To the editor: I just spent a year and four months making a movie in Harvard, the third movie I made there in the last seven years. I worked closely with the faculty and university students, including international students, in two of these projects. The accusations against Harvard of President Trump through the Secretary of National Security, Kristi Noem, are complete nonsense (“The Trump administration prohibits Harvard from registering foreign students.” May 22). I have never had the good fortune of being immersed in such a cozy and stimulating scholarships and resources to learn about each subject that can be imagined.
It is obvious that Trump is launching each weapon in his arsenal in Harvard only for one reason: Harvard challenged his strong arm attempt to tell the university to whom to admit, to whom to hire and what to teach. If Harvard manages to retain his intellectual freedom, Trump will be revealed as an emperor without clothes. He put himself in a position in which he cannot go back. He has made a total war its only option.
This is a decisive moment for the United States. “Let this serve as a warning for all universities and academic institutions throughout the country,” Noem threatened. If Trump manages to crush Harvard, all other US learning, science and humanities institutions will be at risk. Harvard has a unique deposit of legal and financial resources, but cannot resist the power of the United States government alone. All universities must join to challenge Trump's absurd and malevolent demands.
Peter Coonradt, Redlands
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To the editor: Trump is clearly hostile to private elite universities, but his antipathy towards Harvard stands out.
It seems that motivation is to destroy Harvard. Because? Perhaps the president, known for saving resentment and wanting revenge, has a specific reason for Harvard. We know that he attended Fordham, then transferred to Penn, an Ivy League school. What we do not know is where he requested, just to be rejected, 60 years ago. Harvard?
Richard Merel, beautiful Beach
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To the editor: Trump and Noem could not import the safety of Jewish students less. They care deeply about dissent. We are on a very slippery slope.
Patrick Mauer, Pasadena
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To the editor: As a former foreign student of the United States in Asia and a fulbrar in Canada, I would hate to see other corresponding nations in kind.
TD Proffitt, Santa Ana
