Civil liberties lawyer Alan Dershowitz discusses President Donald Trump’s demands to Harvard University amid a legal battle on ‘The Evening Edit.’
Taking a step away from his traditional Democratic values, Harvard University law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz argues that President Donald Trump’s “targeted defunding” is warranted over the institution’s complicity in antisemitism.
“Something has to be done,” Dershowitz said on “The Evening Edit” Tuesday. “Now, I think the president may have gone a bit too far by cutting off all funding… but his heart is in the right place and something has to be done.”
“And I’m glad that there are at least some efforts to try to stop Harvard and other schools from fomenting this kind of antisemitism,” he continued.
The Trump administration is asking all federal agencies to find ways to terminate all federal contracts with Harvard University amid an ongoing standoff over foreign students’ records at the Ivy League school.
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The General Services Administration drafted a letter instructing all federal agencies to review the estimated $100 million remaining in federal contracts with Harvard and potentially “find alternative vendors,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by Fox News.
Harvard law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz reacts to the Trump administration’s decision to pull all remaining federal funding from the elite university. (Getty Images)
The reason for the budget cuts is due to the university’s engagement “in race discrimination, including in its admissions process and in other areas of student life,” the letter states.
“Harvard is not only tolerating antisemitism in two of its schools, the Divinity School and the Public Health School,” Dershowitz claimed, “it’s actually teaching it and fomenting antisemitism.”
‘Hannity’ panelists Alan Dershowitz and Gregg Jarrett discuss if the elite university should be stripped of federal funding.
“Two Harvard students who engaged in violence and harassment against Jews were just rewarded. One was named the class marshal at Divinity School, the other one was given a $65,000 grant by Harvard to continue his anti-Israel activities,” the law professor added.
Harvard has already sued in federal court seeking the restoration of about $3.2 billion in federal grant funding already frozen by the administration since last month.
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“I’m praising President Trump for starting at least a dialog about how to deal with these issues,” Dershowitz said.
“Targeted defunding is a very good idea and a good way of responding to this horrible antisemitism that’s spreading all over the country,” he expanded Tuesday on Fox News’ “Hannity.”
“But Harvard is the most important institution in the country. And so, start there, and teach them that they cannot use federal funds to promote antisemitism.”
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Fox News’ Danielle Wallace contributed to this report.
