Senior members of Harvard University's faculty are pledging to donate a portion of their pay to the school as it opposes the demands of the Trump administration.
The announcement comes after the Trump administration froze more than $2 billion in federal funding for Harvard University. The school filed a lawsuit in response.
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WATCH HEREIn , organizers asked senior faculty to commit 10% of their paycheck for the period of a year or until the funding situation is resolved.
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SIGN UP "We are heartened by the University’s rejection of the Trump administration’s demands. We also recognize that the University now faces severe financial damage for its defense of academic freedom," the letter read, in part.
The letter was publicly signed by Ryan Enos, Jeff Flier, Archon Fung, Oliver Hart, Rebecca Henderson, Steve Levitsky, Eric Maskin, Martha Minow, Dani Rodrik, Theda Skocpol and Steve Walt.
"Harvard, in many ways, is now at the front line of a defense of civil society and higher education," said Enos, a professor of government. "We thought it was important for those of us who could help to contribute to help stop that pain for other people."
"I am an economist and a business person, so I think money on the line shows that I mean it," added Henderson. "In my own class, which I just finished teaching, it was more than half foreign. I had students who couldn't sleep, were having trouble working, that is where I feel it."
The specific use of any donated funds was not laid out. Organizers said they were acting quickly to establish a plan and asked that others sign the non-binding pledge privately to signal their support as they move forward with formalizing the process.
"We envision that faculty who have made the pledge will hold a vote and if the majority agrees that the university is making a good faith effort to use its own resources in support of staff, student, and academic programs, faculty will proceed with their donation," the letter states.
The university has become a target for the Trump administration, which has called on Harvard to end all preferences “based on race, color, national origin, or proxies thereof” and implement “merit-based” policies by August. In response, Harvard became the first university to openly defy the Trump administration as it uses its hold on colleges' federal funding to press its political agenda.
"One thing about defending democracy is democracy doesn't come for free. It takes sacrifice, and if we are going to push back on the Trump administration's demands, Harvard is going to take some hits, and Harvard is going to pay a price for that, and that is a price we feel, as many of us that can, that are privileged enough to do it, ought to share," said Levitsky. "To see so many faculty members actually being willing in effect to put their money where their mouth is, to me, is really meaningful."
"We are, in effect, endorsing the position that the university took defending its academic freedom," said Maskin. "It is one thing to sign a petition that is easy to do, but to voluntarily by 10%, that is not so easy to do."
The Trump administration has argued that universities did not do enough to check antisemitism at campus protests last year. Harvard leadership has said Harvard will not bend to the demands, calling it a threat to academic freedom and the autonomy of all universities.
Earlier this week, the Trump administration also based on allegations of race-based discrimination.
The school has pledged its own reforms after releasing an internal report on
Oral hearings in Harvard's funding lawsuit are tentatively set for the end of July.
"The institution is a great institution. I am sure it will survive," Henderson said. "But it is the students' lives right now, that is what the heartbreak is."
