The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it was freezing more than $2 billion in federal grants to Harvard University. The decision came after the prestigious institution declared it would not comply with the administration’s sweeping demands for policy reforms in its campus operations.
The call for reforms is part of Trump’s broader campaign against antisemitism and pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses across the U.S.—demonstrations that have at times escalated into violence, intimidation and the targeting of Jewish and Israeli students.
Later in the afternoon, in a fresh warning to Harvard, Trump threatened to strip the university of its tax-exempt status. In the U.S., universities, along with many charitable and religious organizations, are exempt from paying federal income tax. However, the government has the authority to revoke this status if the institutions engage in political activity or deviate from the purposes for which they were established.
The funding freeze was announced after Harvard received a letter from the administration on Friday listing a set of demands and warning that continued federal support was conditional on compliance. The administration threatened to freeze up to $9 billion in federal funding unless Harvard agreed to the terms.
According to The New York Times, the letter called on Harvard to reduce the influence of students and faculty in university governance, to immediately report foreign students who violate regulations to federal authorities, and to appoint an external monitor to ensure “a diversity of viewpoints” in every academic department. The administration also reportedly demanded that Harvard overhaul its admissions policy to be “merit-based” and conduct a review of diversity and inclusion ideologies on campus.
On Monday, Harvard officially rejected the demands. In a letter to faculty and staff, university President Alan Garber wrote: “We have informed the administration, through our legal counsel, that we will not accept the proposed agreement. The university will not negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights.” Garber argued that while some of the administration’s demands were aimed at combating antisemitism, most amounted to government overreach into Harvard’s “intellectual conditions.”
Even before Harvard’s announcement, alumni had urged the university’s leadership to fight the administration’s moves in court and reject what they called “unlawful demands” that threaten academic freedom and institutional autonomy. Former President Barack Obama, himself a Harvard alumnus, voiced support for the university’s defiance, calling the freeze on federal grants “illegal” and urging other universities to follow suit and resist Trump’s demands.
Harvard, located in Massachusetts, is one of several Ivy League universities that became flashpoints for intense pro-Palestinian protests during the war in Gaza. Some demonstrations included expressions of support for Hamas terror attacks.
The administration has emphasized that these universities allowed antisemitic incidents to take place unchecked during protests against Israel’s war in Gaza.
