Rantz: Harvard turned on Jews and deserves to lose funding, yet Trump is trying to save it

Left‑wing politicians, campus academics, and TV talking heads are shrieking that the Trump administration’s move to withhold federal dollars unless Harvard reins in antisemitism and other bias somehow “threatens academic freedom.” They’re dead wrong.

Harvard—just like most elite universities—jumped at every woke demand from Black Lives Matter activists and gender extremists. It amplified every lie about police brutality and now pretends gender is an endless buffet of identities you can switch on a dime. But the moment someone dares defend Jewish students from discrimination, Harvard suddenly morphs into a crusader for “academic freedom.” Don’t buy it.

Now, Harvard is suing to unfreeze those funds, insisting it’s owed tax dollars with zero oversight. Newsflash: No institution gets a blank check.

Yes, academic freedom matters. No, the federal government shouldn’t script curricula. I agree. But when billions of taxpayer dollars are on the line, we deserved some guardrails. Critics of this move aren’t upset because it’s a slippery slope—they’re clinging to misinformation, ignorance, or outright lies.

CNN panel claims Trump demanding Harvard stop teaching Middle Eastern history

Consider CNN’s panel claiming the administration wants Harvard to stop teaching African‑American or Middle Eastern history. When a fellow panelist corrected them, left‑wing author Alencia Johnson doubled down, “That’s what the demands say.” Except they don’t.

The letter from the Trump administration to Harvard is public.

Harvard must commission an independent audit of programs “that most fuel antisemitic harassment or reflect ideological capture.” It should also identify faculty who “discriminated against Jewish or Israeli students or incited students to violate Harvard’s rules following October 7.” If there’s nothing to hide, why block a neutral audit?

Stop fueling antisemitism

The other faux concern from the left involves the Trump administration demanding Harvard promote viewpoint diversity in hiring, the very thing universities used to strive for.

Instead, they push groupthink and actively discriminate against or silence conservative viewpoints. Or, in the case of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES), the school promotes antisemitism, according to many. And apparently, the Trump administration was right to specifically call out CMES.

Last month, The Harvard Crimson reported that the university “dismissed the faculty leaders” of CMES after the program had “come under fire for its programming on Israel and Palestine.”

Former Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers wrote in a March post on X that a February panel at CMES about “Israel’s war in Lebanon” was “very likely” antisemitic under the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which Harvard adopted as part of a settlement agreement in January.

A report from the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance, an alumni advocacy group, in May accused the CMES of demonizing Israel as the “last remaining colonial settler power embodying the world’s worst evils: racism, apartheid, and genocide.”

Harvard is actively fighting the Trump administration. They did not have to make this change, but did anyway. That’s how bad the alleged antisemitism was.

Trump administration can save Harvard

Did Harvard really demand CMES teach—or ignore—some particular topic? No. The Trump administration isn’t dictating course syllabi; it’s insisting Harvard stop turning its Center for Middle Eastern Studies into an antisemitic echo chamber. In plain English: teach, don’t indoctrinate.

If CNN panels or left‑wing activists can’t fathom a Middle Eastern Studies department that doesn’t villainize or call for the destruction of Israel, that’s their problem—not the White House’s. The Trump administration’s real goal is, perhaps ironically, to rescue Harvard’s reputation. Once a world‑class university, it’s devolved into a left‑wing circus that graduates activist warriors, not thoughtful citizens.

You can argue the White House shouldn’t play dean of Harvard. Fair. But taxpayers shouldn’t underwrite a truly awful investment.

Taxpayers deserve guardrails

Billions in federal support deserve guardrails—especially when programs have “egregious records of antisemitism or other bias,” per the public letter. Harvard can either submit to an independent audit and restore viewpoint diversity, or keep begging for blank‑check funding from George Soros.

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