Trump Officials Blame Mistake for Setting Off Confrontation With Harvard
Source: New York Times
April 18, 2025, 9:10 p.m. ET
Harvard University received an emailed letter from the Trump administration last Friday that included a series of demands about hiring, admissions and curriculum so onerous that school officials decided they had no choice but to take on the White House. The university announced its intentions on Monday, setting off a tectonic battle between one of the country’s most prestigious universities and a U.S. president. Then, almost immediately, came a frantic call from a Trump official.
The April 11 letter from the White House’s task force on antisemitism, this official told Harvard, should not have been sent and was “unauthorized,” two people familiar with the matter said. The letter was sent by the acting general counsel of the Department of Health and Human Services, Sean Keveney, according to three other people, who were briefed on the matter. Mr. Keveney is a member of the antisemitism task force.
It is unclear what prompted the letter to be sent last Friday. Its content was authentic, the three people said, but there were differing accounts inside the administration of how it had been mishandled. Some people at the White House believed it had been sent prematurely, according to the three people, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about internal discussions. Others in the administration thought it had been meant to be circulated among the task force members rather than sent to Harvard.
But its timing was consequential. The letter arrived when Harvard officials believed they could still avert a confrontation with President Trump. Over the previous two weeks, Harvard and the task force had engaged in a dialogue. But the letter’s demands were so extreme that Harvard concluded that a deal would ultimately be impossible. After Harvard publicly repudiated the demands, the Trump administration raised the pressure, freezing billions in federal funding to the school and warning that its tax-exempt status was in jeopardy.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/18/business/trump-harvard-letter-mistake.html
Did someone pull a BIG "string" (rope/chain)?
(I have 1 gift link left on the NYT and still have just under 1/2 of the month to go, so if any still subbed would be willing do the honors...
)
= new reply since forum marked as read
The right hand is the Siege Heil hand.
I bet their left hands are trying -- insufficiently -- to cover their asses.
Sean Keveney was just tossed under the bus for the authentic letter that was sent out unauthorized. It seems to have been a 'premature ejaculation' of said letter according to the three people, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak of the authenticity of the authentic letter.
Have I got this right?!
I feel like I am watching a Three Stooges movie. 
flashed a light so bright into the White House that even the stoned-out druggies in there "blinked".
They will carry out their anti-college education program shortly.
Incompetence or intent. They're always trying to flood the zone with bullshit. 
