Latest news with #AbrahamVerghese
Time of India
4 hours ago
- General
- Time of India
‘What Harvard has taught America in a time of siege'
'What Harvard has taught America in a time of siege' Team TOI Plus Jun 3, 2025, 15:37 IST IST At Harvard's 2025 convocation, physician and author Dr Abraham Verghese delivered a searing address on truth, authoritarianism, and the immigrant experience — without naming Trump once. These are some unforgettable lines from the speech that brought the house down Last week, at Harvard University's convocation, physician and acclaimed author Dr Abraham Verghese delivered a piercing commencement address that cast the immigrant experience as a mirror to America's democratic promise — one he warned was under siege. Invited to speak by interim president Alan Garber, who has been locked in a public standoff with the Trump White House over campus politics and institutional autonomy, Verghese used his platform not to grandstand, but to surgically expose the moral cost of draconian governance, rising authoritarianism, and the vanishing of truth. Without once naming the US president or invoking 'MAGA', the Indian-origin infectious disease specialist — born in Ethiopia, trained in India, and naturalised in the US — offered the graduating class a deeply personal, politically charged meditation on character, courage, and time.
Fox News
2 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Harvard commencement speaker decries Trump administration's 'draconian government measures'
Stanford professor Abraham Verghese spoke out against the Trump administration's "cascade of draconian government measures" at Harvard Thursday as the White House continues to battle the elite university. The physician and novelist was Harvard's 2025 commencement speaker, where he also received an honorary degree from the university. During his address, Verghese acknowledged that he was speaking at an "unprecedented moment" in the school's history amid President Donald Trump's attempts to cut the school's federal funding and terminate its student visa program due to reports of rampant antisemitism on campus. "A cascade of draconian government measures has already led to so much uncertainty, so much pain and suffering in this country and across the globe, and more has been threatened," Verghese said. "The outrage you must feel, the outrage so many feel, must surely lead us to a new appreciation for the rule of law and due process, which 'til now we took for granted, because this is America." Verghese added that he agreed to be the commencement speaker to promote the value of immigrants like himself as Trump cracks down on illegal immigration. "What made me eventually say yes to President Garber had everything to do with where we all find ourselves in 2025, when legal immigrants and others who are lawfully in this country, including so many of your international students, worry about being wrongly detained and even deported," Verghese said. "When legal immigrants and others who are lawfully in this country worry about being wrongly detained and even deported, perhaps it's fitting that you hear from an immigrant like me." "Part of what makes America great, if I may use that phrase, is that it allows an immigrant like me to blossom here, just as generations of other immigrants and their children have flourished and contributed in every walk of life, working to keep America great." He later related his experiences caring for HIV patients in a small town in Tennessee at the height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s, saying the experience taught him that "love trumps all bigotry. Love trumps ideology." Verghese also celebrated the school pushing back against the Trump administration as an inspiration. "More people than you realize are grateful for Harvard for the example it has set," he said. "By your clarity in affirming and courageously defending the essential values of this university, and indeed of this nation." Verghese's speech came after Harvard President Alan Garber addressed conservative viewpoints being seen as unwelcome on campus. He called it a "problem" that needs to be solved. Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard for comment.
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Harvard defends itself in a way all Americans should understand
Feeling like a medieval messenger, Abraham Verghese said, the distinguished physician and writer had 'slipped into the besieged community' of Harvard University Thursday to deliver the school's commencement address. Any other year, such a metaphor would have been absurd. Even a year ago at Harvard, the very notion of community was stretching the definition of the world, with students and faculty at odds over the school's response to the conflict in the Middle East. A matter of weeks ago, twin internal Harvard reports had found both a rise in 'Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli bias' and in 'Anti-Muslim, Anti-Arab, and Anti-Palestinian bias.' No wonder the university's President Alan Garber called the 2023-24 academic year 'disappointing and painful.' But nothing squelches internal fighting like a common enemy. This week, Harvard finally got its act together to defend itself, and by extension, all American universities, against extraordinary governmental attacks by articulating a defense resting on three granite pillars: freedom of speech, the importance of the rule of law and the value of America educating the world. Such, of course, are traditional Republican values as well as Democratic positions, arguably more so, given Democrats queasiness over at least the first two during the COVID era. Finally, a higher education sector that had fallen under the thrall of extremists and thus removed itself from the lives of most Americans has figured out that it can explain its importance if it does so in language core to the founding and essence of this republic. Such a defense was a long time coming but was balm for the ears once it arrived at what must surely have been just about the most politically charged graduation in Harvard's long history, given that contemporaneous news of a court putting a hold on the Trump administration's intent to prevent Harvard from enrolling international students became part of the ceremony. After all, what American argument could possibly be made for prohibiting international students, at least beyond the tiny percentage employed as some kind of spy? The benefits flow both ways: loyalty to America from such graduates has long been a major source of U.S. soft power and, of course, their full tuition, typically, boosts the local economy and often subsidizes low-income domestic students. And who beyond a xenophobe could possibly believe that one's education is not enhanced by a classmate from elsewhere in the world, a truth that applies to kindergarten just as much as at Harvard? Garber was greeted by a long, standing ovation at Harvard on Thursday, reflective of broad appreciation of his stand against the Trump administration. But Verghese, of Stanford University, a physician who spoke of compassion, healing and of life's brevity, was the chief messenger of sanity. 'The outrage you must feel, the outrage so many feel,' he said, 'also must surely lead us to a new appreciation. Appreciation for the rule of law and due process, which till now we took for granted — because this is America after all!' Verghese noted it was 'a reflex of so-called strong men to attack the places where truth and reason prevail.' An immigrant himself, he captured the fundamental optimism of the aspirational arriver on American shores: 'Who believes in America more than the immigrant who runs down the gangplank and kisses the ground?' He said the values of a university fighting against 'a cascade of draconian government measures' represent the values of the entire nation and he did so with optimism, this being a graduation and all. 'I know,' he said, 'that we will find our way back to an America whose attributes I admired from afar.' We know that too. And we also know that the students who graduated in recent weeks from many fine universities, including those matriculating next weekend at the University of Chicago, will be among those charged with that return. 'Though many would be loath to admit it,' Garber said Thursday at Harvard, 'absolute certainty and willful ignorance are two sides of the same coin, a coin with no value but costs beyond measure.' Here was a clever, even a passive-aggressive metaphor of a meme, along the same lines as Verghese saying that immigrants can and will 'keep America great.' 'The world,' Garber said, 'tempts us with the lure of what one might generously call comfortable thinking, a habit of mind that readily convinces us of the merits of our own assumptions, the veracity of our own arguments, and the soundness of our own opinions, positions, and perspectives — so committed to our beliefs that we seek information that confirms them as we discredit evidence that refutes them.' It was inspiring to hear such strong minds focus not on dogma or the grievances of identity politics but on the importance of critical thinking, of staying open to the world, of challenging one's own certainties, of being led not as sheep scared to go against the majority and determined to filter all facts through personal biases but as Americans open to being flat wrong. It is not only Harvard's best defense — or any university's best defense — against an authoritarian government. It is this country's best defense. The next step, though, is to better understand why those attacks on free academic speech and openness to the world are arriving from a legitimately elected administration with the backing of so many fellow Americans, including so many of those who value freedom above all else. That's the most important charge to the Class of 2025.
Fox News
4 days ago
- General
- Fox News
Harvard's left-leaning history of commencement speakers amid debate about lack of viewpoint diversity
As Harvard University faces more criticism over its lack of conservative views on campus, the school continued a pattern of inviting more left-leaning commencement speakers for its students on Thursday. Physician and author Abraham Verghese spoke to the graduating class of 2025 and used his speech to attack the "cascade of draconian government measures" from the Trump administration that have led to widespread "uncertainty, pain, and suffering." He also called on Harvard to stand firm against them. "More people than you realize are grateful for Harvard for the example it has set," Verghese said. "By your clarity in affirming and courageously defending the essential values of this university, and indeed of this nation." He also highlighted his status as an immigrant at a time when "legal immigrants and others who are lawfully in this country worry about being wrongly detained and even deported." References to ongoing political conflicts are not new in university commencement speeches, but at Harvard, the political comments have been largely left-leaning, with some of the examples being Democratic politicians themselves. Since 2015, Harvard has hosted former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, the late Georgia Rep. John Lewis and former U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. Garland's address was largely spent warning 2020 and 2021 graduates about the threat to democracy following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots. "At home, we are also facing threats to democracy – different in kind, but threats, nonetheless," Garland said in 2022. "We see them in efforts to undermine the right to vote. We see them in the violence and threats of violence that are directed at people because of who they are or how they serve the public. We saw them when a violent mob stormed the United States Capitol in an attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power." Guests over the past decade have also included foreign leaders such as former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. During their speeches, they touted legislative accomplishments and goals for issues like climate change and abortion. "In the past ten years, we have passed laws that include everything from the introduction of gay marriage and the banning of conversion therapy, right through to embedding a 1.5 degree climate change target into law, banning military-style semi-automatics and assault rifles, and the decriminalization of abortion," Ardern boasted in 2022. Journalists such as Maria Ressa and former Washington Post editor Martin Baron spoke to graduates about the dangers of "disinformation" and the importance of a free press. "Facts and truth are matters of life and death. Misinformation, disinformation, delusions and deceit can kill," Baron said in 2020. Other speakers included filmmaker Steven Spielberg, actor Tom Hanks and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, each of whom has had a history of supporting Democratic politicians. Harvard President Alan Garber recently addressed conservative viewpoints appearing unwelcome on campus and called it a "problem" that needs to be solved. "Many members of our community have been alarmed that students have become increasingly reluctant to speak openly about controversial or uncomfortable topics, especially if they believe their personal views are unpopular. That's a problem we need to solve," Garber said. Harvard University announced after Verghese's speech that it had appointed alum Kannon K. Shanmugam, an attorney with "strong Republican ties," to the Harvard Corporation. In a statement to the Harvard Crimson, Garber expressed optimism that Shanmugam would provide "fresh perspectives and valuable insights." The spotlight on Harvard's lack of viewpoint diversity comes as the Trump administration announces more cuts to federal funding for the school.
LeMonde
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- LeMonde
Harvard's foreign students anxious after Trump takes aim at them
"I felt you deserved to hear from a star, a legend, a Nobel prize winner, or perhaps, God knows, from the pope himself... Maybe next year?" Laughter rippled through the crowd of thousands gathered on Harvard's lawn on Thursday, May 29. Abraham Verghese may not have the renown of his illustrious predecessors – Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, Tom Hanks, Mark Zuckerberg, or Steven Spielberg – all chosen in the past to deliver the university's famed annual commencement address. But in 2025, a year marked by attacks from the Trump administration against the campus, who better to fill this role than a doctor, a Stanford professor, a writer, born in Ethiopia to Indian parents, who arrived in America in the 1980s as a foreign student. "When legal immigrants and others who are lawfully in this country worry about being wrongly detained and even deported, perhaps it's fitting that you hear from an immigrant like me." Since Tuesday, Harvard University has been living to the rhythm of commencement ceremonies, the graduation ritual whose origins date back to the 17 th century. They began with a parade of about 9,000 graduates. Many wore, in addition to the traditional black cap and gown, sashes bearing the colors of their home countries. The sight of this colorful crowd made clear what the potential loss of international students would mean for the university.
