Harvard holds graduation amid legal battle with Trump administration

Harvard is due to hold its annual graduation ceremony Thursday against the backdrop of an intensifying legal and political clash with United States President Donald Trump, AFP reported.

The graduation festivities went ahead as scheduled, even as a federal judge in Boston prepared to hear arguments over controversial measures aimed at the institution by the Trump administration.

Trump has sought to penalise Harvard through a series of actions, including revoking its ability to host foreign students, terminating federal contracts, slashing billions in grants, and questioning 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.

The university is contesting all of these actions in court, arguing they represent an attack on academic freedom and institutional independence.

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

However, he criticised the federal government’s actions as disproportionate and misdirected.

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, the university’s Class Day speaker, former NBA player and human rights advocate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, delivered a forceful message to the graduating class.

He praised Garber’s resistance to what he described as “illegal and immoral pressures,” drawing historical parallels to Rosa Parks’ defiance during the Civil Rights Movement.

Meanwhile, some students signaled their dissent through quieter acts of protest during the graduation events.

Madeleine Riskin-Kutz, a Franco-American student of classics and linguistics, said many saw participating in the traditional ceremonies as an expression of resistance in itself.

Federal Judge Allison Burroughs, who is overseeing the case, had previously paused a policy change that would have ended Harvard’s ability to admit international students. These students currently make up more than a quarter of the student population.

Outside Harvard Yard on Wednesday, retired immigration judge Patricia Sheppard joined a demonstration in support of the university. Donning her judicial robe, she held a sign reading “for the rule of law,” and questioned the motivations behind the administration’s actions.

Preparations for Thursday’s ceremony proceeded despite the tensions. Members of the Harvard band marched through the historic streets of Cambridge in their crimson blazers, and students in academic regalia gathered for the commencement.