Harvard University needs to get a "kick in the rear end" to save itself from the radical left-wing faculty members who want it to turn out the political leaders they want to see, Alan Dershowitz, a professor emeritus from the Ivy League school, told Newsmax on Saturday.
"It's not going to do it by itself," Dershowitz said on Newsmax's "Saturday Agenda," adding that he believes Harvard President Alan Garber is a "very decent man" who "would like to do the right thing," as would other faculty members.
"But there are too many radical left-wing faculty members that are Marxists and that are antisemites and that are anti-American and anti-Christian and want to see Harvard become the kind of woke institution that turns out the kinds of political leaders that they would like to see dominate the country," said Dershowitz.
His comments come as President Donald Trump's administration's agencies met this past week to discuss further actions against Harvard. The administration has already pulled billions in its standoff against Harvard, which it accuses of antisemitism and discriminatory admissions practices.
Dershowitz insisted Saturday that the government has the right to cancel grants or demand names and information concerning former students.
"The only question is whether the executive or the legislature has the right to do it, but the government has the right to do it," he said, adding that the judicial branch is "least suitable" for making such decisions, even though they are playing "too great a role" in interfering with substantive issues.
"Courts should be enforcing due process and making sure that every constitutional T is crossed, every constitutional I is dotted," he said. "But that's the limited role of courts. Courts don't make policy. But some of these courts are so furious, they have Trump Derangement Syndrome. They're so furious with Trump that they're prepared to exceed their authority and get into substantive matters."
But the administration, not Harvard, will win on the substantive issues, said Dershowitz.
"Harvard may win a few battles along the way on procedural due process issues, but it would be wise to sit down and negotiate with the Trump administration," he said. "It's getting very bad advice from its left-wing law faculty. These are not good lawyers who are giving them advice ... [they] want to see Harvard do a certain thing, and it's telling them the wrong thing because they're going to lose in the end."
Dershowitz noted he'd been associated with Harvard for at least 60 years, and he wants the school to prevail, "but I want it to prevail as a place that welcomes all students, regardless of race, that doesn't discriminate against pro-Israel points of view."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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