Viral Harvard response to Trump education secretary is fake

"So let me get this straight, Linda McMahon, the Trump appointed Secretary of Education, wrote Harvard University a letter to which they responded by noting areas that are in need of correction and then posted it on social media ?" says a May 7, 2025 post on Threads from Etan Thomas, a former professional basketball player.

"Much Respect Harvard," Thomas, who played nine seasons in the NBA, added.

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Screenshot from Threads taken May 8, 2025

Similar posts spread across Threads and other platforms -- including Facebook, X, Bluesky and TikTok -- after Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a May 5 letter sent to Harvard's president and posted online that the university "should no longer seek GRANTS from the federal government, since none will be provided" (archived here).

In the letter, the former wrestling executive alleges that Harvard -- routinely ranked among the world's top universities -- has "failed to abide by its legal obligations, its ethical and fiduciary duties, its transparency responsibilities, and any semblance of academic rigor."

The posts spreading online share a version of McMahon's message with what appears to be red, handwritten comments scribbled across the text, resembling grading feedback returned by a schoolteacher.

The mark-up is not an official response from Harvard, however.

AFP traced the image to a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who posted it to his X account May 6 (archived here).

The student, Daniel Luo, told AFP he created the image and was surprised to see the post take off as much as it did.

"I intended it to be a joke/satire," Luo said in a May 7 email.

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Screenshot from X taken May 8, 2025

Luo had also signaled that the image was fake in several other posts on X, saying it was riddled with "inside jokes for economists" and that he posted it late at night after drinking "to have some gallows humor" (archived here, here, here and here).

"I never said i was affiliated w harvard at all," he wrote in one reply to another user (archived here).

No such message appears on Harvard's website or social media channels. AFP reached out to the university for comment, but no response was forthcoming.

In a May 6 statement, a spokesperson said the Ivy League school would "continue to defend against illegal government overreach aimed at stifling research and innovation" (archived here).

"Today, we received another letter from the administration doubling down on demands that would impose unprecedented and improper control over Harvard University and would have chilling implications for higher education," the statement said.

"Today's letter makes new threats to illegally withhold funding for lifesaving research and innovation in retaliation against Harvard for filing its lawsuit on April 21."

The university sued the Trump administration for freezing federal funds in an effort to impose demands centered around the school's admissions, hiring practices and alleged political slant. The administration has for weeks attacked Harvard and other higher-education institutions over claims that they tolerate anti-Semitism on their campuses and overprioritize diversity programs that the White House has sought to purge from American society.

The US government has threatened numerous punishments, including the cancelation of universities' tax-exempt status. It has also moved to revoke visas and deport foreign students involved in protests over Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.

AFP has debunked other misinformation about US politics here.