Trump v Harvard: inside the 6 June Guardian Weekly

The gowns and mortar boards were out in customary force at Harvard last week for graduation day. Founded in 1636, 140 years before the United States itself, the university knows a thing or two about how to do pomp and ceremony.

But this year’s rituals played out under a cloud with Harvard, along with several other universities in the US, having come under sustained attack from the Trump administration.

Trump has claimed his escalating battle with America’s oldest, wealthiest and most prestigious university is about tackling campus antisemitism, foreign influence and “woke” or “leftist” ideology in academia. Others see a more sinister authoritarian agenda, where the goal is to enforce deference from America’s largest institutions. Bring down the oldest of them all, the theory goes, and the rest will surely follow.

The Trump administration is using the full force of the government to try to turn the screw on Harvard financially, freezing $3bn in federal funding and cancelling remaining contracts with the university worth $100m.

With a $53bn endowment fund, Harvard is better placed than other universities to weather the storm. But a key battleground could be the administration’s attempt to stop Harvard from enrolling international students, who make up more than a quarter of the university’s overall numbers and are a vital source of revenue. A legal challenge is ongoing but if Trump wins, the move could be both financially and academically devastating.

Can Harvard hold out? For our cover story this week, Washington bureau chief David Smith reports on a tussle that could strike at the heart of American democracy.

Get the Guardian Weekly delivered to your home address

Five essential reads in this week’s edition

Jacinda Ardern spoke to the Guardian’s editor-in-chief about kind leadership, public rage and life in Trump’s America. Photograph: Benedict Evans/The Guardian

The big story | Is Viktor Orbán’s grip on power weakening?
Opposition activists and journalists explain why the Orbánisation of the US may fail and how a former ally could end the Hungarian PM’s 15-year reign. By Ashifa Kassam and Flora Garamvolgyi in Budapest

Science | The risk and reward of rapid Everest ascents
The use of xenon gas and hypoxic tents before recent expeditions has triggered alarm in Nepal, where guides fear it could encourage inexperienced climbers. Hannah Ellis-Petersen and Gaurav Pokharel report

Interview | Jacinda Ardern on leadership, legacy and why she quit
The former prime minister of New Zealand tried to do politics differently. But six years into power she dramatically resigned. In an exclusive interview with the Guardian’s editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner, she explains why

Opinion | So long, Elon: all you really shredded was your reputation
Judging by Musk’s approval ratings, Tesla investors won’t be the only ones happy to see the dethroning of the king of Doge, writes Marina Hyde

Culture | Inside Britain’s new museum of absolutely everything
Poison darts, a dome from Spain, priceless spoons and Frank Lloyd Wright furniture … Oliver Wainwright is wowed by how the V&A East Storehouse lets visitors ‘breathe the same air’ as its 250,000 artefacts

What else we’ve been reading

Sawang Janpram, the oldest competitor at the 2025 World Masters Games in Taipei. Photograph: I-Hwa Cheng/AFP/Getty Images

Sawang Janpram was 97 when he started competing at senior track and field events. I’d definitely advise other nonagenarians thinking of taking up the shot put to proceed with caution, but it’s hard not to be inspired by this remarkable 105-year-old from Thailand who says the secret to his longevity is “Regular exercise, healthy food, staying in a good mood, always being calm, breathing clean air and keeping up good hygiene.” Graham Snowdon, editor

County Clare on the west coast of Ireland is a place I know well as my dad was born there, and he made sure our childhood holidays usually included a visit to family and friends in Ennis. So it was a joy to see the region described so lovingly by Vic O’Sullivan, who captures the magic of what he calls “Ireland’s most musical county”. Anthony Naughton, assistant editor

Other highlights from the Guardian website

Audio | The OpenAI empire – podcast

Video | No Man Is an Island: a British society and its historic push for gay rights

Gallery | Milky Way photographer of the year 2025

Get in touch

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the magazine: for submissions to our letters page, please email [email protected]. For anything else, it’s [email protected]

Follow us

Facebook

Instagram

Get the Guardian Weekly magazine delivered to your home address