Trump freezes $2.2b of Harvard’s funding, threatens to remove its tax-exempt status
Administration demanding audits and overhauls, told university to report on noncitizen students’ conduct violations; Harvard president says antisemitism an excuse to push agenda
The US federal government said Tuesday it was freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University after the prestigious institution said it would defy the Trump administration’s demands to overhaul its admissions, hiring, and disciplinary processes — made largely in the name of combating antisemitism.
The administration’s effort comes in the wake of widespread anti-Israel and in some cases antisemitic protests on campuses across the US last year that saw frequent expressions of support for the Hamas terror group and its October 7, 2023, attack, as well as violations of school rules and local law. It also echoes decades of criticism by conservatives citing a lack of “viewpoint diversity” and controversial speech at colleges and universities.
Later Tuesday, US President Donald Trump threatened to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status. Trump said the university “should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity” if it does not submit to his demands for the college to change the way it runs itself. Tax-exempt status is “totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST,” he added in a post on his Truth Social network.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also told reporters Trump wanted to see Harvard apologize for what she called “antisemitism that took place on their college campus against Jewish American students.”
She accused Harvard and other schools of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination by recipients of federal funding based on race or national origin.
The hold on Harvard’s funding sets the stage for a showdown between the federal government and America’s oldest and wealthiest university. With an endowment of more than $50 billion, Harvard is perhaps the best positioned university to push back on the administration’s pressure campaign. The administration has already targeted six other schools, five of which are in the elite Ivy League.
In a letter to Harvard Friday, Trump’s administration called on the school to reform the structure and ideological makeup of its administration; to crack down on unlawful behavior by student activists and ban face masks; to audit programs and departments that “most fuel antisemitic harassment or reflect ideological capture”; and to report to the federal government any conduct violations by noncitizens enrolled at the school.
The letter also called on Harvard to overhaul its admission and hiring processes, demanding they each become entirely merit-based while also demanding that their outcomes reflect a diversity of viewpoints.
The federal government said almost $9 billion in grants and contracts in total were at risk if Harvard did not comply.
On Monday, Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not bend to the government’s demands.
Hours later, the government froze billions in Harvard’s federal funding.
“The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Garber said in a letter to the Harvard community.
“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.”
Garber also reiterated what he said was an “abundantly clear” commitment to fighting antisemitism. He added that Harvard had “taken many steps” over the last 15 months to address antisemitism on campus, though he did not provide specific examples.
Garber said that many of the government’s demands don’t relate to antisemitism but instead are an attempt to regulate the “intellectual conditions” at Harvard.
Withholding federal funding from Harvard, one of the nation’s top research universities in science and medicine, “risks not only the health and well-being of millions of individuals but also the economic security and vitality of our nation.” It also violates the university’s First Amendment rights and exceeds the government’s authority under Title VI, which prohibits discrimination against students based on their race, color or national origin, Garber said.
The first university targeted by the Trump administration was Columbia, which acquiesced to the government’s demands under the threat of billions of dollars in cuts. The administration also has paused federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Princeton, Cornell and Northwestern. It has also arrested and sought the deportation of student activists who were connected to anti-Israel protests.
The federal antisemitism task force said in a statement Monday that Harvard’s defiance “reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges — that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws.
“The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable,” the taskforce said.
The administration’s crackdown has been controversial within the American Jewish community, however.
On Tuesday, 10 leading US Jewish groups, including major organs of the Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist movements, denounced the administration’s moves against schools and non-citizen activists.
“There should be no doubt that antisemitism is rising — visible, chilling, and increasingly normalized in our public discourse, politics, and institutions,” the groups wrote.
“At the same time, we firmly reject the false choice between confronting antisemitism and upholding democracy. Our safety as Jews has always been tied to the rule of law, to the safety of others, to the strength of civil society, and to the protection of rights and liberties for all,” they said.
Luke Tress contributed to this report.
The Times of Israel Community.