Trump Harasses Harvard

By Sue Kientz

For weeks, President Donald Trump has been targeting different groups and making stiff demands. First it was law firms that either worked on prosecutions like the January 6, 2021, rioting trials or handled other legal proceedings such as Mueller’s probe into Russia’s possible involvement in the 2016 election, which received letters accusing them of being against the president and/or his policies. Some firms might have previously employed an attorney who worked on a case against Trump, but even if that attorney no longer worked there, the firm nevertheless was in Trump’s crosshairs.(1) Many firms negotiated settlements that sounded relatively harmless, agreeing to do pro-bono work for hundreds of millions of dollars with groups that Trump approved of, which appeared to be work the attorneys would take on anyway.(2) Some firms pushed back and sued the Trump administration, getting pauses to respond as the courts adjudicate the suits.(3)

Soon afterward, Trump’s legal attacks expanded scope as similar demands were sent to top American colleges, starting with New York’s Columbia University. This time the charge was the college “wasn’t doing enough” to stop antisemitism during campus protests on the war in Gaza. If this wasn’t remedied, the demand went, Trump would pull all federal funds for all sorts of programs the university had ongoing, starting immediately. Columbia acquiesced soon after but found that even negotiating with the president didn’t restore its funding.(4)

Soon after Columbia waved the white flag, Trump officials announced they were reviewing Harvard University’s federal grants.(5) Founded 140 years before the United States of America came into existence, Harvard is not only the most famous institution of learning in the country; Harvard is a center of medical, social, and scientific research on a grand scale, as many top American universities are. It’s also located near Boston, Massachusetts, the birthplace of the American Revolution. So as its students, staff, and professors prepared to celebrate the 250^th anniversary of Paul Revere’s Ride warning that “The British are coming,” Harvard steeled itself for the 21^st Century equivalent, “The Trump Lawyers are coming!”

Astrology can show how well an individual is prepared (or not) to handle a significant life challenge, and the same is true of an institution. The only difference is that instead of a birth chart, you consult Harvard’s founding chart of October 28, 1636.(6) Harvard is as much an entity as a person, except that its thinking, actions, and intentions are carried out by many people working together rather than a single individual. On the day Harvard was established, the Sun (5 Scorpio) and Moon (4 Scorpio) began a powerful new cycle in plumbing the depths (Scorpio) of knowledge, both in generating it and dispensing it to others. Harvard’s Sun/Moon were sextile Mars (7 Capricorn), a supportive 60-degree angle indicating that the university’s decisions would emerge fortuitously from its core mission (Sun) and dearly held beliefs (Moon). Sun/Moon were also sextile dwarf planet 2002 MS₄ (5 Virgo), the largest unnamed body in our solar system and a marker of great intellect and inventiveness,(7) reflecting the reputation Harvard has duly amassed over centuries.

Harvard appears financially armed for a legal slugfest with the U.S. government, as its $53.2 billion endowment(8) is prefigured in Harvard’s close Venus (25 Virgo) Jupiter (26 Virgo) conjunction (Venus, resources/riches; Jupiter: abundance). But to see more clearly the college’s position in 2025, one compares where the solar system bodies are now in relation with Harvard’s founding positions. Pluto (3 Aquarius), representing a person or operation exercising power and control, is currently square (90-degrees) or at odds with Harvard’s Sun/Moon. This aptly characterizes the accusatory messages and legal actions levied at Harvard and its research programs. In addition, Mars (4 Leo) opposes Pluto, engendering conflict not just between the parties involved, but also the anger on display at demonstrations all over the country that protest President Trump’s actions against Harvard and other universities along with a plethora of other complaints. Today the New Moon in Taurus (7 Taurus) opposes Harvard’s founding Sun/Moon, as lawyers for both sides prepare to present arguments on Monday, April 28, as requested by the university’s recent lawsuit against Trump’s harassment and their filing for a prompt resolution.(9)

Enduring a Pluto square can he highly intimidating and threatening and often results in capitulation to such pressure. But where others have given up, Harvard has shown spine due to another dwarf planet, Haumea, and its uncanny ability to neutralize bullying behavior by game-changing action.(10) Haumea (2 Scorpio) is conjunct Harvard’s Sun/Moon, symbolizing how Harvard has taken on this fight and reset the tempo of the legal proceedings. The transiting Grand Cross of Sun/Moon in Taurus, square Pluto and Mars, and opposite Haumea, is definitely a challenge for Harvard, but with Haumea literally in its corner, that can only strengthen the resolve of the university. Already Harvard’s example has emboldened others to join in pushing back. Harvard’s labor union and student organizations are protesting against the government’s perceived overreach, and other universities are banding together and negotiating a NATO-like compact to fight Trump’s demands.(11,12)

Title Image credit: Harvard building image: chensiyuan, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons; Trump image by Daniel Torok, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Notes and References

1. Mascaro, Lisa, “Law firms, universities, civil society groups in Trump’s sights for punitive action,” 17 April 2025, ABC News, https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/law-firms-universities-now-civil-society-groups-trumps-120935897
2. Tucker, Eric, “Trump reaches deals with 5 law firms, allowing them to avoid prospect of punishing executive orders,” 11 April 2025, AP News, https://apnews.com/article/trump-law-firms-executive-order-fe8f38a61cf77c5bb6add1315f5f96f1
3. Scarcella, M., and D. Thomas, “Law firms targeted by Trump ask judges to permanently bar executive orders against them,” 23 April 2025, Reuters, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/law-firms-targeted-by-trump-ask-judges-permanently-bar-executive-orders-against-2025-04-23/
4. Moody, J., and R. Quinn, “NIH Freezes Millions More in Funding for Columbia,” 9 April 2025, Inside Higher Ed, https://www.insidehighered.com/news/government/politics-elections/2025/04/09/nih-freezes-millions-more-funding-columbia
5. Binkley, Collin, “Trump task force to review Harvard’s funding after Columbia bows to federal demands,” 31 March 2025, AP News, https://apnews.com/article/harvard-investigation-antisemitism-trump-2ee1a2a9df6d09d155dac7a4e39b186c
6. Harvard University founded, 28 October 1636, 12 noon used, Cambridge, MA (Worcester County), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University
7. 2002 MS₄ is in supportive aspect to the Sun in the charts of Einstein, Goethe, and Newton, to name a few: see Dwarf Planet Basics for keywords and examples, https://astrologynewsservice.com/articles/dwarf-planet-basics/
8. Lee, S.K., and T. Mete, “Harvard Endowment Jumps to $53.2 Billion, Delivers 9.6% Returns in 2024,” 18 October 2024, The Harvard Crimson, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2024/10/18/harvard-endowment-grows-in-2024/
9. Patel, D.T., and Yoon, G.E., “Harvard Asks Judge to Expedite Lawsuit Against Trump Admin, Declines to Request Emergency Injunction,” 24 April 2025, The Harvard Crimson, https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/4/24/harvard-requests-expedited-lawsuit-trump/
10. Kientz, Sue. “Pluto and Haumea: Having Power, and Using that Power,” 30 June, 2015, NCGR eNews, Issue 215, https://moreplutos.com/articles/Pluto&Haumea-for-NCGR-News-WebVersion.pdf
11. Sainato, Michael, “Harvard labor unions rally behind non-citizens and workers amid Trump attacks,” 26 April 2025, The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/26/harvard-labor-unions-trump
12. Brasch, B., and M. Hennessy-Fiske, “Big Ten university faculties push for defense compact against Trump,” 24 April 2025, The Washington Post, https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2025/04/24/big-10-universities-alliance-trump-attacks/

For more details about the angles or relationships between planets, see Lynne Hyde’s “Astrology Basics,” 12 November 2024, ANS, https://astrologynewsservice.com/articles/astrology-basics/