In what is appearing increasingly to be a personally-driven showdown, President Donald Trump vowed this week to strip America’s oldest university of more federal funding and revenue sources and suggested billions of tax-dollars would be better spent on trade schools than on the famously elite institution.
Beginning in April of this year, Harvard University has found itself in the crosshairs of the Trump Administration, a disagreement that has since escalated into a standoff involving federal funding, foreign students, and tax exemptions.
The federal government directed agencies Tuesday to end all remaining contracts with Harvard University, stemming the flow of federal dollars to the institution, alleging discrimination and antisemitism. Agencies have also been directed to find alternative vendors for all future contracts, according to reporting by the New York Times. This move is expected to cost Harvard about $100 million worth of funding.
This comes in addition the estimated $2.2 billion worth of federal funding held by the Trump Administration earlier this year after the University refused to meet the demands outlined by the Administration in a letter sent this past April.
Harvard has appeared to publicly indicate that much of the federal funding they receive goes towards medical, scientific, and technological research, as opposed to administrative costs or student life.
“Why cut off research funding? Sure, it hurts Harvard, but it hurts the country because after all, the research funding is not a gift,” Harvard University President Dr. Alan Garber told NPR on Tuesday morning, before news broke of the latest round of cuts.
The Administration has also announced that it would be revoking Harvard’s right to enroll international students, a move that has since been blocked by a federal judge. Should this policy be effectuated, it would have a substantial impact on Harvard’s enrollment, as approximately 27 percent of students there are international.
This came in response to the University’s refusal to provide the federal government list of names of all the international students presently enrolled at Harvard.
“We are still waiting for the Foreign Student Lists from Harvard so that we can determine, after a ridiculous expenditure of BILLIONS OF DOLLARS, how many radicalized lunatics, troublemakers all, should not be let back into our Country,” President Donald Trump (R) wrote on Truth Social Monday.
“Harvard is very slow in the presentation of these documents, and probably for good reason! The best thing Harvard has going for it is that they have shopped around and found the absolute best Judge (for them!),” he continued. “But have no fear, the Government will, in the end, WIN!”
According to a press release from the Department of Homeland Security, this order would also require the University’s existing 6,700 international students to transfer to another school or lose their legal status in the country.
“This administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, antisemitism, and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. “Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country.”
Tuesday, the Administration decided to freeze all new student visa interviews as it weighs the possibility of requiring more in-depth social media checks.
Harvard’s tax exempt status has also been threatened by the Administration, although no official action has been taken yet to rescind it.
In an April 11th letter sent to the President Garber the institution was accused of failing to live up to its promised values. The Administration then went on to outline ten conditions that the University would be required to meet in order to maintain a “financial relationship” with the federal government.
Among these conditions were the implementation of “merit-based” hiring and admissions, the pursuit of “viewpoint diversity” in hiring and admissions, and the discontinuation of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
The Trump Administration also asked Harvard to engage in “student discipline reform” in order “to swiftly and transparently enforce its existing disciplinary policies with consistency and impartiality, and without double standards based on identity or ideology.”
Harvard was also asked to amend its “recruitment, screening, and admissions of international students to prevent admitting students hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, including students supportive of terrorism or antisemitism.”
Another bullet point addressed concerns over alleged antisemitism specifically, asking the University to undertake a number of reform and reporting tasks related to the reduction of antisemitism on campus.
Several days later, Harvard responded to the Trump Administration, pushing back against the allegations that they have had a disregard for discrimination on campus and highlighting the changes they have made over the past year toward the goal of creating a more inclusive environment, especially through fighting antisemitism.
The University goes on to criticize the Administration for “invad[ing] university freedoms long recognized by the Supreme Court” and “circumvent[ing] Harvard’s statutory rights by requiring unsupported and disruptive remedies for alleged harms that the government has not proven through mandatory processes established by Congress and required by law.”
“The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” wrote the University. “Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.”
Since then, the Trump Administration has taken steps to continue putting pressure on Harvard for refusing to concede to its various demands, including by freezing federal funds and revoking their authority to issue student visas. The legality of both these measures are currently being debated before the courts.
The University’s tax exempt status has also been called into question by the Administration, but a final ruling has yet to be made on whether or not this privilege will be rescinded.
Institutions of higher education have long been afforded tax exempt status due to their inherent “educational purpose,” but President Trump has posited revoking Harvard’s right to claim this benefit on account of allegedly “pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness.'”
“I believe that we have made substantial progress on campus over the past year, and that’s what I’ve heard from many faculty and staff and students,” Garber said in an interview with NPR Tuesday morning. “There has been real progress.”
“Comparing what goes on on campus to what goes on in the rest of the country is a little bit difficult because the manifestations may be different,” he continued. “From what I’ve heard, we have many fewer violent incidents. They’re almost unheard of on our campus and probably a lot less vandalism.”
“The main manifestation of antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias that we have grappled with has to do with social exclusion. It has to do with shunning,” he explained. “If a student sits down at a dining room table and they have good conversations with other students who don’t know them, and when the other students find out that that student is Israeli, if they refuse to continue to speak to them, we have a serious problem that we need to address.”
“We want people to be able to discuss difficult topics with one another, especially when they disagree. We shouldn’t be in an echo chamber,” said Garber. “Everyone in our community needs to hear other views. And let me add, that’s one reason why it is so important for us to be able to have international students on our campus. There is so much that they contribute to our environment and they enable everyone else to open their minds.”
“I would say that we need to be firm in our commitments to what we stand for. And what we stand for – I believe I speak for other universities – is education, pursuit of the truth, helping to educate people for better futures,” he said. “I think we all need to redouble our commitment to the good of the nation and the world. And I know my fellow leaders fully embrace that.”
Trump has suggested redirecting $3 billion worth of federal funding away from Harvard and giving it instead to trade schools. It is not immediately clear what the logistics of such a transfer would be.
“I’m considering taking Three Billion Dollars of Grant Money away from a very antisemetic Harvard, and giving it to TRADE SCHOOLS all across our land,” wrote Trump on Truth Social Monday. “What a great investment that would be for the USA, and so badly needed!!”
At this time, there does not appear to be any end in sight to the standoff between the Trump Administration and one of America’s top Ivy League universities.
