Harvard ruthlessly red-pencils Trump secretary Linda McMahon's threat letter over future research grants

The Donald Trump administration sought to compel Harvard University to return to the negotiating table by notifying the nation’s oldest and wealthiest college that it would be ineligible for any new federal grants. The move was communicated in a rather contentious letter from Education Secretary Linda McMahon. However, Harvard University edited the letter professor-style and sent it back to McMahon with the errors noted in red pen, according to a few posts made to X with a picture of the marked-up three pages.

The letter that was posted by McMahon on X (formerly Twitter) was addressed to Harvard's president Dr Alan Garber.

“Harvard is engaging in a systemic (sic) pattern of violating federal law,” McMahon wrote in her letter, which both the university and others who edited the letter noted was likely meant to say 'systematic.'

“Where do many of these 'students' come from, who are they, how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country—and why is there so much HATE?” Secretary McMahon continued in the opening paragraph.

Social media users said that Harvard has 'won' this round of the war with the Donald Trump administration because of the numerous mistakes in the letter. Some even asked if it was written by an AI.

One correspondent with the Independent commented on X, "Whoever wrote this is barely literate'.

McMahon wrote “Federal Government”, which critics said was improper because she capitalised the letters 'F' and 'G' when it is not a proper noun.

Other corrections include highlighting run-on and incomplete sentences, inconsistent verb tenses, and irregular capitalisation.

Linda McMahon’s three-page letter, which employed the use of capital letters for emphasis, was filled with familiar complaints echoed by Donald Trump and other conservative critics of Harvard.

The missive from Linda McMahon said the Ivy League college had “made a mockery of this country’s higher education system.” It accused the university of “ugly racism,” mentioned “humiliating plagiarism scandals” and lashed out at the university’s leadership.

“At its best, a university should fulfill the highest ideals of our nation, and enlighten the thousands of hopeful students who walk through its magnificent gates,” McMahon wrote. “But Harvard has betrayed its ideal.”

Donald Trump versus Harvard

No university in the United States stands in starker opposition to the Donald Trump government than Harvard.

Last month, the Trump administration presented Harvard with a series of stringent demands, including calls for audits of professors to detect plagiarism, mandatory reporting to federal authorities of any international students accused of misconduct, and the appointment of an independent overseer to ensure that academic departments uphold “viewpoint diversity.”

Although the Trump administration later asserted that the letter containing these demands had been sent in error, the dispute has continued to escalate unabated.