After the Trump administration froze billions of dollars in funding for Harvard University, the institution made quite the stink.
On Monday night it was announced Harvard filed a lawsuit against Trump. CNN's Scott Jennings has been a force to reckon with when it comes to the antisemitism going on at once fine institutions, like Harvard, and he also weighed in last night at such news during "CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip."
Just as she did during the program last week, host Abby Phillip tried to format the conversation to be about the federal government controlling institutions like Harvard, rather than the Trump administration cracking down on the rampant antisemitism on college campuses.
"I mean, is it right for the government to say, unless we control all aspects of how you operate as a private institution, you can't get federal money for research. It's not like it's for free, right? They're giving the university money to provide services to the public good," Phillip offered, which Jennings aptly argued was "overly broad."
As Jennings went to agree with another panelist, Mediaite founder Dan Abrams, in that "the fight is worth picking if only because they do have a terrific argument on the idea that these Jewish students had their civil rights violated," speaking further to federal laws the administration believes were violated, both Phillips and Abrams went after him for daring to claim that this is what the administration is actually concerned with.
"You don't actually believe that it's just on the antisemitism though," Abrams tried to argue, even adding a "come on."
Speaking about concerns with antisemitism, Jennings made clear that "I said the fight is worth picking because of that, but alone. But there are other reasons to pick on Harvard. Some are political and the Ivy League in general."
Throwing in one more "come on," Abrams insisted that "almost all are political."
When it comes to how it's not just about antisemitism, Jennings also reminded of the endowment that Harvard has. "I think the average is sitting on a $53 billion endowment, they want another $2 to $9 billion. And at the same time, they keep turning out a bunch of professors and students who appear to be schooled in one thing, only the downfall of western civilization," he pointed out, posing a rather pressing question. "Like why are we financing this?"
Harvard doesn’t even enforce its own student handbook, not to mention compliance with the Civil Rights Act. They have a $53 billion endowment, why should they get any taxpayer dollars at all - especially when 60% of Americans don’t have a college degree. pic.twitter.com/3ti0AMu8ZC
— Katie Pavlich (@KatiePavlich) April 16, 2025
🚨🇺🇸 SCOTT JENNINGS: HARVARD TURNS OUT STUDENTS TRAINED IN THE DOWNFALL OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION... THEY DESERVE SCRUTINY
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) April 22, 2025
"The fight is worth picking, if only because these Jewish students had their civil rights violated.
We have laws that protect everyone—including them. And… https://t.co/9mibK65MVC pic.twitter.com/WpJXILHPpZ
The segment also involved Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), whom Jennings deferred to, especially when it comes to his legislation which passed the House last year with bipartisan support, but which then Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sat on, with the congressman previously having insisted that how Schumer had been speaking out against antisemitism on college campuses "doesn't go far enough."
"I introduced the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act to enforce Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and to ensure that any institution of higher learning is actually upholding that, that we clearly define what antisemitism is and hold these universities and administrators accountable," Lawler offered, with Jennings chiming in to say how administrators were doing that job "miserably."
As Lawler tried to further share how his legislation would work, and offer how New York schools operated, Phillip still insisted that the money is going "towards research."
"The fact is that most of these institutions want to say, 'oh, we're a private.' But, yes, you are still required to uphold federal law, especially when you're taking federal dollars, period," the congressman made clear.
Even as Phillip and Abrams, as well as other panelists such as Neera Tanden, tried to make all sorts of arguments about federal funding and even how unfair it was that the administration was asking Harvard so many requests, Lawler still continued to stick to the heart of the issue, which is that these institutions "are going to be required to uphold federal and state laws."
As Matt covered earlier, and as Ed Morrissey did for our sister site of Hot Air, Jennings also made headlines for his brutal takedown of Larry David going after Bill Maher for daring to have dinner with President Donald Trump. A segment involving Lawler and Tanden also made news, as Rusty Weiss covered at our sister site of RedState, given that Tanden got called out for lying about the way Lawler voted, given he wasn't even in Congress at the time.
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