Conan O’Brien Roasts Trump at Harvard Amid DOJ Lawsuit

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Comedian Conan O’Brien delivered a sharp and humorous commencement address at Harvard University on Thursday, cracking jokes about “Justice Department spies” in the audience and criticizing the Trump administration’s approach to empathy, all while the Ivy League institution faces an escalating legal and political battle with the White House over allegations of antisemitism on campus.

O’Brien, a 1985 Harvard graduate and former president of the Harvard Lampoon, returned to his alma mater at one of the most fraught moments in its recent history. The university is fighting a Department of Justice lawsuit filed in March that accuses Harvard of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act by failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from harassment following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack. The suit seeks billions in restitution and the appointment of an outside monitor.

A Commencement Like No Other

O’Brien did not shy away from the political tension. “Our current leadership in Washington believes that empathy is a weakness,” he told the graduating class, drawing applause. He joked that he was suing Harvard over uncomfortable dorm furniture and his “less-than-spectacular undergraduate sex life,” claims he said had “more merit than those filed by the president of the United States.”

The comedian also defended international students, whom the Trump administration has attempted to block Harvard from hosting, and urged graduates not to let their Harvard pedigree define them. “Maybe my wish for you is not that Harvard becomes the last thing people know about you,” O’Brien said, “but instead that Harvard become the least important thing people know about you.”

Legal and Political Pressure Mounts

The commencement unfolded against the backdrop of a multi-front confrontation between Harvard and the Trump administration. In March, the DOJ filed a lawsuit alleging the university was “deliberately indifferent” to antisemitic harassment on campus. Harvard fired back on May 18, filing a 49-page motion to dismiss the case, arguing that the government’s claims are “outdated” and ignore extensive reforms the university has implemented, including new protest rules, antisemitism training, and adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

According to The Harvard Crimson, Harvard’s lawyers wrote that the DOJ complaint relies on “a snapshot in time that does not exist today” and “retreads allegations already tested and rejected in court.”

This legal battle follows a significant victory for Harvard in September 2025, when U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs struck down the Trump administration’s freeze of $2.2 billion in federal research funding, calling the antisemitism argument a “smokescreen” for a politically motivated attack.

Campus Divisions on Display

Thursday’s ceremony also highlighted deep divisions on campus. More than 4,000 graduate student workers represented by HGSU-UAW have been on strike since April 21, picketing commencement events with vuvuzelas, drums, and cowbells whenever administrators spoke. They are demanding higher pay, stronger protections, and an independent process for harassment complaints.

Dozens of pro-Palestinian demonstrators silently held signs condemning the university’s “Complicity in Palestinian Genocide,” while student speaker Andrew O’Donohue, who completed a doctorate studying democratic institutions, warned that political interference in higher education threatens the mission of universities.

“When students self-censor, when professors fear being punished, when scientists worry that research funding is allocated based on politics,” O’Donohue said, “our universities will not produce the next great artist, doctor, scientist, educator, lawyer, entrepreneur, public servant, or innovator.”

Jewish Life Thrives Amid Controversy

Despite the administration’s portrayal of Harvard as a hostile environment for Jewish students, The New York Times reported that Jewish life on campus is “vibrant as ever,” with increased engagement and programming. Jewish students describe a changed but resilient atmosphere, even as the university navigates the most aggressive federal pressure campaign against an American university in modern history.

What’s Next

The DOJ lawsuit is now before U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns, who has already rejected Harvard’s bid to transfer the case to Judge Burroughs. A ruling on Harvard’s motion to dismiss could come in the coming weeks. Meanwhile, the graduate worker strike continues, and the Pentagon has cut professional education ties with Harvard over what it called “wokeness.”

Harvard’s resistance to the administration’s demands — contrasted with other institutions like Columbia and Brown that have reached settlements — positions the university as a pivotal test case for institutional independence and academic freedom in an era of unprecedented government pressure on higher education.