News of the Trump administration’s demands of Harvard University as a condition of continued access to federal funding broke today, and the liberal institutions are up in arms. The evening network newscasts went in on the story, defending Harvard like it was an illegal alien gangbanger about to get deported to El Salvador.
The lunacy spanned the dial, but the most egregious take came from the end of related reporting on the CBS Evening News: if Harvard’s federal funding is cut, PEOPLE WILL DIEEEEEEE:
JOHN DICKERSON: Well, Nikki, who is in Cambridge, Harvard is obviously not apologizing, it is doing the opposite. It is the biggest institution to push back in this way, and so given that, what are they worried about losing when this money goes away?
NIKKI BATISTE: I spoke with a medical school professor who says his department has been hit with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cuts. That will impact research into Alzheimer's, ALS, Parkinson's, long covid, and a variety of cancers, and he said what that means for Americans -- and I quote him -- is that “people who could have been cured in the years to come will instead die.”
Immediately thereafter, Batiste clarifies that poor, underprivileged Harvard is simply unable to dip into their massive $53 billion endowment because the monies are earmarked for specific purposes. How convenient.
The whole of the report was as deranged as its closing. Co-anchor John Dickerson introduced the report by describing deranged DEI policies as “Socially conscious”:
JOHN DICKERSON: He’s cut off more than $2 billion in federal funding to Harvard because of the school's socially conscious policies, which he disparages as woke.
Over at ABC, Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman repeated the endowments line:
MATT GUTMAN: And David, of course, Harvard, with that over $50 billion endowment, and while scientific research is on the line, university officials say it's not a piggy bank that can just be mined for anything.
Correspondent Stephanie Gosk delivered NBC’s equivalent:
STEPHANIE GOSK: Harvard has the largest endowment of them all: over $53 billion dollars, but there are restrictions over how that money can be spent. So pulling federal grants will still hurt.
This is, indeed, a very interesting line of narrative attack: that the school’s wealth requires it to continue to receive federal funds because the aforementioned wealth is compartmentalized. Of course, all these reports ignore that the real reason why federal funding for universities is perceived to be under attack because they’ve been a bit too comfortable with pro-Hamas campus protesters chanting “from the River to the Sea” and terrorizing Jewish students who are simply trying to get to class.
Of course the media are going to stand with universities in their battle against accountability: if the K-12 system is the main liberal indoctrinating institution, then academia is the finishing school. Harvard, as part of the academic elite, is revered among the institutions. Therefore, it is only fitting that the media rush to defend Harvard. The rot runs deep.
Click “expand” to view the full transcripts of the aforementioned reports as aired on their respective newscasts on Tuesday, April 15th, 2025:
ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
4/15/25
6:42 PM
DAVID MUIR: Next tonight, the battle escalating between President Trump and Harvard. Harvard rejecting the president's demands, saying “no government, regardless of party, should dictate what private universities can teach and do.” Tonight, the president is now freezing more than $2 billion in federal funds and is now threatening Harvard's tax exempt status. Our Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman in Cambridge, Massachusetts, tonight.
MATT GUTMAN: Tonight, 24 hours after Harvard refused President Trump's demands, President Trump escalating his threats against the university, now suggesting the university should lose its tax exempt status if it continues its defiance. The president posting today, "Perhaps Harvard should be taxed as a political entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting sickness." But critics of the president say it’s Trump's who’s playing politics with academic institutions. The White House freezing $2.2 billion in federal funding to Harvard, after the university refused to comply with a series of demands, including: reporting to federal authorities foreign students who commit conduct violations, submitting to an audit to ensure academic departments have diverse viewpoints, ending all DEI programs, sharing hiring data with the administration, and submitting to an audit of admissions data. The school's president Alan Garber writing, "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." And tonight with about $7 billion in federal funds still on the line, Harvard tonight doubling down, vowing it “will not surrender its Independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.”
So with the university saying it's not going to surrender, where does this go next?
NIKO BOWIE: One place it can go is court. What the Trump administration's doing is illegal, and the university has a very strong legal position here that the First Amendment and the Civil Rights Act do not permit what the Trump administration is demanding.
GUTMAN: The administration targeting about 60 universities and claims what's driving this is their effort against anti-semitism. Harvard says it has taken steps to combat anti-semitism, and critics of the president say this is about much more than that. And tonight the acting president of Columbia, also a target of The White House, addressing the university's efforts to restore $400 million in canceled funding, saying they're working with the administration, but “would reject any agreement that would require us to relinquish our Independence and autonomy as an educational institution.”
And David, of course, Harvard, with that over $50 billion endowment, and while scientific research is on the line, university officials say it's not a piggy bank that can just be mined for anything. And the university president making it clear that no government should dictate to a private university what it should teach and do. David.
MUIR: Matt Gutman in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Matt, thank you.
CBS EVENING NEWS
4/45/25
6:35 PM
MAURICE DuBOIS: The president is not targeting just the campus protesters but universities for not stopping them.
JOHN DICKERSON: He’s cut off more than $2 billion in federal funding to Harvard because of the school's socially conscious policies, which he disparages as woke.
DuBOIS: And he’s threatening to take away Harvard's tax exempt status. But Nikki Batiste reports the university is pushing back.
NIKKI BATISTE: We found the mood in Harvard Yard defiant.
STUDENT: I have never seen that much celebration, all towards one end.
BATISTE: In a letter to students and faculty, Harvard president Alan Garber wrote: “the university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.” The Trump administration responded by freezing $2.2 billion in grants. Andrew Manuel Crespo is a professor at the Harvard Law School.
BATISTE: What is the significance of Harvard, specifically, pushing back?
ANDREW CRESPO: Harvard is the most well-known and wealthiest university in the world. If this attack succeeds at Harvard, it will be a significant blow for all of higher education in America.
BATISTE: The school is among 60 universities the Trump administration has threatened with federal funding cuts unless changes were made to campus policy The White House has described as allowing anti-semitism or promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
CRESPO: You can't have a successful research university if it is only allowed to study certain questions that are asked by the government, and if it is only allowed to give certain answers that the president likes or doesn't like because of the politics of the day.
BATISTE: We also visited Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, which has been notified by the Department of Education it could face cuts, too. The school is already facing a loss of $800 million in federal funding, some earmarked for clinical trials of cancer treatments.
ELIZABETH JAFFEE: This is a critical component of how we do clinical research.
BATISTE: Oncologist Elizabeth Jaffee is deputy director of the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins.
JAFFEE: We’re very worried because what’s happening is that one day we hear our grants are cut, and the next, that we have to say to a patient “sorry, no more money is coming in, so we can't treat you on this trial anymore.”
BATISTE: And could that patient die as a result?
JAFFEE: Absolutely, because these patients are on clinical trials because they have no other options.
BATISTE: Johns Hopkins University is still under investigation by the Trump administration so it hasn't received any orders for policy changes yet. Today, The White House demanded an apology from Harvard.
DICKERSON: Well, Nikki, who is in Cambridge, Harvard is obviously not apologizing, it is doing the opposite. It is the biggest institution to push back in this way, and so given that, what are they worried about losing when this money goes away?
BATISTE: I spoke with a medical school professor who says his department has been hit with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cuts. That will impact research into Alzheimer's, ALS, Parkinson's, long covid, and a variety of cancers, and he said what that means for Americans -- and I quote him -- is that “people who could have been cured in the years to come will instead die.”
DuBOIS: And Nikki, people watching might wonder why doesn't Harvard just dip into its endowment, the largest in the country. What is the answer to that?
BATISTE: A Harvard spokesperson tells me that endowment money, the majority of endowment money here is restricted. It cannot be used except for its intended use, and that is often decided at the time it’s donated.
DuBOIS: Okay, Nikki Batiste for us tonight in Cambridge. Thank you.
NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
4/15/25
6:32 PM
TOM LLAMAS: Tonight the Trump administration is taking on one of the most powerful institutions in the world. Harvard. The president today further threatening the school's financial foundations after the Department of Education put a freeze on more than two billion dollars’ worth of federal funding. All of it a reaction to the university's refusal to comply with a list of wide-ranging demands on DEI, leadership, governance and more. The White House saying Harvard didn't do enough to address antisemitism on campus. But the university tonight is pushing back, saying that the Trump administration is violating their First Amendment rights, and now former President Obama is getting involved. It's the most high-profile school to stand up to the administration so far. Stephanie Gosk starts us off.
STEPHANIE GOSK: Tonight, it's an all-out battle between Harvard and the Trump administration. The White House accusing the school of not addressing antisemitism on campus.
KAROLINE LEAVITT: We unfortunately saw that illegal discrimination take place on the campus of Harvard. There are countless examples to prove it.
GOSK: The Department of Education freezing more than $2 billion in federal money after Harvard refused to accept a long list of demands taking aim at its culture and curriculum. The school’s defiance being embraced by some on campus.
RYAN ENOS: I think it was so important, because this attack on Harvard wasn't just an attack on Harvard- it’s an attack on higher education and in that sense is an attack on a pillar of American civil society.
GOSK: Today President Trump also threatening to revoke the university's tax exempt status, accusing the school of “pushing political, and terrorist inspired sickness”. Harvard University's president says the school has taken steps to address antisemitism on campus, and called the federal government's tactics a violation of the school's First Amendment rights. Former President Barack Obama weighing in today, applauding Harvard's decision. “Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions, rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom.” Federal funding has been paused for schools around the country including Columbia, Penn, Princeton and Northwestern. The money being used as a cudgel to try to force cultural change. Harvard has the largest endowment of them all: over $53 billion dollars, but there are restrictions over how that money can be spent. So pulling federal grants will still hurt. And the whole country will feel it, according to the American Council on Education.
TED MITCHELL: This freeze will hamper Harvard’s ability to produce new technologies, new biomedical discoveries, new outreach in public health. We will be in worse shape as a nation because of these freezes.
LLAMAS: All right, Stephanie joins us now in studio. And Stephanie, Harvard is lawyering up and they’re getting attorneys with conservative credentials?
GOSK: Yeah, they are. They haven’t filed a lawsuit yet but they’ve hired these two high-profile Republican attorneys. One, the former deputy counsel for president George W. Bush. The other, the former special counsel who investigated Joe Biden and his handling of classified documents. So it seems like they’re getting ready to go to court, Tom. All right, Stephanie Gosk leading us off tonight. Stephanie, we thank you for that.
