Former President Joe Biden applauded Harvard for its resistance to the demands of the Trump administration, telling students that the university "stepped up" in a visit to the Cambridge, Massachusetts, campus on Wednesday, The Harvard Crimson reported.
Biden made the comments at a private seminar hosted by the Harvard Kennedy School's Institute of Politics (IOP), according to the report by the student newspaper.
Biden's visit, arranged by his former White House senior adviser Michael Donilon, was kept under wraps and not publicized, according to the report. Donilon is a spring resident fellow at the IOP.
Biden's visit was also weeks in the making, long before Harvard's funding showdown with President Donald Trump's administration over myriad issues, most notably the university's deficiencies in combating antisemitism and protecting Jewish students from pro-Palestinian, oft-antisemitic rallies that have burgeoned since October 2023.
But Harvard to date has rebuffed the Trump administration's demands for corrective measures and been uncowed over its moves to freeze $2.2 billion in federal funding, halt tens of millions of dollars worth of contracts, and pursue ending the Ivy League school's tax-exempt status.
"Harvard stepped up in a way no one else has," Biden said, according to the Crimson, citing students who attended the private gathering. "You should be really thankful."
Biden declined to say whether Harvard should engage in litigation against the Trump administration.
"I think Harvard should just do what it's doing — lifting everybody up," Biden said, according to the report.
Biden's comments echoed those of former President Barack Obama, who earlier this week also extolled Harvard's resistance to Trump.
"Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions — rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect," Obama said Monday.
Obama's comments may be ironic, as the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) ranked Harvard dead last among 257 colleges and universities for the second consecutive year, giving it a free-speech ranking of "abysmal" with the lowest score possible: 0.00.
Biden's appearance was not publicized on the IOP website, and Kennedy School students were not told in advance who Donilon's guest was going to be, according to the Crimson.
His appearance also did not come without gaffes, according to the report. During his remarks, Biden referred to Ukraine as Iraq when discussing Russia's invasion. And part of an ice cream bar he was eating afterward fell to the floor, according to the report.