The 1600: Obama Inspires Ivy League Resistance

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Barack Obama’s efforts to rally voters against Donald Trump in the 2024 election met an unexpected wall: younger Black and Latino men. Now, just months after Kamala Harris’ failed bid to the White House, the former president and elder statesman of the wounded Democratic party is making his voice heard again—not on the campaign trail, but in the halls of higher education.

At a speech last week at Hamilton College in New York, Obama delivered a forceful rebuke of what he views as the Trump administration’s authoritarian overreach and its targeting of elite American universities.

“It is up to all of us to fix this,” Obama said during the event, warning citizens, students and institutions alike that “you may actually have to sacrifice” to preserve democratic values.

Speaking about the Trump administration’s move to pull federal funding unless universities dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and institute what amounts to federal oversight of their operations, Obama added: “If you are a university, you may have to figure out: ‘Are we, in fact, doing things right?… If not, and you’re just being intimidated, well, you should be able to say: ‘That’s why we got this big endowment.'”

The White House’s campaign to reshape higher education through funding threats is part of a broader ideological push. President Trump and Education Secretary Linda McMahon have targeted Ivy League and other top universities for what they call “ideological capture” and “civil rights failures,” especially around antisemitism.

Read more from Newsweek’s Jesus Mesa.

Facilitate vs. Effectuate: 10-Letter Words at Core of Constitutional Crisis

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the Trump administration needed to “facilitate” the return of a mistakenly deported Salvadoran man, it was seen as a victory, seemingly by both sides. While attorneys for the longtime Maryland resident and a U.S. District Court judge said this meant the White House needed to make efforts to retrieve him from El Salvador’s CECOT prison, the administration has said the decision does not force them to do so. Read the full story.

Also happening:

• Housing revolution? President Donald Trump’s plan to develop affordable housing on millions of unused acres of federal land across the U.S. could have a huge impact on Nevada where local homebuilders, residents and lawmakers on both sides of the political spectrum have long been calling for a similar solution to solve the state’s deepening crisis. “Nevada would tremendously benefit from the release of federal land for housing,” Gov. Joe Lombardo told Newsweek. Read more.
• Biden slams Trump over Social Security: In his first speech since leaving the White House in January, former President Joe Biden took aim at cuts to Social Security put in place by the Trump administration and DOGE. “They’ve taken a hatchet to the Social Security Administration,” Biden said. Watch here.

This is a preview of The 1600—Tap here to get this newsletter delivered straight to your inbox.