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Scott Jennings Has a Message for Harvard Regarding Federal Funding

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  April 15, 2025 1:45 PM

Monday was a busy night for Scott Jennings on "CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip," with the conservative commentator having to issue key reminders not only about "Maryland man" Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant deported to El Salvador, but also about antisemitism going on at Harvard and other universities. His fellow panelists, many of them liberals, came off as particularly "unhinged" during that topic. 

Jennings defended the Trump administration's decision on freezing funds, aptly offering, "I think that this is all about antisemitism," adding, "I mean, I believe that what's happened on these campuses in the Ivy League and in other places, mostly private institutions, has been an abomination. And someone has to stand up for these Jewish kids."

What made Jennings' response even more noteworthy is that he calmly made his points  while Abby Phillip questioned it was about antisemitism, and CNN's Jay Michaelson, who is also a rabbi, repeatedly cut him off, as he also brought up Nick Fuentes, and CPAC, where he claimed that "there's anti-Semitic conspiracies all over the place." 

"Someone has to stand up for 'em," Jennings continued. "And until--and until Donald Trump came along and his administration and decided to connect federal funds to stamping out the scourge of antisemitism on these campuses.... nobody was willing to stand up for them."

As Michaelson continued to interrupt Jennings, while he calmly continued, Phillip let it play out. 

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When Jennings offered that "I think the American people don't want a private university with a $53 billion endowment to get a dollar while a Jewish kid is being discriminated against on campus," Michaelson shook his head, laughed, and claimed "what a complete joke" Jennings' valid clams were. 

"You guys are nowhere," Michaelson insisted, hysterically claiming that "you have white supremacists in your party," as Jennings reminded him that Nick Fuentes, whom Jennings brought up multiple times, is "not in our administration." Fuentes has also been repeatedly condemned by many Republicans. 

"You sound unhinged, you sound crazy," Jennings responded to Michaelson's outbursts. As he also asked, "do you do not want these college campuses to do better? Do you condone what is happening?"

"That's what Harvard is going to do. They already agreed," Michaelson responded by way of a non-answer. 

Jennings even stuck to reminding that this is about antisemitism, as Phillip, once she could get a word in edgewise, suggested that that was not the issue "The question is, how is the government using government power to do it? There is a complete distinction between the university addressing its own problems and the government forcing them to it in a particular way," she instead insisted. As Phillip began to make her point, Michaelson could meanwhile be heard in the background, still complaining about how "this is such garbage!"

In this case, it still is about the university not complying with antisemitism, though, with Jennings reminding how Harvard must comply if it wants the federal funds. "The entanglement comes when you take federal money. If Harvard wants to give up the federal money, you can do all the antisemitism, I guess, you want at Harvard or any other school, but that's not the issue. That's not the issue," he made clear. 

Earlier in the segment, Phillip herself had referenced Liberty University, a conservative Christian school. It would have been worthwhile to bring up Hillsdale College, another conservative Christian school, and one which does not take federal dollars.

As Hillsdale itself has reminded over X, Harvard is free to go that route.