Institutions of higher education in the U.S. have become the most recent target of President Donald Trump’s administration. Beginning in late March, the White House has frozen $5.345 billion in grants primarily for university research. These funding freezes come during the Department of Education’s investigation of over 50 universities and graduate programs, accompanied by demands from the federal government over alleged discrimination and Diversity Equity and Inclusion programs.
Since the Israel-Gaza war began, mass protests advocating for both sides took hold of universities in the U.S., peaking in spring 2024, with school organizations placing encampments in high-foot-traffic areas. While many campuses cracked down on these encampments by negotiating with demonstrators, arresting them and closing encampments, the shadow of these protests still remains and, along with DEI, have been placed in the cross hairs of the White House.
On April 11, the federal government sent a letter to Harvard President Alan Garber, making several demands to the private university. The letter requests Harvard reform many of its policies, including the way it hires faculty and admits students. It demands Harvard “cease all preferences based on race, color, national origin or proxies thereof,” and disclose admissions and hiring data to the federal government while making statistical information, such as race, color, national origin and GPA, public information. It specifically states that all DEI programs “under whatever name” be stopped.
At the same time, the letter calls for “viewpoint diversity” and that any department within Harvard that does not meet a standard for viewpoint diversity will be forced to hire a “critical mass” of students or faculty to meet those viewpoints. Given that a strong majority of Harvard faculty and students are politically left-leaning, this would force Harvard to admit students and faculty who are more right-leaning, which has raised many logistical questions.
The letter goes on to address antisemitism on campus. Harvard would be required to reform its screening process for international students so it does not admit students with ideas “hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the U.S. Constitution.” Conduct violations from foreign students, including green card holders, would be reported to federal authorities. This particular demand comes as nearly 1,500 student visas have been revoked.
Student groups who have engaged in antisemitic activity since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, would have university support removed. It lists five organizations by name, including Students for Justice in Palestine and the National Lawyers Guild. The university would also discipline individuals involved in campus protests.
In addition to being required to disclose their information to various government agencies, the university would be required to commission an external party that would audit all of the programs the federal government believes could be antisemitic or reflect “ideological capture.” The external party would be allowed to determine sanctions for staff and students and make changes to repair problems as it sees fit until at least 2028.
These demands sparked an immediate response from Garber. “[Harvard] will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. The administration’s prescription goes beyond the power of the federal government, ” Garber stated. “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.”
Hours after Harvard’s refusal, the federal government froze $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to the university.
Harvard is not the only university to face pressure from the White House. Seven universities have had grants frozen, with six being Ivy-League schools. The freezes include $1 billion from Cornell University, $790 million from Northwestern University, $510 million from Brown University, $400 million from Columbia, $210 million from Princeton University and $175 million from University of Pennsylvania.
Many of these universities have received little information about the freezes, with Cornell seeking further clarification and Northwestern initially hearing about the freezes from the media rather than the government.
Federal funding is Harvard’s largest source of support for research. According to Garber, cancelling the grants “risks not only the health and well-being of millions of individuals but also the economic security and vitality of our nation.” These grants paid for “groundbreaking innovations across a wide range of medical, engineering and scientific fields” that include “treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and diabetes, to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence.”
As of this publication, the White House claims the letter sent to Harvard was an “unauthorized” mistake, the letter was still signed by three federal officials and has yet to reinstate frozen grants to Harvard or any university. For now, Harvard has become the first university to fight back against the Trump administration, with more actions set to be taken as the Department of Education investigates more schools across the country.
