Donald Trump and his long-running feud with Harvard University all started with a kid getting punched in the face, as recalled by a political reporter in a recent podcast episode with analyst Stephen A. Smith.
In one of the recent episodes of “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” the ESPN analyst had political reporter Eliza Collins, who shared where she believes the feud between President Donald Trump with Harvard University can be traced back to.
“There’s been tension with conservatives and universities going back decades,” Collins said. “Now, in Trump’s first term in office, this was on the radar of some of the nationalists in his party. You might remember Steve Bannon, his former adviser, now talk show host. They were talking about this a little bit, but it really launched onto Trump’s radar when a kid got punched. He was literally trying to recruit conservative students at UC Berkeley. He got punched in the face. He showed up on Fox News with a black eye, got in front of Trump, and Trump said, ‘Let’s do something about this.’”
“So, conservatives started attempting to basically take on universities in his first term. He had an executive order that did a little bit of this, the federal funding thing, but it didn’t go anywhere. Trump ended office, and then in the four years in between, conservative think tanks, thought leaders, they started mapping this out and saying how can we take on universities, not just Harvard, that they feel have moved to the left.”
“The anti-semitism argument that we’re hearing now that came onto the scene in 2023 after Hamas attacked Israel in October and then Israel attacked back, the Gaza protests exploded on campuses, and that was when conservatives really saw their moment.”
Judge Temporarily Blocks Donald Trump’s Harvard Ban on International Students
A federal judge has extended an order preventing President Donald Trump’s administration from revoking Harvard University’s ability to enroll international students. The Ivy League institution had challenged the government’s move, arguing that it violated its First Amendment rights.
District Judge Allison Burroughs announced her intention to issue a preliminary injunction, providing Harvard with continued relief from the administration’s efforts. The decision comes as part of a broader struggle between the Trump administration and higher education institutions, including cuts to research funding and heightened scrutiny of foreign students.
Harvard maintains that restricting its enrollment of international students would significantly harm its academic community, as they make up a sizable portion of its student body. The administration’s crackdown on foreign students is part of a larger campaign targeting U.S. universities, particularly those perceived to have ideological conflicts with the government.
Despite the Donald Trump administration’s last-minute adjustment, offering Harvard a 30-day period to challenge the revocation, Judge Burroughs remains skeptical about the effectiveness of administrative processes.
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