In a bold standoff with the White House, Harvard University is refusing to comply with sweeping policy demands from the Trump administration, prompting the federal government to freeze billions in funding.
The Trump administration announced Monday it would halt $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in federal contracts with Harvard. The move came just hours after the university declared it would not make policy changes required by a federal task force.
Harvard holds its ground
“We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement,” Harvard President Alan M. Garber said in a statement. “The University will not surrender its independence or its constitutional rights.”
Harvard’s decision was reiterated in an earlier statement Monday:
“For the government to retreat from these partnerships now risks not only the health and well-being of millions of individuals, but also the economic security and vitality of our nation.”
The university received a letter last week from a federal task force outlining conditions to maintain its financial relationship with the federal government. Harvard rejected the terms, which included demands targeting diversity programs and campus protest policies.
What the administration is demanding
The Trump administration’s letter listed a number of required policy changes, including:
- Eliminating Harvard’s diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs
- Banning the use of masks during campus protests
- Shifting hiring and admissions to a merit-based model
- Reducing influence of faculty and administrators “more committed to activism than scholarship”
The letter also called for full cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security and federal regulators to ensure compliance.
These proposals are part of the administration’s broader initiative to combat antisemitism on college campuses, launched in response to nationwide controversies linked to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
The White House’s justification
In a statement, a White House spokesperson said:
“President Trump is working to Make Higher Education Great Again by ending unchecked anti-Semitism and ensuring federal taxpayer dollars do not fund Harvard’s support of dangerous racial discrimination or racially motivated violence.”
The spokesperson added that institutions violating Title VI are “by law, not eligible for federal funding.”
Legal challenge underway
Harvard, whose endowment stood at $53.2 billion in 2024, isn’t taking the funding freeze lightly. The university is part of a lawsuit filed by the Harvard chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which seeks to block the funding cut.
The legal filing, supported by the national AAUP organization, also requests a temporary restraining order against the administration.
“What the President of the United States is demanding of universities is nothing short of authoritarian,” Harvard Law School professor Nikolas Bowie said on CNN. “He is violating the First Amendment rights of universities and faculty by demanding that if universities want to keep this money, they have to suppress our speech and change what we teach and how we study.”
Wider crackdown on U.S. universities
Harvard’s defiance could set a precedent. The Trump administration has already slashed $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University, making it the first higher education institution penalized under the new initiative.
A recent news release confirmed the departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and the General Services Administration are currently reviewing over $8.7 billion in federal grants and $255 million in contracts with Harvard and its affiliates.
As the legal battle unfolds, Harvard’s resistance signals a pivotal moment in the ongoing debate over academic freedom, government funding, and the future of higher education policy in the United States.
