Harvard President Alan Garber told NPR’s “Morning Edition” that the Trump administration’s actions against the university, including attempting to cut research funding and ban international students, are part of a broader “culture war” against elite universities. “It is a warning. They see this as a message that if you don’t comply with what we’re demanding, these will be the consequences,” Garber said. “I don’t know fully what the motivations are, but I do know that there are people who are fighting a cultural battle. I don’t know if that is what is driving the administration. They don’t like what’s happened to campuses, and sometimes they don’t like what we represent,” he said. “What I can tell you is: Harvard is a very old institution-much older than the country. As long as there has been a United States of America, Harvard has thought its role is to serve the nation. I believe I speak for nearly every other university as well in believing that is our goal.” “So far as there are people who would like to see these universities brought down, I think their fire is misdirected. We have a common interest in making the nation-and indeed the world-a better place.” “I would say that we need to be firm in our commitments to what we stand for. And what we stand for, I believe I speak for other universities, is education, pursuit of the truth, helping to educate people for better futures,” he said.

STEVE INSKEEP, NPR: DHS linked to one of Harvard’s own documents-a report by a presidential commission you convened. That report says: Since fall 2023, different factions at Harvard have fought to force various university leaders to make statements, invest, divest, hire, fire, dox, and undiscipline students. How would you define the problem? GARBER: Clearly, there has been tremendous division on campus over that period of time. There are faculty and students who disagreed with one another about what the university should do. But the main purpose of that report was to identify the problems we face, particularly with regard to our Jewish and Israeli students. They took a hard look. They listened to many people, dozens of listening sessions, and put together a comprehensive picture of how people felt on campus about issues touching not only Jewish and Israeli students, but faculty, staff, and the broader community. Their work led to a series of recommendations. I take very seriously not only their identification of the problems, but the recommendations they made. Some of those recommendations we had already adopted. Some we are currently working through. But I do believe we had a real problem. We’ve done a lot to address it, and we will continue to work at it. … STEVE INSKEEP, NPR:One other thing-in reading the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) statement about Harvard, there is a line that struck me: “Let this serve as a warning.” They’re talking about their actions against Harvard. Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country. I wonder if you agree with that statement-that this episode is, in fact, a warning to all universities across the country? GARBER: Well, they said it. And I have to believe it. And I’ve repeated it myself. And that is how it’s understood by the leaders of other universities that I have spoken to. It is a warning. They see this as a message that if you don’t comply with what we’re demanding, these will be the consequences. STEVE INSKEEP, NPR: If you were going to make a warning to other universities, how would you phrase it? GARBER: I would say that we need to be firm in our commitments to what we stand for. And what we stand for, I believe I speak for other universities, is education, pursuit of the truth, helping to educate people for better futures: our own students, and hopefully our own students after they graduate from our institutions go out and serve the world. In the end, we’re about producing and disseminating knowledge and serving our nation and our world. When we fail in that, then we can expect to be attacked. So number one, I think we all need to redouble our commitment to the good of the nation and the world. And I know my fellow leaders fully embrace that.