Harvard Conducts Graduation Despite Legal Dispute With Trump Administration

Harvard University is set to hold its annual graduation ceremony on Thursday amid escalating legal and political tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump, AFP reports.

Despite the ongoing dispute, the commencement proceedings will proceed as planned while a federal judge in Boston prepares to hear arguments concerning the Trump administration’s contentious measures targeting the institution.

President Trump has pursued various actions against Harvard, including efforts to revoke its authorization to host foreign students, cancel federal contracts, cut billions in grant funding, and challenge its tax-exempt status.

“Harvard is treating our country with great disrespect, and all they’re doing is getting in deeper and deeper,” Trump said on Wednesday.

Harvard is actively contesting all these measures in court, asserting that they constitute an assault on academic freedom and the university’s institutional autonomy.

In a statement to NPR earlier this week, Harvard President Alan Garber acknowledged the challenges confronting the university, including issues related to anti-Semitism and campus inclusivity.

Nonetheless, he condemned the federal government’s actions as excessive and misguided.

“What is perplexing is the measures they have taken to address these issues don’t even hit the same people that they believe are causing the problems,” Garber said.

On Wednesday, former NBA star and human rights advocate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar delivered a powerful address to Harvard’s graduating class, praising President Alan Garber for standing firm against what he called “illegal and immoral pressures.” Abdul-Jabbar drew parallels between Harvard’s resistance and Rosa Parks’ defiance during the Civil Rights Movement.

Some students expressed their dissent more quietly, with many viewing participation in the traditional graduation ceremonies as a form of resistance itself, according to Franco-American classics and linguistics student Madeleine Riskin-Kutz.

Federal Judge Allison Burroughs, overseeing the ongoing legal battle, had earlier halted a policy change that would have stripped Harvard of its ability to admit international students—who now make up over a quarter of the university’s population.

Outside Harvard Yard, retired immigration judge Patricia Sheppard joined a rally supporting the institution, wearing her judicial robe and holding a sign that read “for the rule of law,” while questioning the motivations behind the Trump administration’s actions.

Despite the tensions, preparations for Thursday’s commencement went ahead, with the Harvard band parading through Cambridge’s historic streets and students gathering in academic regalia for the ceremony.