of any criminal conduct related to Epstein&#8217;s sex-trafficking of girls.
The former Clinton and Obama official <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/-deeply-ashamed-larry-summers-jeffrey-epstein-emails-rcna244526">said</a> in November, “I am deeply ashamed of my actions and recognize the pain they have caused. I take full responsibility for my misguided decision to continue communicating with Mr. Epstein.”
Summers conversed regularly with Epstein in the years after Epstein pled guilty to procuring a child for prostitution in 2008. Among the numerous emails and text messages exchanged between the married Summers and Epstein, Summers asked Epstein for advice on pursuing a relationship with a woman described as his mentee.
&#8220;We talked on phone. Then &#8216;I can&#8217;t talk later.&#8217; [Don&#8217;t] think I can talk tomorrow,'&#8221; Summers <a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2011/EFTA02637441.pdf">wrote</a> to Epstein on March 16, 2019. 
&#8220;I said what are you up to. She said &#8216;I&#8217;m busy&#8217;= I said awfully coy u are. And then I said. Did u really rearrange the weekend we were going to [be] together because guy number 3 was coming. She said no his schedule changed after we changed our plans. I said ok I got to go call me when u feel like it. Tone was not of goo= feeling. I [don&#8217;t] want to be in a gift giving competition while being the friend [w]ithout benefits. Think time to just stay away for a while. If there is potential here s=e II [sic] find way back.&#8221;
Epstein replied 11 minutes later, writing, &#8220;shes smart. making you pay for past errors &#8230; ignore [the] daddy im going to 
go out with the motorcycle guy &#8230; you reacted well &#8230; annoyed shows caring &#8230; no whining showed strentgh [sic throughout].&#8221;
Those messages were among the final conversations Summers had with Epstein before Epstein was arrested by the feds and placed in jail in New York. Epstein was found dead in his jail cell on August 10, 2019, in what federal authorities have ruled a suicide.
Other messages Summers sent to Epstein included discussions on politics and projects at Harvard. In one <a href="https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01741541.pdf">message</a> that was sent less than a month before the 2016 election, Summers asked Epstein, &#8220;How plausible is idea that trump [sic] is real cocaine user?&#8221; In another October 2016 email, Epstein asked Summers if a friend he referred to as “Rothschild” could be given a tour of Harvard.
Amid the backlash over his close ties to Epstein, Summers was dropped by The New York Times, where he was a contributing opinion writer. He also resigned from the board of directors of OpenAI.
Summers&#8217; resignation from his Harvard professorship comes just one day after Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates apologized to his staff at the Gates Foundation over his relationship with Epstein, and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/bill-gates-admits-to-affairs-with-russian-women-but-washes-hands-of-epsteins-crimes?topStoryPosition=undefined&amp;author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=1&amp;row=1&amp;rowHeadline=Top+Stories&amp;rowType=Top+Stories&amp;title=Bill+Gates+Admits+To+Affairs+With+Russian+Women+%E2%80%94+But+Washes+Hands+Of+Epstein%E2%80%99s+Crimes">admitted to affairs</a> he had with two Russian women. Gates assured his foundation that the women were not victims of Epstein’s sex-trafficking scheme, adding, “I did nothing illicit. I saw nothing illicit. To be clear I never spent any time with victims, the women around [Epstein].”
Gates, like Summers, has been a major supporter of the Democratic Party and donated $50 million to a dark money group that backed Kamala Harris in the 2024 election.

Larry Summers/Jeffrey Epstein/Bill Clinton/Barack Obama

Epstein Dominoes Continue To Fall As Clinton-Obama Power Player Quits

Epstein Files

Jeffrey Epstein

Larry Summers

Scandals

World

President Donald Trump is escalating his fight with Harvard University, demanding $1 billion in damages over what he calls the Ivy League school&#8217;s &#8220;strongly antisemitic&#8221; behavior.
Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116004776659519984">said</a> late Monday night that &#8220;Harvard has been, for a long time, behaving very badly&#8221; and suggested that the case against Harvard &#8220;should be Criminal, not Civil.&#8221; His comments came as The New York Times published a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/us/politics/trump-harvard-payment.html">report</a> claiming that the Trump administration was dropping its previous demand for Harvard to pay $500 million to settle allegations that the university mishandled antisemitism on its campus.
The president refuted the New York Times report and accused Harvard of &#8220;feeding a lot of &#8216;nonsense'&#8221; to the &#8220;failing&#8221; newspaper.
&#8220;Harvard has been, for a long time, behaving very badly! They wanted to do a convoluted job training concept, but it was turned down in that it was wholly inadequate and would not have been, in our opinion, successful. It was merely a way of Harvard getting out of a large cash settlement of more than 500 Million Dollars, a number that should be much higher for the serious and heinous illegalities that they have committed,&#8221; Trump said.
In a follow-up post, Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116004978871320100">wrote</a>, &#8220;The Failing New York Times story was completely wrong concerning Harvard University. I hereby demand that the morons that run (into the ground!) the Times’ change their story, immediately.&#8221;
Trump has fought with Harvard over multiple issues since the beginning of his second term. In April, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard over the Ivy League school&#8217;s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs and allegations of an antisemitic culture. A federal judge blocked Trump&#8217;s funding freeze, and most of the funds were restored after Harvard <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/harvard-sues-to-restore-taxpayer-funding-frozen-by-trump-admin">sued</a>. The Trump administration also pushed to bar foreign students from attending Harvard, a move that was also blocked by a federal judge.
As the months-long fight continued last year, the Trump administration was also negotiating with Harvard leaders on a settlement. Last June, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-teases-mindbogglingly-historic-deal-with-harvard-they-have-acted-extremely-appropriately?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Teases+%E2%80%98Mindbogglingly+Historic%E2%80%99+Deal+With+Harvard%3A+%E2%80%98They+Have+Acted+Extremely+Appropriately%E2%80%99">praised</a> Harvard for acting &#8220;extremely appropriately&#8221; during the negotiations and suggested that a &#8220;mindbogglingly historic&#8221; deal could be made &#8220;over the next week or so,&#8221; but nothing came of those talks.
Much of the criticism of Harvard began after the university was accused of allowing antisemitism to fester on its campus following Hamas&#8217; attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Harvard&#8217;s previous president, Claudine Gay, resigned shortly after she was grilled by Congress in late 2023 over the anti-Israel protests that popped up on college campuses, including Harvard&#8217;s.
On Monday night, Trump lambasted new Harvard President Alan Garber over the negotiations and raised his demand from $500 million to $1 billion.
&#8220;Dr. Alan Garber, the President of Harvard, has done a terrible job of rectifying a very bad situation for his institution and, more importantly, America, itself. He was hired AFTER the antisemitism charges were brought &#8211; I wonder why??? We are now seeking One Billion Dollars in damages, and want nothing further to do, into the future, with Harvard University,&#8221; Trump said.
The president added that his administration &#8220;turned down&#8221; an offer from Harvard to put $500 million toward a workforce training program to address some of the federal government&#8217;s complaints.
&#8220;They wanted to do a convoluted job training concept, but it was turned down in that it was wholly inadequate and would not have been, in our opinion, successful,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;It was merely a way of Harvard getting out of a large cash settlement of more than 500 Million Dollars, a number that should be much higher for the serious and heinous illegalities that they have committed.&#8221;
Harvard leaders reportedly want to avoid paying the federal government directly, out of concern that it would harm the university&#8217;s independence. The New York Times reported, however, that Harvard&#8217;s reliance on federal funding could likely force it to cut a deal with Trump.

Donald Trump/Harvard

Trump Escalates Fight With Harvard, Ups Demand To $1 Billion Over ‘Strongly Antisemitic’ Campus

Trump Escalates Fight With Harvard, Ups Demand To $1 Billion Over 'Strongly Antisemitic' Campus

Donald Trump

Trump Administration

Carlos Portugal Gouvea, a visiting professor at Harvard Law School, was arrested in Brookline, Massachusetts after allegedly firing a pellet gun outside Temple Beth Zion as Yom Kippur began — the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
According to Brookline police, the incident <a href="https://brookline.news/brookline-man-arrested-after-allegedly-firing-pellet-rifle-near-synagogue-on-eve-of-yom-kippur/">unfolded</a> on the night of October 1 at 9:07 p.m. Security guards working at Temple Beth Zion for the holiday reported hearing two “loud shots” and saw Gouvea holding the pellet rifle. When they confronted him, Gouvea allegedly set the gun down, then lunged for it before fleeing into his nearby residence. Police arrived quickly, handcuffed him outside his home, and arrested him.
Gouvea, 43, was charged with illegally discharging a pellet gun, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace, and malicious damage of personal property after a parked car window was found shattered with a pellet sitting inside. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment in Brookline District Court Thursday and was released on personal recognizance pending a November hearing.
Gouvea told police he had simply been “hunting rats” with the pellet rifle. Officers warned him about the “alarm he had caused,” but the incident drew more than a dozen police officers to the temple just as Yom Kippur services were underway — a time when Jewish communities across the globe heighten security in the face of rising antisemitism.
The episode quickly drew national outrage, amplified on social media by <a href="https://x.com/StopAntisemites/status/1974567271273037981">StopAntisemitism</a> and others who emphasized that a Harvard Law visiting professor had fired shots near a synagogue at the start of Yom Kippur. Critics highlighted Gouvea’s past online behavior, noting that on October 7, 2023 — the day Hamas and Palestinian civilians slaughtered more than 1,200 Israelis — he posted “Rainy day, party time!” on social media.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Hm. <a href="https://t.co/oKeWXtdAbd">pic.twitter.com/oKeWXtdAbd</a>
&mdash; Ben B@dejo (@BenTelAviv) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenTelAviv/status/1974671996215795806?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Harvard Law School announced only late on Friday that Gouvea had been placed on administrative leave “as the school seeks to learn more about this matter.” But this raised further controversy. Observers accused the university and its student newspaper, The Harvard Crimson, of soft-pedaling the story. Initially, The Crimson reported the arrest prominently and noted Harvard’s silence. But after outrage grew online, the headline and lead of the article were changed to emphasize Gouvea’s “administrative leave” — without clearly stating that the leave came only after the story had gone viral.
Critics <a href="https://x.com/BenTelAviv/status/1974638850996568297">charged</a> that Harvard and The Crimson had coordinated a narrative to downplay the incident, burying the fact that an alleged gunman near a synagogue on Yom Kippur was still actively teaching at the law school until public pressure forced action.
Gouvea serves as an associate professor at the University of São Paulo and runs a Brazilian think tank on “social and environmental justice.”

Harvard University

Harvard Visiting Professor Arrested After Firing Pellet Gun Outside Synagogue On Yom Kippur

Harvard University is set to host a drag performer who calls himself “LaWhore Vagistan” as a visiting professor at the Ivy League institution.
Kareem Khubchandani will teach in the Studies of Gender and Sexuality program, per <a href="https://nypost.com/2025/10/01/us-news/harvard-hires-drag-queen-named-lawhore-vagistan-as-visiting-professor/">The New York Post</a>. The classes offered will be “Queer Ethnography” in the fall and “RuPaulitics: Drag, Race, and Desire” in the spring semester, according to Harvard’s announcement.
Khubchandani did an “<a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/article/595546">interview</a>” with his own drag persona for Johns Hopkins University Press in 2015, during which he discussed his provocative stage name.
“My name is LaWhore Vagistan, my preferred pronouns are ‘she’ or ‘aunty.’ I chose ‘LaWhore’ because my family traces its origins to Pakistan: Lahore is an important city in Pakistan, and well, I’m a bit of a whore,” he said at the time. “And Vagistan because I see the subcontinent as one, big, beautiful Vag … istan.”
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Harvard isn’t the only place LaWhore worked as a professor. The drag performer has a bachelor’s degree in sociology and anthropology, as well as a Master’s degree and a PhD in performance studies from Northwestern University. His work has been published in several academic journals.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Harvard hires drag queen named ‘LaWhore Vagistan’ as visiting professor <a href="https://t.co/2vL0LziK6T">https://t.co/2vL0LziK6T</a> <a href="https://t.co/YkNA4cA11f">pic.twitter.com/YkNA4cA11f</a>
— New York Post (@nypost) <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1973569177194492290?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 2, 2025</a></blockquote>
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He is listed as an Associate Professor for Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies and an Associate Professor in Race, Colonialism, and Diaspora at Tufts University.
Khubchandani is the author of “Ishtyle: Accenting Gay Indian Nightlife” (2020). 
The appointment of drag performer “LaWhore Vagistan” as a visiting professor at one of America’s most prestigious colleges comes as Harvard has become a central target of the Trump administration’s push to use federal funding to force change at U.S. universities, which Trump says are overrun with antisemitism.
Trump’s administration cracked down on Harvard for anti-Israel protests that followed Hamas’s October 7, 2023, terror attack.

Ivy League Insanity: Harvard Taps Drag Queen ‘LaWhore Vagistan’ As Visiting Gender Studies Professor

College

Drag Queens

Gender

Politics

BOSTON (Reuters) — A federal judge on Wednesday ruled U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration unlawfully terminated about $2.2 billion in grants awarded to Harvard University and can no longer cut off research funding to the prestigious Ivy League school.
The decision by U.S. District Judge Allison Burroughs, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, in Boston marked a major legal victory for Harvard as it seeks to cut a deal that could bring an end to the White House&#8217;s multi-front conflict with the nation&#8217;s oldest and richest university.
The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based school became a central focus of the administration&#8217;s broad campaign to leverage federal funding to force change at U.S. universities, which Trump says are gripped by antisemitic and &#8220;radical Left&#8221; ideologies. Burroughs, however, said that the Trump administration used allegations of antisemitism on campuses as “a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”
Three other Ivy League schools stuck deals with the administration, including Columbia University, which in July agreed to pay $220 million to restore federal research money that had been nixed because of allegations the university allowed antisemitism to fester on campus.
As with Columbia, the Trump administration took actions against Harvard related to the anti-Israel protests that roiled its campus and other universities in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel.
Trump during an August 26 Cabinet meeting demanded Harvard pay &#8220;nothing less than $500 million&#8221; as part of a settlement. &#8220;They’ve been very bad,&#8221; he told Education Secretary Linda McMahon. &#8220;Don&#8217;t negotiate.&#8221;
Among the earliest actions the administration took against Harvard was the cancellation of hundreds of grants awarded to researchers on the grounds that the school failed to do enough to address harassment of Jewish students on its campus.
The Trump administration has since sought to bar international students from attending the school; threatened Harvard&#8217;s accreditation status; and opened the door to cutting off more funds by finding it violated federal civil rights law.
Harvard has said it has taken steps to ensure its campus is welcoming to Jewish and Israeli students, who it acknowledges experienced &#8220;vicious and reprehensible&#8221; treatment following the onset of Israel&#8217;s war in Gaza.
But Harvard President Alan Garber has said the administration&#8217;s demands went far beyond addressing antisemitism and unlawfully sought to regulate the &#8220;intellectual conditions&#8221; on its campus by controlling who it hires and who it teaches.
Those demands, which came in an April 11 letter from an administration task force, included calls for the private university to restructure its governance, alter its hiring and admissions practices to ensure an ideological balance of viewpoints and end certain academic programs.
After Harvard rejected those demands, it accused the Trump administration of retaliating against it in violation of First Amendment free speech protections by abruptly cutting funding the school says is vital to supporting scientific and medical research.
Burroughs in a separate case has already barred the administration from halting its ability to host international students, who comprise about a quarter of Harvard&#8217;s student body.
(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; editing by Amy Stevens and Lincoln Feast)

Obama-Appointed Judge Blocks Trump’s Freeze On Harvard’s Federal Funding

A radical professor is teaching a new seminar at Harvard University in which she touts two-time failed Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams as a “political mastermind.”
The class, titled “Race, Gender, and the Law Through the Archive,” and taught by assistant history professor Myisha Eatmon, investigates “the role that Black women and non-binary people have played in shaping politics, grassroots organizing, the legal bar, and higher education during Jim (Jane) Crow and beyond.”
Abrams served for 11 years as a Georgia state representative before losing to Republican Brian Kemp in 2018 and 2022. Though she has never held federal office, the Ivy League course places her alongside leading black female figures of 21st century politics.
“From First Lady Michelle Obama to political mastermind Stacy Abrams to Vice President Kamala Harris, Black women have left their stamp on 21st-century politics and grassroots organizing,” the seminar description reads, misspelling Abram’s first name.
The class is taught by Harvard assistant history professor Dr. Myisha Eatmon. Eatmon’s work focuses on “the intersection of race, power, and law, with expertise in how African Americans have employed their &#8220;legal imaginations&#8221; to challenge &#8220;systemic oppression.”
“How did these people navigate gender and sexuality while pushing for civil rights? How did gender, sexuality, and intersectionality impact their political ideologies?” The course asks students.
It promotes a subjective understanding of the law in line with Critical Race Theory, and claims that “students will see the subjectivity of the Black women and non-binary people who helped push for social and legal reform.”
Eatmon’s narrative of systemic oppression and intersectionality mirrors some of Abrams’s own statements.
After losing her first gubernatorial election by a narrow margin, Abrams claimed the election was stolen from her. She <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/29/stacey-abramss-rhetorical-twist-being-an-election-denier/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">walked back</a> on her statements when she ran again in 2022, saying that unlike Trump, she “never denied the election” and “never denied that I lost.”
She did say, however, that the election was “flawed.”
“I refuse to concede a system that permits citizens to be denied access,” she said. “That is very different than someone claiming fraudulent outcome.”
Adams filed and ultimately lost a lawsuit challenging Georgia’s election laws, funding the multimillion dollar legal battle through one of her voting rights nonprofits, as The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/another-stacy-abrams-nonprofit-could-be-in-trouble?author=Leif+Le+Mahieu&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Another+Stacy+Abrams+Nonprofit+Could+Be+In+Trouble" target="_blank" rel="noopener">previously reported</a>. In a separate lawsuit, another one of Adams’ nonprofits was penalized for providing millions of dollars to her campaign.
Abrams <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2020/01/31/stacey-abrams-president-2040-109869" target="_blank" rel="noopener">predicted</a> in 2020 that the United States would elect a black female president in the next 20 years, and suggested that it might be herself. She later tweeted that 2028 “would be the earliest I would be ready to stand for president.”
However, Democrats themselves don’t appear to view Abrams as a “mastermind,” with many <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5297972-democrats-stacey-abrams-2026-midterms-georgia-governor-race/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dismissing</a> the idea of an attempted third run for governor in 2026.
“There’s not a lot of energy…or a large appetite within the state of Georgia amongst Democrats for a third Abrams run,” said Georgia Democratic strategist Fred Hicks.

Stacey Abrams Campaigns Across Southeastern Georgia Ahead Of Election Day

Radical Harvard Professor Touts Stacey Abrams as ‘Political Mastermind’

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The following excerpt is taken from “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Slacking-Guide-Ivy-League-Miseducation/dp/1641774592">Slacking: A Guide To Ivy League Miseducation</a>,” by Adam Kissel, Rachel Alexander Cambre, and Madison Marino Doan (Encounter Books)
* * *
Don’t trust the Ivy League to produce well-educated students.
The eight institutions that make up the Ivy League are among the most selective in the United States, and their graduates occupy the elite echelons of American life. Parents often spend $80,000 or more per year for their children to attend Princeton, Harvard, Yale, Penn, Columbia, Brown, Cornell, or Dartmouth and have an opportunity to punch a ticket to the top.
But what really happens there? Do graduates really join “the fellowship of educated men and women,” as Harvard used to assert each year at its commencement ceremony?
Some do. Many don’t.
Like most American colleges, most of the Ivies grant signiﬁcant latitude in the undergraduate curriculum. (Columbia is the only exception.) Students not only choose a major — from as many as ninety options—but they also choose the content of their core curriculum. Core curricula historically guaranteed consistency for undergraduates, reflecting a wise faculty’s determination of the knowledge and academic skills most worth having. Today, however, most general education requirements in the Ivies are so general — some arts here, some sciences there—that they are simply another opportunity for undirected self-actualization. Hundreds of course options can fulﬁll each “requirement.”
These options, moreover, vary tremendously — from serious, rigorous, and open to challenge, to whimsical, activist, and tendentious. This variation is greatest in the humanities and social sciences. For every course seeking to develop a broader or deeper understanding of man, nature, and the cosmos, there are dozens preoccupied with pop culture, identity politics, progressive activism, or hyper-specialization.
<div id="attachment_953731" style="width: 394px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-953731" class="wp-image-953731 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-384x576.jpg" alt="Cover Credit: Encounter Books/ Cooley Design Lab. William Shakespeare associated with John Taylor circa 1610." width="384" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-384x576.jpg 384w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-200x300.jpg 200w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-768x1152.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-1360x2040.jpg 1360w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/07/MixCollage-29-Jul-2025-11-19-AM-1249-scaled.jpg 1707w" sizes=" (max-width: 384px) 100vw, 384px" />Cover Credit: Encounter Books/ Cooley Design Lab. William Shakespeare associated with John Taylor circa 1610.</div>
Writing requirements are even worse. Putatively about writing, such courses indulge the moral and political conceits of their instructors. At the other extreme, most courses that meet science requirements actually teach science, even though light courses are available for slackers. (At Cornell, the course discussing Disney films to learn about animals is an exception, and Columbia still offers Physics for Poets.)
A generation ago, the critique of Ivy League curricula was that a student could graduate without being required to take any Shakespeare, American history, or Western civilization. That complaint remains well-grounded. Today, the situation is worse: Can a serious student find even one core course on Shakespeare or America worth taking?
By not providing a content-rich core curriculum — a set of required courses in the arts and sciences — but instead allowing students to choose from a wide range of courses to fulﬁll vague distribution requirements, most of the Ivies risk having students graduate with what the American Council of Trustees and Alumni calls a “thin and patchy education, with no guarantee that they have mastered a core set of facts or skills.” Absent strong curricular requirements, universities cannot guarantee that students “learn what they need to know to be informed citizens, effective workers, and lifelong learners.”
Fortunately, a strong education remains available to Ivy students in most areas of general education. They will have to work for it and get wise advice. But by far, Ivy League students are offered, and thus receive, a truly substandard education by any reasonable measure. Dante or Cardi B? Every educated man and woman ought to know the difference.
* * *
This excerpt from “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Slacking-Guide-Ivy-League-Miseducation/dp/1641774592">Slacking</a>” is published by permission from Encounter Books.
Adam Kissel is a visiting fellow for higher education reform in the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation. A graduate of the University of Chicago and Harvard, he served in the first Trump administration as deputy assistant secretary for higher education programs. 
Rachel Alexander Cambre teaches for Belmont Abbey College’s new Master of Arts in Classical and Liberal Education program. She holds degrees from Washington and Lee University and Baylor University and has held teaching and research postdoctoral fellowships at Princeton University and the University of Virginia.
Madison Marino Doan is a senior research associate in the Center for Education Policy at The Heritage Foundation. Her work focuses on affordability and accountability reform in higher education and K-12 education choice initiatives. She graduated summa cum laude from Lamar University in economics and finance.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

Yale University campus

From Dante To Cardi B? The Collapse Of Ivy League Curricula

From Dante To Cardi B? The Collapse Of Ivy League Curriculums

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President Donald Trump said on Monday that he&#8217;s expecting Obama-appointed Judge Allison D. Burroughs to rule against his administration in its federal funding fight with Harvard, blasting her as a &#8220;total disaster.&#8221;
The Trump administration squared off with Harvard in front of Burroughs in a Boston courtroom Monday as both parties seek a final ruling after Harvard sued the federal government over Trump&#8217;s funding freeze. Both Harvard and the Trump administration asked Judge Burroughs to rule on the case without going to trial, but Monday&#8217;s hearing ended without a decision, The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/07/21/trump-harvard-hearing/">reported</a>.
Despite not deciding on the case, the judge appeared favorable to Harvard&#8217;s arguments and questioned the Trump administration&#8217;s move to strip federal funding from the Ivy League school. During the hearing, Burroughs said that the federal government provided “no documentation, no procedure” to determine if Harvard has &#8220;taken enough steps&#8221; to combat antisemitism, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvard-trump-funding-cuts-court-0e9100198461e1df52b5a5a4d11837ed">according</a> to the Associated Press.
“The consequences of that in terms of constitutional law are staggering,” she said. “I don’t think you can justify a contract action based on impermissible suppression of speech. Where do I have that wrong?&#8221;
Burroughs previously ruled in favor of Harvard after the Trump administration moved to prohibit the university from enrolling foreign students.
&#8220;The Harvard case was just tried in Massachusetts before an Obama appointed Judge. She is a TOTAL DISASTER, which I say even before hearing her Ruling. She has systematically taken over the various Harvard cases, and is an automatic &#8216;loss&#8217; for the People of our Country!&#8221; Trump <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114892486666754017">wrote</a> on Truth Social.
&#8220;How did this Trump-hating Judge get these cases? When she rules against us, we will IMMEDIATELY appeal, and WIN,&#8221; he added.
The Trump administration stripped more than $2 billion from Harvard earlier this year, citing anti-Israel sentiment on its campus and the school&#8217;s diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. The president added on Monday that it&#8217;s &#8220;unfair&#8221; for billions of dollars to be handed out to Harvard over other American universities, calling Harvard &#8220;anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-America.&#8221;
&#8220;Harvard has $52 Billion Dollars sitting in the Bank, and yet they are anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and anti-America,&#8221; Trump wrote. &#8220;Much of this money comes from the U.S.A., all to the detriment of other Schools, Colleges, and Institutions, and we are not going to allow this unfair situation to happen any longer.&#8221;
Steven P. Lehotsky, who argued on behalf of Harvard, said that the Trump administration&#8217;s actions violate the First Amendment and pose a threat to other private universities around the country, according to the Post. Lehotsky <a href="https://apnews.com/article/harvard-trump-funding-cuts-court-0e9100198461e1df52b5a5a4d11837ed">added</a> that the Trump administration is attempting to control the &#8220;inner workings&#8221; of Harvard and that funding cuts would deprive the institution of vital research funds.
Lawyers for the Trump administration argued that the federal government has the right to stop handing out federal funding to institutions that show a “deliberate indifference to antisemitism.&#8221;

Trump Rips Obama-Appointed Judge After She Signals Support For Harvard During Hearing

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The court battle between the Trump administration and Harvard University went before a federal judge in Boston on Monday as both parties seek a final ruling on the Ivy League school&#8217;s lawsuit over federal funding cuts.
Judge Allison D. Burroughs, who sided with Harvard in another case over the Trump administration&#8217;s attempt to block the university from enrolling foreign students, will likely signal on Monday where she stands on Harvard&#8217;s lawsuit against the Trump administration, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/21/us/trump-administration-harvard-hearing.html">reported</a>. Harvard sued the federal government in April after the Trump administration announced it would strip more than $2 billion in federal funding from the school, citing anti-Israel sentiment on the campus and its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
President Donald Trump has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-calls-harvard-an-anti-semitic-threat-to-democracy?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Calls+Harvard+%E2%80%98An+Anti-Semitic%E2%80%A6Threat+To+Democracy%E2%80%99">called</a> Harvard “Anti-Semitic,” “Far-Left,” and “a threat to Democracy.”
“The place is a Liberal mess, allowing a certain group of crazed lunatics to enter and exit the classroom and spew fake ANGER AND HATE. It is truly horrific!” Trump added in April.
The federal antisemitism task force, established by the Trump Department of Justice earlier this year, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/07/21/trump-harvard-hearing/?utm_campaign=wp_main&amp;utm_source=twitter&amp;utm_medium=social">demanded</a> that Harvard submit to federal oversight and reform certain aspects of its admissions, hiring, and student discipline practices. Harvard refused to comply with the task force&#8217;s demands.
In its lawsuit, Harvard argues that the Trump administration is violating its First Amendment rights. Harvard also states that the funding freeze will harm essential scientific and medical research more than anything else.
“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,&#8221; said Harvard&#8217;s President Alan M. Garber.
The court hearing comes as President Donald Trump continues to negotiate with the university. One month ago, Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-teases-mindbogglingly-historic-deal-with-harvard-they-have-acted-extremely-appropriately?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Teases+%E2%80%98Mindbogglingly+Historic%E2%80%99+Deal+With+Harvard%3A+%E2%80%98They+Have+Acted+Extremely+Appropriately%E2%80%99">teased</a> a &#8220;mindbogglingly HISTORIC&#8221; deal with Harvard that he said would be announced “over the next week or so.”
&#8220;They have acted extremely appropriately during these negotiations, and appear to be committed to doing what is right,&#8221; Trump said in a <a href="https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114717387393069944">June 20</a> Truth Social post.
Harvard has promised to address antisemitism on its campus, and the Trump administration said it remains &#8220;confident that Harvard will eventually come around and support the president’s vision, and through good-faith conversations and negotiations, a good deal is more than possible.” Ahead of Monday&#8217;s hearing, White House spokesman Harrison Fields told <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/21/politics/harvard-trump-administration-court">CNN</a>, “The Trump Administration’s proposition is simple and commonsense: Don’t allow antisemitism and DEI to run your campus, don’t break the law, and protect the civil liberties of all students.”
As Trump pushes Harvard to make a deal, he has ramped up pressure on the school to hand over information on foreign students. Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security sent <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-subpoenas-harvard-over-foreign-student-misconduct-campus-radicalism?author=Zach+Jewell&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Admin+Subpoenas+Harvard+Over+Foreign+Student+Misconduct%2C+Campus+Radicalism">administrative subpoenas</a> to Harvard, accusing it of “repeatedly” refusing to cooperate with the Trump administration’s “non-coercive requests to hand over the required information for its Student Visitor and Exchange Program certification.”

Trump Administration Squares Off With Harvard In Court Over Federal Funding

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Harvard University is reportedly considering a new center for conservative scholarship amid criticism from the Trump administration that the school has drifted too far to the Left.
The Ivy League school has mulled starting a program for conservative scholarship for several years, but now the idea is gaining momentum, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/harvard-conservative-scholarship-center-trump-attacks-a187242a">according</a> to The Wall Street Journal.
The center could cost as much as $1 billion, and Harvard has already discussed the idea with potential donors, the Journal reported.
A Harvard spokesman said the school is ramping up work to set up such a center.
The program would “promote and support viewpoint diversity” and “will ensure exposure to the broadest ranges of perspectives on issues, and will not be partisan, but rather will model the use of evidence-based, rigorous logic and a willingness to engage with opposing views,” Harvard&#8217;s spokesman told the outlet.
If it takes shape, Harvard&#8217;s new center could potentially be modeled after Stanford’s Hoover Institution, which promotes personal liberty and limited government and is nonpartisan but widely viewed as conservative. Ronald Reagan was the Hoover Institution&#8217;s first honorary fellow.
However, the Trump administration would not necessarily view a new center purportedly for conservative thought as a significant step, the Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the administration&#8217;s perspective.
Harvard leaders&#8217; discussions about the potential center come amid a heated battle with the Trump administration over diversity, equity and inclusion practices as well as antisemitism.
In 2023, pro-Palestinian protests erupted on Harvard&#8217;s campus, sparking widespread backlash.
Harvard&#8217;s president at the time, Claudine Gay, was called to testify in front of Congress about the school&#8217;s response to antisemitism on campus. Her testimony was criticized after she <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ny-post-says-harvards-lawyer-contacted-them-for-looking-into-plagiarism-claims">hedged</a> on saying whether calling for the genocide of Jews violated the university&#8217;s codes of conduct.
The Trump administration has pulled billions in federal funds from the school, threatened Harvard&#8217;s tax-exempt status, and moved to block the school from enrolling foreign students.
Harvard is suing, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/harvard-sues-after-trump-admin-blocks-university-from-admitting-foreign-students">claiming</a> the administration is violating its First Amendment rights and trying to &#8220;control Harvard’s governance, curriculum, and the ‘ideology’ of its faculty and students.&#8221;
This week, the administration also threatened Harvard&#8217;s accreditation, accusing the school of violating federal discrimination law by failing to protect Jewish students from antisemitic harassment.
If Harvard were to lose its accreditation, it would also lose access to federal student aid, typically an existential event for universities that leads to their shuttering.
Harvard&#8217;s accreditation is handled by the New England Commission of Higher Education, which is not controlled by the government, but Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent the commission a firm letter about the issue.
&#8220;By allowing anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination to persist unchecked on its campus, Harvard University has failed in its obligation to students, educators, and American taxpayers,&#8221; McMahon wrote.
She added that the Education Department expects the commission to keep the administration &#8220;fully informed of its efforts to ensure that Harvard is in compliance with federal law and accreditor standards.&#8221;

Students Hold ‘No Justice Walkout’ Amid Sexual Harassment Lawsuit

Harvard Weighs New Conservative Center As Trump Targets School: Report

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