WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration has decided to cut an additional $450 million in federal grants to Harvard University just a day after the prestigious Ivy League institution publicly contested allegations by the government linking the university to liberalism and antisemitism. This grant termination comes on the heels of an ongoing dispute between Harvard and various federal agencies over alleged failures to adequately address concerns regarding antisemitism on its campus.
In a letter dated Tuesday, a federal task force focused on antisemitism informed Harvard that, in addition to $2.2 billion in grants previously frozen by the Trump administration, the university would lose funds from eight federal agencies. The letter characterized Harvard as a “breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination” and suggested that the institution faces a “steep, uphill battle” to restore its reputation for academic excellence.
The communication, signed by officials from the Education Department, Health and Human Services, and the General Services Administration, criticized Harvard's leadership for allegedly prioritizing appeasement over accountability. The officials asserted that the university forfeited its right to taxpayer support by failing to adequately address incidents of antisemitism within its community.
In response to this latest round of funding cuts, Harvard filed an updated legal challenge against several sanctions imposed by the Trump administration, building upon a lawsuit first filed in April that seeks to invalidate the initial $2.2 billion freeze. The university's legal action follows a pattern of escalating sanctions from the White House after Harvard became the first U.S. university to openly defy government demands aimed at limiting pro-Palestinian activism and terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
President Trump has been vocal about his desire for Harvard to lose its tax-exempt status, and the Department of Homeland Security has indicated potential moves to revoke Harvard's eligibility to host foreign students. Just last week, the Education Department announced that no new federal grants would be awarded to Harvard until the university complies with government requirements.
Among the demands made by the Trump administration are broad leadership changes at Harvard, revisions to its admissions policies, as well as a comprehensive audit of its faculty and student body to ensure a diversity of viewpoints on campus. Harvard claims that these demands are part of a larger pressure campaign targeting several prominent institutions, with funding cuts also affecting schools like Columbia University, the University of Pennsylvania, and Cornell University.
In its amended lawsuit, Harvard noted that much of the funding that was initially frozen has now been permanently cut, with little hope for reinstatement. A letter from the National Institute of Health, dated May 6, pointed out that grants were being halted due to accusations of antisemitism on campus, indicating that the situation had progressed to a point where “no corrective action is possible” from the university's perspective.
Harvard has received similar warnings from multiple federal agencies, including the Defense Department and the Department of Energy, as part of the ongoing legal battle to challenge these sanctions. In a letter that preceded the federal government's recent actions, Harvard President Alan Garber asserted that the university is nonpartisan and is committed to combating antisemitism, while labeling the federal sanctions as an “unlawful attempt to control fundamental aspects of our university's operations.”
Furthermore, the government’s correspondence emphasized repeated failures on the part of Harvard to appropriately tackle racial discrimination and antisemitism, referencing the Supreme Court's recent decision to strike down the university's use of race in its admissions process and a recent internal report that documented incidents of antisemitic harassment at the institution.
