Harvard’s Graduation Day Blends Protests and Pride

As Harvard graduates gathered on Thursday to embrace commencement rituals, they were surrounded by both beaming family members and visible reminders that the university is embroiled in an existential fight with the Trump administration.

Before the ceremony in Cambridge, Mass., about two dozen people stood in Harvard Square with signs protesting the government and its attacks on the university. In a separate protest about antisemitism, a truck passed outside the ceremony and displayed photos of people labeled “Harvard’s Leading AntiSemites.”

And throughout the morning, small groups of alumni stood at each gate to campus, handing out stickers that read “Crimson Courage,” the name of a new alumni group created to galvanize support for the university.

Mark Dyen, who graduated from Harvard in 1970, said that he has never been prouder to be an alumnus. “Harvard stood up for itself, for us, for higher education and democracy,” he said as he passed out stickers. “And by doing so, it created space for people who are more vulnerable.”

The day of celebration came as the Trump administration continues its crackdown on the university, a broad campaign it has framed as an effort to curb antisemitism at the school. The government has already withdrawn or frozen billions of dollars in federal funding, threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status and sought to block its ability to enroll international students. The university has forcefully resisted, calling the attacks a violation of academic freedom and the First Amendment.

As the commencement exercises began in Cambridge on Thursday under cloudy skies, a federal judge a few miles away in Boston was preparing to hear arguments from lawyers for the university and the federal government. Harvard sued the Trump administration last week, for the second time, over its attempt to prohibit the enrollment of international students.

A murmur rippled through the crowd at the commencement as the news spread that the judge would issue a preliminary injunction, preserving for the moment Harvard’s ability to enroll international students. About 6,800 of its students come from other countries, more than one quarter of the total enrollment.

Alan Garber, Harvard’s president, was met with thunderous applause from the crowd of about 30,000 when he began the commencement by welcoming “students from around the world, just as it should be.”

It was a remarkable shift from last year’s graduation, when Dr. Garber was booed by students critical of Harvard’s response to campus protests over the war in Gaza. The university withheld the diplomas of 13 graduating seniors who had protested and been disciplined.

On Thursday, the main commencement speaker, Dr. Abraham Verghese, also acknowledged the current crisis, assuring graduates that “no recent events can diminish what you have accomplished here,” and reminding them that “more people than you realize are grateful to Harvard for the example you have set.”

Before the ceremony on Thursday, about half a dozen family members of graduates, most visiting from other countries, declined to speak with a reporter, saying that they feared retribution from the Trump administration. One, an Indian actor from Mumbai who said he was celebrating his cousin’s graduation, shook his head sadly when asked about the attacks on Harvard.

To some, the commencement traditions felt like reassurance that the university’s mission would endure. “Harvard trains people who wants to change the world, to make the world a better place,” said Kwabena Fosu, who traveled from Ghana to watch his wife receive a master’s degree in public administration. “That’s what they came here to do, and that’s what they will continue to do.”

Outside the campus gates, Casey Wenz, a Cambridge resident, stood in Harvard Square with a large sign that read, “Harvard Thank You for Your Courage.” She said she lived a few blocks away and had many friends at the university who were professors and international students.

“I think it takes tremendous courage to stand up to Trump, and if Harvard’s not going to do it, who would?” she said. “I’m just super grateful.”

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