Trump Freezes $2.3 Billion In Federal Funding For Harvard University
Harvard University rejected Trump administration demands seen as politically motivated; soon after, the administration froze $2.3 billion in federal funding to the school.
Harvard University rejected several demands from US President Donald Trump's administration that it would effectively hand over control of the school to a conservative government as it views the institution as excessively left-leaning.
According to Reuters, just hours after the school in Massachusetts took its stand, President Trump's administration announced a freeze on federal funding of about $2.3 billion allocated to the university.
Last month, after a review, the Trump administration froze $9 billion in federal contracts and grants to Harvard as a part of a crackdown on antisemitism that erupted on college campuses during pro-Palestinian protests in the past 18 months.
On Monday, a Department of Education task force combating antisemitism criticised the nation's oldest university, accusing it of exhibiting a "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 high-stakes dispute between the Trump administration and some of the world’s richest universities has sparked concerns over freedom of speech and academic independence. The administration froze millions in federal funding to several universities in a move to pressure them to implement policy changes to adequately address antisemitism, as per the Reuters report.
Deportation proceedings have been initiated against several detained foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, and visas for hundreds of other students have been revoked.
Harvard President Says 'No Govt Can Dictate Universities Teach'
Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in a public letter that said that the Department of Education demands last week would allow the federal government to control Harvard and threaten the school’s "values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge."
He said that the Trump administration’s "prescription goes beyond the power of federal government". He said that the rules violated "Harvard’s First Amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI."
"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 wrote.
The issue of antisemitism on campus surfaced before Donald Trump’s second term in office in the wake of pro-Palestinian student protests held at multiple universities last year. In 2023, demonstrations followed the Hamas attack inside Israel and the subsequent Israeli military response in Gaza.
“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.” - President Alan Garber https://t.co/6cQQpcJVTd
— Harvard University (@Harvard) April 14, 2025
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Harvard Files Suit
On Friday, the Harvard faculty chapter of the American Association of University Professors, along with the national organisation, filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration. This was in response to a request from the professors for an immediate temporary restraining order to prevent the government from cutting off Harvard’s federal funding, CNN reported.
The lawsuit argued that the cancellation of federal funding for Harvard "is imminent" and pointed to the Trump administration’s previous actions, such as cutting $400 million in federal funding to Columbia University, the first college to be targeted.
“What the President of the United States is demanding of universities is nothing short of authoritarian,” Harvard Law School professor Nikolas Bowie said Monday told CNN. He further added that Trump was “violating the First Amendment rights of universities and faculty by demanding that if universities want to keep this money, they have to suppress our speech and change what we teach and how we study”.
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