Five elite universities that have publicly criticized President Donald Trump are paying top-tier MAGA-friendly lobbyists to butter up the White House privately, federal lobbying disclosures show.
Johns Hopkins University, Cornell University, Northwestern University, the University of Michigan, and Harvard University have all entered into lobbying contracts with Ballard Partners or Miller Strategies, two firms with close links to the Trump administration, since Election Day. While Ballard and Miller lobbyists work backrooms on behalf of their clients, those universities have engaged in public acts of defiance against Trump, launching lawsuits, signing critical letters, and refusing to comply with his demands for reform.
The presidents of four of the universities that have recently hired Trump-connected lobbyists — Harvard, Cornell, Northwestern, and the University of Michigan — are signatories of an April letter that condemned as an example of “unprecedented government overreach and political interference” the president’s strategy of withholding federal funds to gain leverage over universities.
“Harvard University and Cornell University are scrambling to hire conservative lobbyists because their leaders are in a progressive echo chamber and do not know how to talk to conservatives,” Campus Reform Editor in Chief Zachary Marschall told the Washington Examiner. “Universities need to increase viewpoint diversity on campuses and cultivate environments that represent the full spectrum of political thought in this country. The Trump administration is asking for commonsense solutions to combat antisemitism and bolster campus safety.”
Harvard’s spat with Trump has been particularly intense. The university, in April, declined to comply with the Trump administration’s enforcement of the Civil Rights Act, which would have required it to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programming as well as take increased measures to address antisemitism. The White House responded by freezing over $2.6 billion worth of Harvard’s federal funding, barring the university from applying for new federal grants, and threatening its tax-exempt status. The university has since renamed its diversity office.
“Harvard will not surrender its core, legally-protected principles out of fear of unfounded retaliation by the federal government,” university President Alan Garber wrote in a May 12 response to the pressure, calling the administration’s approach “unlawful.” The university has accused Trump of attempting to violate its constitutional rights and launched lawsuits seeking to regain its funding.
While releasing strongly worded public statements to resist Trump, Harvard has hired a man thought to be one of the closest lobbyists to the president. On Jan. 2, the university inked a contract with Ballard Partners. The firm is run by Brian Ballard, a man who has a nearly three-decade relationship with the president spanning his work as a lobbyist for the Trump Organization and as a major fundraiser and senior staffer for Trump’s 2016 campaign. Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles are both alumni of Ballard Partners, leading some to believe the firm has privileged access to the administration, though Ballard reportedly landed in hot water over an incident involving one of his lobbyists’ advocacy for a crypto client.
Daniel McFaul, one of Ballard’s lobbyists working on behalf of Harvard, is the one-time chief of staff of former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, a mainstay of MAGA world.
The University of Michigan, whose interim president is a signatory of the anti-Trump letter published in April, has also retained Ballard’s firm. McFaul is also working on behalf of the University of Michigan.
Ballard Partners isn’t the only Trump-adjacent lobbying outfit attracting business from universities that have been critical of the president. Miller Strategies, run by long-time Republican operative and finance chair of Trump’s most recent inauguration, Jeff Miller, has signed Johns Hopkins, Cornell, and Northwestern since Election Day 2024.
Cornell has been particularly vigorous in its defiance of Trump, joining a slew of lawsuits aimed at reversing the administration’s attempts to reduce federal spending by cutting indirect costs associated with grant funding, additional funds accompanying a federal award that don’t directly fund the specified program but rather go to the university to help cover administrative costs. Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff is also a signatory of the April letter accusing Trump of instilling “fear of retribution, censorship, or deportation” among university faculty, students, and staff. Northwestern President Michael Schill signed the same letter.
OVER 99% OF POLITICAL DONATIONS FROM TOP HARVARD OFFICIALS WENT TO DEMOCRATS
The Trump administration has frozen roughly $1 billion in funding to Cornell and $790 million to Northwestern, the New York Times reported.
When reached for comment, a Cornell spokeswoman referred the Washington Examiner to a university statement outlining the institution’s legal strategy and desire to negotiate with policymakers.
Johns Hopkins, by comparison, has kept its criticisms of the Trump administration relatively mild by releasing statements that affirm the university’s desire to hold to its values but stop short of criticizing the administration itself. The university did, however, join a lawsuit against the administration seeking to reverse its indirect cost cuts.
Miller Strategies is dispatching George Caram, who worked in the first Trump White House as a staff officer for the National Security Council, and James Min, former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy’s onetime deputy chief of staff, to lobby on behalf of the trio of universities.
“Universities, many of whom ended up on a Trump administration-led antisemitism task force list, tapping lobbyists with Republican ties signals a couple of things,” Capital Research Center communications director Sarah Lee told the Washington Examiner. “First, it tells students inclined to continue protesting that the universities may not be totally in support of their cause. And second, that higher education institutions can be reminded of their mission to educate rather than simply churning out activists. The cynical view is that their new lobbying approach is duplicitous. A more optimistic take is that they recognize the folly of a myopic worldview when their existence relies so much on government funding. Which, in this case, is ultimately good for them, good for students, and good for the country.”
Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, the University of Michigan, and Harvard did not respond to requests for comment.
