The federal government announced that it is freezing $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University after the school rejected the Trump administration's demands to implement a mask ban and eliminatediversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
The announcement on April 14 came hours after the Ivy League school said it would not comply with a list of demands made by President Donald Trump's administration to change its practices, marking the most high-profile pushback so far against the Republican's efforts to overhaul the nation's prestigious higher education institutions.
The Trump administration had demanded that Harvard eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, ban masks worn to conceal protesters’ identities, and take other steps, including making changes to programs and departments that "fuel antisemitic harassment." The proposed changes are tied to continued federal funding.
In response to the university's decision, a U.S. Department of Education task force combating antisemitism said it would freeze "$2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in multi-year contract value to Harvard University."
"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," the task force said in a released statement.
Earlier on April 14, attorneys for Harvard wrote in a letter to Trump administration officials saying the university "will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights."
"Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government," the letter continues. "Accordingly, Harvard will not accept the government’s terms as an agreement in principle."
Contentiousness between Trump and U.S. universities
Trump has been threatening the funds of leading universities across the nation if they don't comply with his demands, including Princeton, Brown, Cornell, Northwestern, and Columbia.
The government last month canceled $400 million in funding forColumbiaand threatened to withhold billions more, accusing the university in New York of not doing enough to combat antisemitism and to ensure student safety amid last year's Gaza encampment campus protests.
Columbiamadedramatic concessions so it could negotiate to regain the funding, drawing harsh criticism that it had quickly caved to government pressure and not stood firm on academic freedom and free speech.
Trump has called the protesters antisemitic and said they are sympathetic to Hamas militants and are foreign policy threats.
Harvard president on Trump's demands: 'Beyond the power of the federal government'
Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in an email to the university community that the Trump administration's recent letter "makes clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner."
"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," Garber wrote.
Garber said the Trump administration's demands go "beyond the power of the federal government" and violate the university's First Amendment constitutional rights.
"And it threatens our values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge," Garber wrote in the email.
Contributing: Reuters
