The Ivy League institution stands as the first US university to challenge the Trump administration’s requests following pro-Palestinian protests on campus.
Harvard University has firmly declined requests from the Trump administration, led by President Donald Trump, that would result in the university surrendering its autonomy to what the institution deems a conservative government that portrays universities as excessively left-leaning.
Shortly after Harvard’s declaration on Monday, the Trump administration revealed it would be freezing $2.3 billion in federal funding allocated to the Ivy League university.
This funding freeze follows the administration’s announcement last month that it was assessing $9 billion in federal contracts and grants to Harvard, part of its initiative addressing what it claims is a rise in anti-Semitism that has surfaced during pro-Palestinian and anti-Gaza war protests on college campuses over the past 18 months.
The freeze came after Harvard president Alan Garber publicly criticized the Trump administration’s demands, describing them as an effort “to control the Harvard community” and posing a threat to the school’s “values as a private institution committed to knowledge pursuit, production, and dissemination.”
In rejecting the government’s ultimatums—such as the requirement to report foreign students for code violations, reform its governance and leadership, eliminate its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, and modify its hiring and admissions processes for international students—Garber expressed that such interference was “unprecedented” and “beyond the authority of the federal government.”
“No government—regardless of the political party in power—should have the authority to dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Garber’s letter stated.
The US Department of Education’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism commented that Garber’s letter “reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is prevalent in our country’s leading universities and colleges—believing that federal investment does not necessitate adherence to civil rights laws.”
Al Jazeera’s Washington, DC correspondent, Patty Culhane, noted that while Harvard is not the first target of such actions, it is “the first to assert defiance” and has suggested “they might be ready to contest this in court.”
“This represents a significant shift compared to the responses we’ve seen from other universities, but if anyone is capable of it, it’s Harvard,” Culhane added.
The Trump administration has withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding from various universities, demanding policy changes and citing a perceived failure to tackle anti-Semitism on campus.
Columbia University has already lost $400 million in grants and contracts as of March 7, due to the administration’s allegations of permitting “continuous violence, intimidation, and anti-Semitic harassment” on its campus.
Deportation proceedings have begun against several detained foreign students who participated in pro-Palestinian protests, while visas for many other students have been revoked.
