The Trump administration announced late yesterday that they would freeze more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University.
The news comes after the Ivy League institution said Monday it won’t comply with the Trump administration’s demands to limit activism on campus.
In a letter to Harvard Friday, the administration called for broad government and leadership reforms, a requirement that Harvard institute “merit-based” admissions and hiring policies, as well as conduct an audit of the student body, faculty, and leadership on their views about diversity.
The demands, which are an update from an earlier letter, also call for a ban on face masks — which appeared to target pro-Palestinian protesters.
They also pressure the university to stop recognizing or funding “any student group or club that endorses or promotes criminal activity, illegal violence, or illegal harassment.”
In response, Harvard President Alan Garber said in a letter to the Harvard community Monday the demands violated the university’s First Amendment rights and “exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI,” which prohibits discrimination against students based on their race, color, or national origin.
“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Garber wrote, adding that the university had taken extensive reforms to address antisemitism.
“These ends will not be achieved by assertions of power, unmoored from the law, to control teaching and learning at Harvard and to dictate how we operate,” he wrote. “The work of addressing our shortcomings, fulfilling our commitments, and embodying our values is ours to define and undertake as a community.”