{"id":3975,"date":"2026-07-08T11:06:41","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:06:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3975"},"modified":"2026-07-08T11:06:41","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T11:06:41","slug":"exclusive-linda-mcmahon-warns-harvard-that-she-will-drop-the-hammer-if-the-ivy-league-school-doesnt-correct-dei-errors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3975","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive | Linda McMahon warns Harvard that she will drop the ‘hammer’\u00a0if the Ivy League school doesn’t correct DEI errors"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Education Secretary Linda McMahon, in the latest \u201cPod Force One\u201d episode, warned Harvard administrators that she could drop the \u201chammer\u201d on the Ivy League university should it continue quietly pursuing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives that run afoul of federal law.<\/p>\n

Read more Trump says Iran cease-fire is \u2018over,\u2019 vows to no longer deal with \u2018sick people\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

President Trump issued executive actions seeking to eliminate DEI at Harvard and other universities shortly after taking office in January 2025; the Department of Education also launched investigations into the Cambridge, Mass., school over alleged anti-semitism on campus and race-based admissions policies; and the DOJ sued Harvard for allegedly withholding data about those admissions.<\/p>\n

But that isn\u2019t stopping McMahon from threatening further probes to hold the Ivy League school accountable.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving always the hammer, if you will, of investigation, of losing federal funding for research and programs, as well as having lawsuits potentially brought by the Department of Justice are certainly things that they bear in mind as well,\u201d she told The Post\u2019s Miranda Devine on the podcast episode, out Wednesday.<\/p>\n

McMahon, the former president and CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, has shown in the past that she doesn\u2019t back off from conflict either, having been hit with a \u201ctombstone piledriver\u201d on TV from pro wrestler Kane on \u201cMonday Night Raw\u201d in 2003.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve actually not been turned upside down and made to look as though I landed on my head yet, but there is a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, that is for sure,\u201d she joked of her new position in the Trump administration. She previously served as the head of the Small Business Administration during the 45th president\u2019s first term.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy performances\u00a0were few and far between, and I really played myself. And as I watched some of those segments, I said, \u2018Yeah, you better stick to your day job, because you\u2019re really not very good at this,’\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But McMahon still holds a special place in her heart for the performers who competed in the ring.<\/p>\n

\u201cAndre the Giant was a big favorite of mine, because he literally was a giant, but just an incredible personality to get to know,\u201d she recalled of the 7\u20194\u201d and around 500-pound behemoth who dominated matches in the 1970s and 1980s.<\/p>\n

\u201cStone Cold Steve Austin and Hulk Hogan, all of the greats, you can\u2019t say you ever have one favorite,\u201d she added, \u201cbecause they were all a necessary part of a story plot line, because it always takes a protagonist and an antagonist to tell the story in the ring, which really was the culmination of some injustice that was going to have to be rectified through that match.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Trump administration\u2019s focus on curbing liberal influence in higher education has centered on Harvard. <\/p>\n

Health and Human Services (HHS) officials yanked $2.2 billion in federal grants from Harvard in May 2025, alleging that the university wasn\u2019t complying with federal non-discrimination laws. That prompted a court battle that ended in September 2025 with a judge ordering that the funding be restored, which the administration appealed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not the goal or the desire of the federal government to take away that funding, because our research universities provide unbelievable amount of very effective and good research and invention for the country,\u201d McMahon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we want to make sure that that research can continue, but they just need to know that they\u2019re going to have to operate within the confines of the law to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Conservative legal groups have also filed complaints with the DOJ\u2019s Office of Civil Rights that the school is still running tens of millions of dollars\u2019 worth of taxpayer-funded DEI programming.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Trump and McMahon had both expressed hopes that Harvard would enter into an agreement with the administration as Columbia University did when administrators settled for $220 million and scrapped policies that violated Jewish students\u2019 civil rights, in addition to other discriminatory practices.<\/p>\n

Other schools like the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shut down their\u00a0DEI offices\u00a0to demonstrate good faith that administrators were overseeing only merit-based programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is my sincere hope that many of them have seen the error in doing that,\u201d McMahon said of the DEI programming that had previously existed on top US universities\u2019 campuses. \u201cWhat we have seen as a result of a lot of the action that we have taken is there have been civics institutes set up on many of the campuses where civics is taught, history of our country is taught, and less of the ideology.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, if I\u2019m looking at it objectively, I would bet that there are many who have just changed the name and maybe given it enough window dressing that it\u2019s passed muster for the time being,\u201d she added. <\/p>\n

Read more Trump threatens to cut off trade, tourism with Spain in NATO rift<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Education Secretary Linda McMahon warned Harvard administrators in the latest “Pod Force One” episode that she could drop the “hammer” on the Ivy League university should it keep quietly pursuing DEI initiatives that run afoul of federal law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3974,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nExclusive | Linda McMahon warns Harvard that she will drop the 'hammer'\u00a0if the Ivy League school doesn't correct DEI errors - Metro Transit Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/metrotransitreview.com\/?p=3975\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Exclusive | Linda McMahon warns Harvard that she will drop the 'hammer'\u00a0if the Ivy League school doesn't correct DEI errors - 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