When the “Big Three” networks of ABC, CBS, and NBC weren’t lamenting Tuesday morning the plight of their beloved “Maryland man” Kilmar Abrego Garcia, they each complaining about the Trump administration freezing $2 billion in taxpayer funding from far-left and private Harvard University, siding with the university’s insistence it spend taxpayer dollars as it sees fit.
ABC’s Good Morning America led both hours with Harvard, including a tease with co-host Robin Roberts decrying the “escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign against elite colleges.”
Later, in tossing to chief national correspondent Matt Gutman, Roberts dismissed the concerns of the Trump administration about anti-Semitism, ideological bias, and racial discrimination as merely “policy demands.”
Gutman declared Harvard President Alan Garber was “the first to openly defy the Trump administration, drawing that line in the sand, saying that no government should dictate to a private university what it can teach, who it can hire, and admit.”
“Harvard, America’s wealthiest university, not backing down in the face of pressure from President Trump, who is threatening to pull roughly $9 billion in federal aid…The administration ordering the school to report foreign students who commit conduct violations to federal authorities, submit to an audit to ensure academic departments have diverse viewpoints, and end all DEI program, share hiring data with the administration, and submit to an audit of admissions data,” he added.
Gutman also threw in the Trump administration’s concerns with Harvard as just one of many hotbeds of anti-Semitic filth: “The administration also calling for the correction of what it calls anti-Semitism on campus, an issue which Harvard said it has already taken steps to address.”
He went onto say Garber’s defense is on First Amendment grounds and that the leadership’s “defiance has been applauded here on campus by faculty and students, and the university vowing not to surrender to the Trump administration going forward.”
To his credit, Gutman was the only network journalist to mention this important tidbit: “And one of the big questions going forward is Harvard going to dip into that $50 billion plus endowment to make up for that federal shortfall?”
NBC’s Today had a single segment in the first hour. Co-host Savannah Guthrie teased: “And the White House’s battle with Harvard taking a dramatic new turn overnight. The administration yanking billions of dollars in funding. We’ll have the very latest.”
Fill-in co-host and NBC Sports anchorman Mike Tirico had the setup for senior Washington correspondent Hallie Jackson: “Also this morning, a legal battle intensifying between the Trump administration and one of the most prestigious universities in the country. Harvard is now being hit with a $2 billion funding freeze after rejecting a list of demands from the White House to make sweeping changes.”
Jackson called it “a major showdown” with Trump “basically punish[ing] Harvard for not complying with that list of demands from the government by freezing more than $2 billion in grants” and thus what the school argues would be “violating [their] own constitutional rights” (click “expand”):
JACKSON: This is a major showdown between the country’s oldest and richest school and the Trump administration. Overnight, you had the Trump administration to basically punish Harvard for not complying with that list of demands from the government by freezing more than $2 billion in grants. That’s because Harvard, earlier in the day, had told the administration they’re not interested in what they say amounts to a federal takeover or government control of the university. So, all of this makes Harvard now the highest profile school to go toe-to-toe with the White House, Savannah.
TIRICO: Hallie, I’m going to jump in here for a second because this is significant for universities around the country. What are the specific demands the White House is making of Harvard?
JACKSON: Yeah, Mike, there’s a bunch of them here. The administration wanted an immediate shutdown of DEI programs. They wanted Harvard to share hiring and admissions data and an audit on what they called viewpoint diversity. They wanted to Harvard to restrict the acceptance of international students who are, “hostile to American values and institutions,” plus an overhaul of departments and programs with anti-Semitic records, and plagiarism checks on current and prospective faculty. Now, the White House, Mike, frames this as part of its fight against anti-Semitism on college campuses. But Harvard says, wait a second. They say that’s not the intention of what the government wants to do here. They want to regulate us but they’re violating our own constitutional rights. And you saw that in a letter that the president of the school put out, writing that, “[n]o 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,” Mike,
TIRICO: It’s the buzz of boards and administrations of universities around the country. Hallie Jackson, thanks this morning.
Given that they’re still surrendering large scores of airtime to co-host Gayle King’s trip to space, CBS Mornings only had 42 seconds at the tail end of a segment lamenting the plight of illegal immigrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Chief White House correspondent Nancy Cordes touted Harvard “reject[ing] demands that it institute changes in hiring and admissions” (click “expand”):
TONY DOKOUPIL: Nancy, you know the Trump administration has also taken new steps against Harvard University. What do you know about that?
NANCY CORDES: That’s right. Last night, the White House announced a freeze of $2.2 billion in grants and a $60 million contract for Harvard University. This comes, Tony, after Harvard rejected demands that it institute changes in hiring and admissions to ensure what the Trump administration has been calling viewpoint diversity. The White House says they’re just ensuring that taxpayer dollars do not go towards racial discrimination or racially motivated violence. But, in a statement, Harvard said that it will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.
To see the relevant transcripts from April 15, click here (for ABC), here (for CBS), and here (for NBC).