Faith and Values: Harvard upholding motto ‘veritas’ against Trump administration’s demands is a worthy endeavor

I’ve never been very proud of my Harvard Ph.D. I probably only got in because I had an outside fellowship so my education there didn’t cost Harvard (or me) a penny. Also, the university was in the late ’60s admitting way too many folks striving for a doctorate in English, ignoring the fact that many of us would never land a job in our field.

My Harvard education was pretty much “There’s the library. It has 10 million books. See you in a few years when you know something.” I survived not through smarts but shear stamina. Stamina, it turns out, is valuable in all walks of life.

Lately, though, I’ve been mighty proud of my university whose motto is simply “veritas” – truth. Mighty proud that it has stood up to Trump, refused to cave into his demands that it abandon its diverse ways of teaching the diversity of truth and yield to Trump’s illegitimate authority.

Trump’s attack on Harvard, its First Amendment rights and rights as a private university, have been relentless. He mandated that all federal grants funding research projects be withdrawn and is searching for ways to end its tax-exempt status.

And because Harvard tried to protect its international students and their free speech rights, Trump is trying to make it impossible for any international student to attend Harvard by eliminating all their visas. Right now, these students and their professors are traumatized, unsure what the future holds.

The cost of “veritas,” the cost of speaking truth to power, has and will continue to be high.

Trump apparently hates Harvard because he sees it as the prime example of an elite university that stands for everything he stands against, including the liberal pursuit of knowledge within an inclusive global scholarly community.

A so-called populist, Trump is threatened by an intellectual worldview. As Richard Hofstadter documented in his classic study, “Anti-Intellectualism in American Life,” there is in the U.S. a long tradition of seeing intellectuals and their institutions as threats to the American way of life. Hofstadter noted that in the 1950s Joe McCarthy was especially successful for a while in claiming that universities were infested with communists.

Trump manipulates lies in the tradition of McCarthy and like him uses fear to intimidate others. I’d like to think that Harvard could help bring down the reign of Trump by standing up for truth just as Edward R. Murrow helped bring down the reign of McCarthy through truth-speaking journalism. Unfortunately, whereas in the 1950s there were moderate Republicans who finally had enough of McCarthy, our current Republicans can’t seem to get enough of Trump and are doing nothing to stop his attacks.

Historically, it has sometimes cost those who spoke truth to power their lives. Consider Socrates and Jesus, to name two. They were accused of undermining the conventional beliefs that upheld their cultures and political systems.

Historically, Harvard has been a powerful institution. Over the centuries, it has engaged in exclusionary and racist practices. Some of its large endowment probably came from rich alumni who profited from the slave trade. It has graduated its share of those who misuse power.

Imperfect though it be, Harvard today is experiencing a proud if difficult moment. It will survive, but probably be damaged by Trump’s assaults on it as it loses international students and grant funding. Ironically, other universities which have not been so brave may benefit from Harvard’s losses.

The cost of “veritas” may be high, but certainly worth paying if truth is worth having.

Walter Hesford was a professor of English at the University of Idaho, where he taught American Literature, World Literature and the Bible as Literature. He currently coordinates an interfaith discussion group, and is a member of the Latah County Human Rights Task Force and Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Moscow, Idaho.