Most of that government letter is related to affirmative action practices and DEI related hiring. These universities had zero problems firing staff who voiced views that differed from the far-left ideologies that the adminstrators pushed. They were perfectly content with students protesting & shouting down visting speakers who had different views from them, indeed they encouraged it. I have zero sympathy with Harvard on this issue.
Discussion
This isn't about what their opinions are, it's about the government directly reducing their right to have them. Look, I went to a school that's basically an arm of the DoD – I have no misconceptions about funding coming with strings. I'm just observing the current political climate
I don't like it either but it's been going on for years. The previous administration was doing exactly the same thing except they were forcing internet companies to do the censoring & places like Harvard supported & encouraged it.