Did Harvard Have It Coming?

Open to Debate

Education, Society & Culture, News, Government, Politics

4.5 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 July 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Trump administration enacted severe actions against Harvard University that threaten its endowment, funding, and ability to enroll international students, based on accusations of antisemitism. Do these actions go too far? Prominent voices long affiliated with Harvard – former university president Larry Summers and law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz — engage in a nuanced debate and provocative discussion: Did Harvard Have It Coming? Arguing Yes: Alan Dershowitz, Emeritus Professor of Law at Harvard Law School Arguing No: Lawrence Summers, President Emeritus of Harvard; Former Secretary of the Treasury Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates Visit OpentoDebate.org to watch more insightful debates. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed on our curated weekly debates, dynamic live events, and educational initiatives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:28.7	hi everybody i'm john donvan with a special note about today's episode. As you know,
0:41.8	typically we bring you debates that explore sharp disagreements between people who have
0:46.2	sharply opposing points of view. And in this case, our debaters are two public figures
0:51.1	who have longstanding relationships and affiliations with Harvard University,
0:56.0	and our topic is President Trump's escalating actions against Harvard.
1:00.5	And as you'll hear, they do disagree on some key points, but in general, there was more common ground between the two of them and more nuanced than we were expecting and anticipating when we first started putting this debate together.
1:11.8	And that's partly because the story is moving so quickly.
1:14.7	So you will still get a provocative conversation and not just about the situation at Harvard,
1:20.2	but also around issues like meritocracy, DEI backlash, and implications for other elite
1:25.6	universities. So please do give it a listen.
1:28.6	It is a tough thing these days to be Harvard. It is the oldest university in America,
1:33.8	traditionally the most prestigious, among the hardest to get into, and the incubator of
1:38.1	spectacular scientific and business and political leadership. Eight U.S. presidents went to
1:42.6	Harvard. But now the current U.S. President,
1:44.6	Donald Trump, has Harvard in the crosshairs. Just since taking office, he has ordered a cut in
1:49.3	federal funding for research at Harvard in the amount of more than $2 billion. He has issued a
1:53.5	proclamation barring Harvard from enrolling international students who generally make up at least
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