$2.3 billion funding freeze: Trump targets Harvard University over defiance
The Donald Trump administration in the US on Monday froze approximately $2.3 billion in federal funding to Harvard University.
After the Ivy League school refused to comply with a list of White House demands to limit activism on campus and dismantle its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. The freeze includes $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in federal contracts, according to the department’s task force on combating antisemitism, which said Harvard’s resistance reflected “the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities”.
The Department of Education’s statement came hours after Harvard President Alan Garber sent a letter to the university community, rejecting Trump’s demands, defending the school’s independence and accusing the administration of overreach.
“The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. 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 enquiry they can pursue,” Garber wrote.
Garber argued the administration’s demands violate the First Amendment and exceed the federal government’s authority under Title VI, a civil rights law that bars discrimination based on race, colour, or national origin.
“These ends will not be achieved by assertions of power, unmoored from the law, to control teaching and learning at Harvard,” he added. “The work of addressing our shortcomings… is ours to define and undertake as a community.”
Hours later, the government froze billions in Harvard’s federal funding.
In a letter to Harvard on Friday, President Trump called for sweeping reforms in the university’s governance and leadership, along with changes to its admissions policies. The letter also urged Harvard to review its diversity initiatives and cease recognition of certain student clubs. The federal government warned that nearly $9 billion in grants and contracts could be at stake if the university failed to comply.
Harvard is one of several elite institutions facing federal pressure. The Department of Education has also paused funding to the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, and Princeton over similar disagreements. The tactics mirror those that recently led Columbia University to revise its policies after being threatened with a multibillion-dollar funding cut.
Garber acknowledged the university had taken “extensive reforms to address antisemitism” but insisted those changes must be made on Harvard’s terms, not by “government edict”.