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As Harvard Law School’s Class of 2025 gathered on Holmes Field on May 28 for the school’s Class Day ceremony, the mood was celebratory — and the Trump administration’s looming threats against Harvard were not far from the audience’s mind.

Keynote speaker Bob M. Myers, the former general manager and president of the Golden State Warriors, encouraged graduates to adopt a “team first” mentality.

But the address that drew the greatest attention from the crowd was instead delivered by HLS professor Andrew M. Crespo ’05, who used his acceptance speech for an award for teaching excellence to condemn Harvard for what he saw as concessions to the Trump administration.

“Harvard deserves praise for taking a stand to defend its academic independence,” Crespo said. But Harvard, he said, must “use that independence to protect the academic freedom, including the rights to study, publish, teach, and — yes — protest of everyone on our campus, without exception.”

Nearly every speaker at the Class Day ceremony noted the Trump administration’s attempt to end Harvard’s eligibility to enroll international students, though only Crespo called the president out by name. The stage rang with messages of support for the international student body — who, one day later, would receive a reprieve as a federal judge extended an order blocking the Trump administration’s directive.

Myers steered largely clear of politics. He recounted how Andre Iguodala, a former Warriors player, agreed to move off the starting lineup after a new coach was hired, saying he understood the decision was “the best thing for the team.”

Iguodala never complained about riding the bench and remained steadfast to his commitment for the team, rather than his own playing time, Myers said. When the NBA championship rolled around and Iguodala was moved back to the starting lineup, the team won — and Iguodala was awarded the MVP trophy.

“He waited a whole year, took it, suffered individually for the team,” Myers said.

“I think about patience, and I think about the value in patience and how impatient we all are now,” he said.

Myers was roundly applauded. But the day’s real energy lay with Crespo, who did not hesitate to directly indict the Trump administration’s defiance of the courts, attacks on noncitizens, and cuts to research funding.

“Our government has tried to crush Harvard University, the very symbol of higher education in the world — and more simply than that, our home,” Crespo said. “Our scientists and international students have been taken hostage; our research bankrupted; our community terrorized, all in an effort to try to change the way that we teach, the questions we ask, and the answers we offer.”

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As the Trump administration rains blow after blow on Harvard, many in the University have called for unity — and activists and administrators alike have rallied behind Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76’s rebukes to Donald Trump. At a demonstration Tuesday, some of the most outspoken pro-Israel and pro-Palestine voices on campus joined together to condemn the Department of Homeland Security’s attempt to block Harvard from enrolling international students.

Crespo, however, was unsparing in his criticisms of Harvard — and he drew cheers for it.

“I fear sometimes our university has too often exhibited acquiescence when courage was called for,” Crespo said.

He singled out Harvard’s dismissal of two faculty leaders of the Center for Middle Eastern studies in early April, describing it as an advance concession to the Trump administration. And he criticized the Harvard Corporation’s refusal to grant degrees at last year’s Commencement to 13 seniors over their participation in the pro-Palestine Harvard Yard encampment.

Crespo, himself a prominent participant in pro-Palestine protests, lauded student activism on campus, particularly in response to the war in the Middle East and deportations of international students in recent months.

“You have used your voice and your talents to demand fairness,” Crespo said. “Your courage, in other words, is our hope.”

He called on students to nonetheless be willing to listen to criticism and engage in disagreement.

“We need to be in deep, real human connection with people who will tell us when we risk going too far or when we’re missing something essential,” he said. “That means, of course, we need friends who will disagree with us.”

Harvard Law School’s graduating class, he said, would enter a “uncertain and dangerous world.”

But he said he saw a point of light — and a burden of responsibility — in the very factors that make authoritarians target universities first.

“Throughout modern history, student led pro-democracy movements have repeatedly proven to be catalysts for toppling authoritarian regimes,” he said. “In country after country, student protests have been the match that lit much larger movements for freedom and democracy.”

—Staff writer Caroline G. Hennigan can be reached at caroline.hennigan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cghennigan.