On Monday, the Trump administration announced that it was freezing over $2 billion in grants meant for Harvard University. The measures came on the heels of the university declining to accept the administration’s demands. Those demands included auditing the student body’s viewpoints. Trump’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti- Semitism released a statement in which it announced the cuts and called out “the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges.”
Trump Freezes Access To Grants
The statement went on to say that $2.2 billion in multi-year grants, as well as $60 million in multi-year contract value, would be frozen to the university. “The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Harvard University posted to its X page on Monday. “Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.”
Harvard Refuses To Cave
Harvard President Alan M. Garber sent out an email to the Harvard community acknowledging the university had received “an updated and expanded list of demands” from the Trump administration, warning it to comply if it wanted to “maintain a financial relationship with the federal government.” On Tuesday, President Donald Trump used his Truth Social account to call for Harvard to lose its tax-exempt status because it did not cave to his demands.
“Perhaps Harvard should lose its tax-exempt status and be taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?” Remember, Tax Exempt Status is contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!” Trump posted on Truth Social. The administration claims that its 10 demands are all aimed at addressing issues of antisemitism on campus and also restricting any foreign students who are “hostile to America’s institutions.”
Trump Wants To Stop Diversity
The Trump administration also demanded that the university immediately shutter all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. The administration wants the programs changed to “merit-based programs.” Garber denounced the administration’s attempt to control Harvard and called its demands “unprecedented.” The university had its legal counsel reach out to the administration and make it clear it did not accept its terms.
“It makes clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner,” Garber said. “Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the ‘intellectual conditions’ at Harvard.”
Harvard Lawyers Reach Out To Trump
Lawyers for the university penned a letter to the Trump administration saying that it is “committed to fighting antisemitism and other forms of bigotry in its community” but that the administration’s demands “invade university freedoms long recognized by the Supreme Court.”
Trump Has Made Demands Elsewhere
Harvard is not the only university that the Trump administration has made demands to. Just last month, Columbia University decided to agree to 9 demands made by the administration. Those demands included banning students from covering their faces during protests, employing 36 more school security officers who have the power to arrest students, and appointing a senior vice provost who would oversee the department of African, Middle Eastern, and South Asian studies.
