Harvard Hit By $2 Billion Federal Funding Freeze After Rejecting Trump Administration Demands
Harvard is facing a major standoff with the Trump administration after rejecting a list of demands tied to antisemitism on campus — demands the university says would hand over control of its operations to the federal government. The White House had ordered changes to hiring, admissions, teaching, and even disciplinary policies, and warned that Harvard’s funding was at risk unless it complied. On Monday, Harvard President Alan Garber pushed back, calling the demands an attack on the school’s independence and a violation of its First Amendment rights.
Within hours of Harvard’s rejection, the Department of Education froze more than $2 billion in grants and contracts, accusing the university of having a “troubling entitlement mindset” and failing to meet civil rights standards. The funding freeze follows a broader effort by Trump’s administration to reshape higher education, especially elite schools, by tying federal money to changes in how universities handle speech, diversity, and protests.
Tensions between the administration and universities have been rising since a wave of pro-Palestinian protests swept college campuses last year. The government has also started deportation proceedings against foreign students involved in protests and suspended funding to other top schools like Columbia. Despite the pressure, Garber stood firm, saying, “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.”
