Former Harvard president urges people to ‘speak out’ against threats to US democracy

New York Times published a Memorial Day essay by Drew Gilpin Faust as university spars with Trump administration

A recent former president of Harvard University urged people to speak out" in defense of foundational threats" to values such as freedom, autonomy and democracy in the US, as those whose deaths for such causes in war were being honored on Memorial Day.

Drew Gilpin Faust, the first female president of Harvard, also warned on Monday of US constitutional checks and the rule of law being at risk" under the current administration, even as Donald Trump issued a fresh threat against the elite university as it seeks to repel his assaults on its independence and funding.