Trump administration freezes more than $2 billion in grants to Harvard

President Trump’s administration said it will freeze around $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in multi-year contracts to Harvard University after the Ivy League institution rejected the government’s demands earlier Monday. 

"Harvard’s statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges – that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws,” the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism said in a statement Monday evening. 

The response from the administration came just hours after Harvard’s leadership said that it would not comply with the demands from the federal government, including instituting changes around protesting and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) efforts in order to keep their funding. 

“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,” Harvard’s President Alan Garber said Monday.

He said the school is already working on several initiatives to fight antisemitism and it will continue to do so in the future, but the administration’s requests are a step too far. 

Combating antisemitism “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. The work of addressing our shortcomings, fulfilling our commitments, and embodying our values is ours to define and undertake as a community,” Garber said. 

Last week, the federal government asked the Ivy League school to also reform its admission and hiring practices, make leadership changes, probe departments for antisemitism and ban face masks, among other demands, in order to keep the funding. 

“The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable,” the task force said Friday evening. “The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable. It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support.” 

When reached for comment, Harvard’s spokesperson pointed The Hill to Garber’s Friday statement, where he said that “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 current administration has targeted multiple Ivy League institutions, accusing them of not doing enough to fight antisemitism on campuses, particularly after the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s Oct. 7 terrorist attack on Israel.