Harvard President Alan Garber received a standing ovation before he even spoke at this year's commencement, as he goes head-to-head with President Donald Trump. According to MSNBC reporter Antonia Hylton conservative students are “completely rejecting” the administration's actions against the university.
Host Ana Cabrera took a look at Harvard’s graduation ceremony on Thursday morning, saying, when President Garber, “stepped up to that lectern or podium, he got a rousing cheer and standing ovation.”
Cabrera played the moment before turning it over to Hylton, who was live on the Crimson campus.
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“[Garber] has become this kind of strange hero to the students, to the alums, to all of their parents, to prospective students who are in just a couple of months hoping to come here and start their lives and careers on this campus,” Hylton said.
“There is not a single person on this campus who is not aware of the split screen right now.” Hylton, who also co-hosts “The Weekend: PrimeTime,” went on to say, “That [the graduates] are sitting in those chairs in the yard, getting ready to celebrate and reflect on the last four or so years of their lives. While they know lawyers representing their school are getting ready to go toe-to-toe, face-to-face with Trump Administration lawyers who are going to be arguing that their campus is rife with violence, with antisemitism, [and] that their campus is associated with the Chinese Communist Party.”
“Students of all backgrounds, conservative students, very liberal students, and faculty, most of them here, completely reject this administration's vision,” Hylton said. “What they really are loyal to is this idea of academic freedom.”
Hylton summed up her conversations with students saying many of them believe, “that Harvard and other colleges like it need to be left alone, and that there again, really in this existential moment where the question is, are we going to allow our president to almost become a provost and the vast majority of people believe no on that.”
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