Harvard Holds Graduation Amid Trump Funding Cuts, Foreign Student Ban

Harvard University held its 2025 commencement amid escalating legal and political conflicts with the Trump administration, which has taken unprecedented measures against the Ivy League institution. The administration sought to revoke Harvard's ability to enroll international students, cancel approximately $100 million in federal contracts, cut billions in research funding, and challenge the university's tax-exempt status, citing allegations of antisemitism and liberal bias. Harvard has vigorously contested these actions in federal court, framing them as retaliatory attacks on academic freedom and institutional independence. President Alan Garber acknowledged campus challenges, including antisemitism, but criticized the administration's punitive measures as misdirected and disproportionate. During the ceremonies, human rights advocate Kareem Abdul-Jabbar praised Harvard's resistance to what he called illegal and immoral pressures, likening it to civil rights defiance. The situation remains unresolved, with a federal judge in Boston considering whether to extend a block on the administration's efforts to restrict Harvard's enrollment of foreign students.