University research OK only if 'in sync' with Trump goals: officials

As President Donald Trump and his administration battle top research universities like Harvard, senior Trump officials are hitting the airwaves to define and defend his policies. The administration is now insisting it will only fund research that aligns with its priorities and does not conflict with its interpretation of federal law.

“The Trump administration is seeking to exert extraordinary influence over American universities by threatening to cut them off from funding and, in some cases, students,” The New York Times reported on Wednesday. “President Trump and his allies have focused their attacks on elite universities, which they say are bastions of antisemitism and ideological indoctrination. But the moves could remake higher education across the country.”

What’s at stake, critics and education experts warn, is academic freedom. Administration officials appeared to disagree.

“Universities should continue to be able to do research,” said Education Secretary Linda McMahon, “as long as they’re abiding by the laws and are are in sync, I think, with the administration and what the administration is trying to accomplish.”

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Secretary McMahon, who has a bachelor’s degree in French, claimed Wednesday on CNBC that Harvard was not enforcing Title VI, which addresses nondiscrimination in federally-funded or assisted programs.

The Secretary suggested that the administration’s targeting of Harvard, the fourth-ranked university in the world, is to set them up as an example.

“I think the president is looking at this as, okay, how can we really make our point? And what are the things that Harvard and other universities are doing, that we have to call attention to?” she added.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt offered a far more forceful and specific explanation, which included an attack on the LGBTQ community.

“The president is more interested in giving that taxpayer money to trade schools, and programs, in state schools, where they are promoting American values,” Leavitt said on Fox News on Tuesday, “but most importantly, educating the next generation based on skills that we need in our economy and our society, apprentenships [sic], electricians, plumbers, we need more of those in our country, and less LGBTQ graduate majors from Harvard University.”

Politico’s Josh Gerstein noted, “In 2024, Harvard College awarded 1,742 degrees to undergraduates. Eight (8) people majored in Women, Gender & Sexuality.”

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“And that’s what this administration’s position is,” Leavitt continued, “and we also are not going to tolerate the illegal criminal anti-Semitic behavior that we saw take place at Harvard and many other college campuses across the country.”

“This is a culture war soundbite designed to inflame, not inform,” warned investment banker Evaristus Odinikaeze, referring to Leavitt’s comments. “America can invest in skilled trades and support academic freedom. Devaluing scholars, because they are LGBTQ, reveals more about Leavitt’s insecurity than our educational priorities. Authentic leadership builds. Demagogues divide.”

Other critics expressed concern over McMahon’s remarks.

“Colleges will get money ‘As long as they’re in sync with the administration’ sounds like the kind of comment that could show up in a legal filing,” wrote Aaron Fritschner, deputy chief of staff to U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA).

Noelle Porter, a government affairs director for a housing nonprofit also responded to Secretary McMahon’s remarks: “So… state-sponsored propaganda machines?”

“In America, the land of the free, no one should be required to be ‘in sync’ with a specific political party in order to benefit from programs open to all,” observed attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council.

HuffPost congressional and White House reporter Jennifer Bendery added, “I guess cutting-edge research on cancer, Alzheimer’s, other life-saving cures isn’t ‘in sync’ with the Trump admin.”

“The executive branch mandating instruction and research are outcomes the right have railed against for decades…” noted New York Times D.C. correspondent Glenn Thrush.

Matthew Boedy, University of North Georgia professor of rhetoric, called McMahon’s comments “Deeply concerning.”

“Universities should not have to be ‘in sync’ with the Trump administration,” declared investigative journalist and filmmaker Lindsay Beyerstein. “That’s totalitarian b——-.”

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