Rep. Ed DeLaney: Why am I wearing my Harvard hat? I’m a proud grad.

I graduated from Harvard Law School some 50 years ago but have seldom worn any Harvard gear. Wearing Harvard regalia led to comments about noncompetitive sports teams and elitism. So, I let it go. But I have taken to wearing a Harvard hat of late. I am proud of the role it is playing in resisting the White House’s attack on higher education. I wish more colleges and universities would take similar stands. I am wearing the hat to support freedom, not the football squad.

It is hard to stomach attacks on highly regarded schools coming from Donald Trump (Wharton School), Ted Cruz (Harvard), J.D. Vance (Yale) and Elise Stefanik (Harvard, yet again). That group did not all grow up with the proverbial “silver spoon.” Vance has made a fine career out of bad-mouthing and lamenting his own impoverished childhood.

My dad left school after the sixth grade. I grew up in my grandfather’s house. He was an Irish immigrant who worked as a brewer. Both my parents were union members, as is my brother. Harvard gave me a fine education and financed part of it from its substantial endowment. I see nothing wrong or elitist about all that. Our student body had students from most states and ethnic groups. We were low on minorities and terribly low on females. The dean bragged that my class had set a record by being 9% women! The university worked on these things and made real improvements. It is prepared and equipped to defeat anti-Semitism as it has fought other prejudices.

In the ’60s and ’70s, Harvard Square was a frequent home for anti-war demonstrations. The police and the university struggled to avert violence and preserve order. President Nixon might have commented, but he did not seek to suppress or punish Harvard over these shortcomings. The current president wants to end Harvard’s role as a source of scientific and academic research. He is attacking foreign students all across the land. We benefited from the scientific advances our previous administrations encouraged. Suppression is replacing encouragement.

The White House is doing enormous short-term damage to our universities through its attacks on research and on foreign students. It is eroding the prestige and role of American higher education. That will have a long-term negative impact on all of higher education, not just Harvard.

I have Purdue hats as well as my Harvard one. Purdue University, like Harvard and Indiana University, has many foreign students. Purdue and IU receive federal research grants, some of which are being canceled because they benefit poor countries as well as our students and faculty. Purdue alone has over 2,000 Chinese students and over 300 Chinese faculty. They contribute to our knowledge, and the students pay a multiple of in-state tuition, funding the university and supplementing Indiana state support. Yet the university administrations in Bloomington and West Lafayette have stood by in silence as grants and foreign student enrolment are put at risk. They were silent when our state budget was amended in the final hours to diminish the roles of faculty and alumni in university governance.

Our university leaders are trying to keep their heads down to avoid any damage. It isn’t working. They are not in a position to distract or pay off this White House crowd. They need to join with other universities and fight back. Until they do, maybe I need to wear my IU and Purdue hats backward like the young do. Meanwhile, I wear my Harvard hat with pride.•

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DeLaney, an Indianapolis attorney, is a Democrat representing the 86th District in the Indiana House of Representatives. Send comments to [email protected].

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