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Harvard’s lawsuit may not fix everything. But it’s a damn good place to start.

Last Monday, University President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced that Harvard would not give in to the Trump administration’s demands. Since then, the administration has frozen $2.2 billion of Harvard’s federal funding. Billions more hang in limbo.

The Trump administration has given us every reason to turn our back on the values of our University and accede. But any financial costs pale in comparison to the values the White House would have us sacrifice. It appears Harvard agrees: Yesterday, it sued the Trump administration.

When Trump came for our funding, we heard from our lab principal investigators and graduate mentors about its effects. When he came for our classmates, amid fears our international peers would be deported, rumors of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on campus spread. Our University has been abruptly thrown into chaos and fear, all under the pretext of combating antisemitism.

Take it from the students who have borne witness to the devastating effects of Trump’s assault on higher education firsthand: Harvard is doing the right thing.

Burning Harvard down will harm far more than tweeded professors or a coastal liberal elite. Its research offers global benefits, and the values at stake in the lawsuit — free expression and academic independence — matter to every American.

Harvard’s research is too important to be tossed around like a bargaining chip at the whims of the White House. The smallpox vaccine was introduced to the United States by a Harvard Medical School professor. Ether anesthesia was first used publicly at a Harvard-affiliated hospital — a hospital whose funding the White House now potentially threatens. And in 1914, a Harvard-affiliated cardiologist brought the electrocardiogram — a key test to detect dangerous heart conditions that Trump himself took last week to confirm his “excellent” health — to the United States.

Today, similar breakthroughs — from detecting ALS to treating tuberculosis — have come to a screeching halt thanks to stop-work orders driven by the Trump administration. As discussions with the White House drag on, months or years worth of scientific work on neglected experiments could be irrevocably lost in the interim. Yesterday’s lawsuit presents the only viable path towards insulating this invaluable research from the caprice of the president.

Moreover, Harvard’s legal battle isn’t just meant to safeguard its scientific researchers — the lawsuit represents a vital defense of the very value of free expression. In recent months, we’ve bore witness as international students were abducted by federal agents, apparently for their political speech, and heard from many more afraid to speak up as a result.

Trump’s demands on Harvard only intensify this threat to free, dissenting speech on campuses. From federal audits of academic programs — presumably to ensure their teaching and research align with the exact specifications of the Trump administration — to apparent ideological screening of international college applicants, it’s clear the White House’s agenda is about far more than research funding or combating antisemitism.

It’s about control — over what professors teach, what students learn, and what ideas are fit to be thought. Because there’s no reason to believe that this dire threat to open inquiry will stop at our campus’ gates, Harvard’s lawsuit matters, not just for the academy, but for anyone committed to living in an open society.

So to those watching from Cambridge and across the country, we implore you: Here’s what must come next.

First, to Harvard: This fight is just beginning. Trump’s campaign against higher education isn’t limited to this lawsuit. We look forward to seeing Harvard stand behind its most vulnerable students, including our international peers, and take further legal action if necessary.

Second, to our fellow students: Harvard’s resistance will require our solidarity. The pressure will mount. We must be prepared to support our community, each other, and those at greatest risk.

Third, to our peer institutions: Join the charge. The stakes have never been higher. If Harvard stands alone, the assault on higher education, on truth, and our basic freedoms will only accelerate. The only way to beat back coordinated attacks is coordinated resistance.

The line has been drawn. Now it’s time for higher education — and the rest of civil society — to pick a side.

This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.

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