A group of Harvard University students circulated a petition aimed at keeping Trump administration officials from teaching, attending or speaking at the Ivy League school — but not everyone was on board with their “progressive” agenda, according to a report.
The petition, drafted last week by students at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, got a less-than-enthusiastic reception by those attending the Kennedy School of Government and the Business School, Fox Business reported.
Sources with direct knowledge of the matter told the outlet that petition organizers later changed the wording in the petition to say that Team Trump officials should be held “accountable” before they set foot on the prestigious institution.
The change in the language in the documents was likely the result of the opposition to the original, the people told the network.
The Kennedy School’s student council struck down the petition, people with direct knowledge of the matter told Fox Business.
“A few other conservative students and I made the point we can’t just target Republicans, that isn’t what the Kennedy School stands for,” Carter Estes, a Kennedy School student, told the outlet.
“Harvard has hosted a number of controversial guests over the years like a fellow from the Palestine Liberation Organization, so we should make broadly applicable guidelines that apply to every speaker, not single out Trump appointees” added Estes, a member of a Republican student group and student government.
One student who signed the petition said in a group chat reviewed by Fox Business that Trump officials “should be shunned by all policy schools.”
Meanwhile, students at the Harvard Medical School and the Divinity School reportedly have approved the petition in its latest form.
Harvard told Fox Business that it was “aware of this student petition. Beyond that we have no comment.”
The petitions are an outgrowth of efforts by far-left progressives like “Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to urge businesses and universities to blacklist anyone who worked in the Trump administration, according to the report.
For the Harvard petition to be implemented, the various student councils need to vote on the measure, which would go before school administrators including Harvard University President Lawrence Bacow, who decides whether it becomes policy, the network reported.
Alan Dershowitz, a Felix Frankfurter professor of law, emeritus, at Harvard, told Fox Business, that the petition is part of an alarming trend at schools where administrators give in to students.
“I will challenge any ban that may be enacted by asking to speak at the school. I will not kowtow to this new McCarthyism,” he said, adding that if the petition becomes policy, he’ll represent pro bono any Trump official seeking to set foot at Harvard.
White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, a Harvard Law grad, said she hoped school administrators rebuke the movement.
“Academic communities should be bastions of free speech. I will happily walk back on campus and challenge this,” she said.