The Trump administration has announced that it is freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University after the institution said it would not comply with the administration’s demands to limit activism on campus.
The Trump administration has issued a set of demands that Harvard University must fulfill to continue receiving nearly $9 billion in federal grants and contracts, amid an ongoing investigation into antisemitism on campus.
This move comes just hours after University President Alan Garber refused to comply with what he called the government’s “unprecedented demands.”
“The Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism is announcing a freeze on $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60M in multi-year contract value to Harvard University,” announced the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism in a statement.
“Harvard’s statement today 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,” they said.
They further stated that “the disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable. It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support.”
Earlier, in a letter addressed to Harvard’s president Dr. Alan M. Garber on Thursday, three federal agencies — the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), alongside the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services — outlined demands described as necessary for a “continued financial relationship” with the government.
Similar to a demand letter that prompted changes at Columbia University under the threat of billions of dollars in cuts, the letter calls for a ban on face masks to target pro-Palestinian protesters who have sometimes worn masks to hide their identities.
Harvard also must clarify its campus speech policies that limit the time, place, and manner of protests and other activities and reduce the power held by faculty and administrators “more committed to activism than scholarship.”
It also demanded the university audit views of diversity on campus and stop recognizing some student clubs.
In a statement addressed to the Harvard Community, University President Alan Garber stated that the move makes it clear the government’s intention is not to work with the university to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner. “Although some of the demands are aimed at combating antisemitism,” he noted, “the majority amount to direct governmental regulation of the intellectual conditions at Harvard.”
“We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement. The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Garber asserted.
“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,” he added.
Reacting to this, Barack Obama said, “Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”
Ted Mitchell, president of the American Council on Education, which represents many colleges and universities in Washington, said Harvard’s approach could embolden other campus leaders, whom he said were “breathing a sigh of relief.”
“This gives more room for others to stand up, in part because if Harvard hadn’t, it would have said to everyone else, ‘You don’t stand a chance,’” said Dr. Mitchell.
Harvard’s response is “a road map” for institutions to oppose government incursion into institutional decision-making regarding antisemitism, merit-based hiring, and merit-based admissions. “Basic academic enterprise needs to be decided by the university, not by the government,” he said.
Harvard is the fifth Ivy League institution targeted in the administration’s pressure campaign, which has already led to the suspension of federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, and Princeton.
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 American Association of University Professors’ Harvard AAUP and the national AAUP have jointly filed a lawsuit and TRO to block the Trump administration from demanding that Harvard restrict speech and undermine academic freedom or else lose $8.7 billion in federal funds.
