Harvard University students are calling on the school to ban Trump administration officials from teaching, speaking or attending the institution over concern “about the impact of the actions of this administration on fundamental democratic institutions,” Fox News reports.
In a letter circulating online for signatures, students write to President Lawrence Bacow and Harvard University deans and leadership that they reconsider the tradition of “Harvard [becoming] a temporary home for officials from the outgoing administration.”
Students are demanding that if the university does associate with a Trump alumnus, they’ll “create and share with students transparent guidelines” for why.
(1/3) SCOOP via @LJMoynihan: A group of @Harvard students is seeking to ban any Trump administration alum from attending, teaching, or speaking at Harvard, according a Harvard student with direct knowledge.
— Charles Gasparino (@CGasparino) November 17, 2020
The petition goes on to say Harvard should “fully vet” speakers for their role in “undermining these commitments” to democracy and to “hold them fully accountable for that complicity” or to not invite them to speak at all.
“We do not believe, however, that individuals who engage in this behavior should be legitimized or rewarded by the university. An institution dedicated to the fostering of good democratic government should remain apart from those who were willing to bring it down for their own benefit.”
This is the latest attempt to punish Trump associates. Last week Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and others encouraged the creation of an apparent blacklist of people who helped President Trump during his time in office.
“Is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future?” the progressive congresswoman asked earlier this month via Twitter. “I foresee decent probability of many deleted Tweets, writings, photos in the future.”
Two Democratic operatives responded by touting the “Trump Accountability Project,” which seeks to prevent Trump associates from profiting off of their time helping his administration, according to Fox News.
“We should welcome in our fellow Americans with whom we differ politically,” the group’s website reads. “But those who took a paycheck from the Trump administration should not profit from their efforts to tear our democracy apart.”