Harvard University President Gets Standing Ovation for Taking Dig at Trump

Harvard University hosted its commencement ceremony for the class of 2025 on Thursday, May 29, amid the institution’s ongoing feud with President Donald Trump and his administration.

The ceremony, held at the historic Tercentenary Theatre in Harvard Yard, featured remarks from prominent students, illustrious keynote speakers and faculty heads, each of whom addressed the tensions between the university and the current political administration.

Most notably, Harvard President Alan Garber began his remarks with an apparent dig at the Trump administration’s attempts to kick out all of the university’s foreign students.

“To the class of 2025, from down the street, across the country and around the world,” he began, pausing for applause before repeating himself for emphasis. “Around the world, just as it should be.”

The simple expression of solidarity with the entirety of his student body earned Garber a standing ovation.

Keynote speaker Dr. Abraham Verghese, a bestselling author and professor at Stanford Medical School, praised Harvard and its students for “courageously defending the essential values of this university and indeed of this nation.”

“No recent events can diminish what each of you have accomplished here,” he told the graduates.

In April, the Trump administration issued Harvard — and several other prominent U.S. universities — a list of demands targeting Diversity, Equity and Inclusion initiatives, the admission of international students, pro-Palestinian protests and more.

Since their bold refusal to comply with Trump’s demands, Harvard has become the lightning rod for the administration’s ire.

Recently, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced she had ordered the termination of the school’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification, which allows Harvard to enroll international students. The university sued, and on May 23, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that prevents the Trump administration from revoking Harvard’s SEVP certification without further legal process.

Then, on May 27, Trump ordered the cancellation of the government’s remaining federal contracts with Harvard, worth an estimated $100 million. At the time, Garber called the move “perplexing,” but said he believed the university needed to remain “firm in our commitments to what we stand for. And what we stand for — I believe I speak for other universities — is education, pursuit of the truth, helping to educate people for better futures.”

“Why cut off research funding?” Garber continued. “Sure, it hurts Harvard, but it hurts the country because after all, the research funding is not a gift. The research funding is given to universities and other research institutions to carry out work — research work — that the federal government designates as high-priority work. It is work that they want done. They are paying to have that work conducted.”

“Shutting off that work does not help the country, even as it punishes Harvard, and it is hard to see the link between that and, say, antisemitism,” he noted.

Students also referenced the ongoing attacks on their university during Thursday’s commencement speeches.

Salutatorian Aidan Robert Scully, who delivered his speech in Latin, told the crowd that, “Neither powers nor princes can change the truth and deny that diversity is our strength.”

Chinese graduate student Yurong “Luanna” Jiang, reflected on how Harvard had opened her eyes to a global community.

“When I met my 77 classmates from 32 different countries, the countries I knew only as colorful shapes on a map turned into real people, with laughter, dreams, and the perseverance to survive the long winter in Cambridge,” she said.

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Fellow graduate Thor Reimann noted, “We leave a campus much different than the one we entered, with Harvard at the center of a national battle over higher education in America.”

“Our university is certainly imperfect, but I am proud to stand today with our graduating class, our faculty, and our president in the shared conviction that this ongoing project of veritas is one worth defending,” he shared.