The Trump administration has announced the freezing of $2.3 billion in federal funding to Harvard, after the school rejected numerous demands from the government, which it said would cede control of the institution to a conservative-led administration that portrays universities as dangerously leftist.
The funding freeze came after the Trump administration said last month it was reviewing $9 billion in federal contracts and grants to Harvard as part of a crackdown on what it said is antisemitism that erupted on college campuses during pro-Palestinian protests in the past 18 months.
Trump also floated that Harvard could lose its tax exempt status, under which most U.S. higher education institutions are relieved of paying income tax.
In a post on Truth Social, he warned Harvard could “be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness’”.
Back in March, the Trump administration had said it was reviewing $9bn in federal contracts and grants to Harvard as part of a crackdown on what it calls anti-Semitism.
The exchange escalated the high-stakes dispute between the Trump administration and some of the world’s richest universities that has raised concerns about speech and academic freedoms.
Since taking office for a second term, Trump has pushed to have student protesters involved in pro-Palestinian and anti-Gaza war protests disciplined, expelled or even deported, on the basis that their criticisms of Israel were anti-Semitic. Critics, however, argue that Trump’s actions are aimed at dampening free speech.
The administration has frozen hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding for numerous universities, pressing the institutions to make policy changes and citing what it says is a failure to fight antisemitism on campus.
