HOUSTON – As a political chess match wages on between the Trump Administration and Harvard University, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo expressed pride in her alma mater.
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This comes as the federal government announced it would be freezing over $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard after the institution said it wouldn’t take a knee to President Donald Trump’s demands to limit campus activism.
In a post on X, Judge Hidalgo shared a snippet video endorsing Harvard’s pushback with the caption: “I was studying for a master’s in public policy at Harvard when I decided to run for office. I could not be prouder right now.”
I was studying for a masters in public policy at Harvard when I decided to run for office. I could not be prouder right now. pic.twitter.com/b6yQQVqLoU
— Lina Hidalgo (@LinaHidalgoTX) April 16, 2025
Harvard is the seventh university to be threatened by the Trump administration, but the first to push back, setting the stage for a showdown between the federal government and America’s oldest and wealthiest university.
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Other universities like Columbia acquiesced to the government’s demands under the threat of billions of dollars in cuts. The administration has also paused federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Princeton, Cornell, and Northwestern.
Harvard is arguably the best-positioned university to push back on the administration, considering its endowment of more than $50 billion.
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“The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Harvard President Alan Garber said in a letter to the Harvard community. “No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
