Trump administration freezes $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard over campus activism
Harvard president says demands violate school's First Amendment rights
The federal government says it's freezing more than $2.2 billion US in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University, after the institution said Monday it won't comply with the Trump administration's demands to limit activism on campus.
The hold on Harvard's funding marks the seventh time President Donald Trump's administration has taken the step at one of the nation's most elite colleges, in an attempt to force compliance with Trump's political agenda. Six of the seven schools are in the Ivy League.
In a letter to Harvard Friday, the administration called for broad government and leadership reforms, "merit-based" admissions and hiring policies, and an audit of the study body, faculty and leadership on their views about diversity.
The federal government said almost $9 billion US in grants and contracts in total were at risk if Harvard did not comply.
The demands, which are an update from an earlier letter, also call for a ban on face masks — a measure that appears to target pro-Palestinian protesters — and pressure the university to stop recognizing or funding "any student group or club that endorses or promotes criminal activity, illegal violence or illegal harassment."
Harvard president Alan Garber, in a Monday letter to the Harvard community, said the demands violated the university's First Amendment rights and exceed "the statutory limits of the government's authority under Title VI," which prohibits discrimination against students based on their race, colour or national origin.
"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," Garber wrote, adding that the university had taken extensive reforms to address antisemitism.
"These ends 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," he wrote.
"The work of addressing our shortcomings, fulfilling our commitments, and embodying our values is ours to define and undertake as a community."
'Unlawful and ham-handed': Obama
Trump's administration has normalized the extraordinary step of withholding federal money to pressure major academic institutions to comply with the president's political agenda and to influence campus policy. The administration has argued universities allowed antisemitism to go unchecked at campus protests last year against Israel's war in Gaza.
Harvard, Garber said, already has made extensive reforms to address antisemitism. He said many of the government's demands don't relate to antisemitism, but instead are an attempt to regulate the "intellectual conditions" at Harvard.
Former president Barack Obama, once the president of the Harvard Law Review in the early 1990s, praised the school's decision in a statement on social media.
"Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions — rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let's hope other institutions follow suit."
Pressuring Ivy League schools
Harvard is one of several Ivy League schools targeted in a pressure campaign by the administration, which also has paused federal funding for institutions — including the University of Pennsylvania, Brown and Princeton — to force compliance.
Harvard's demand letter is similar to the one that prompted changes at Columbia University under the threat of billions of dollars in cuts.
The demands from the Trump administration prompted a group of alumni to write to university leaders calling for it to "legally contest and refuse to comply with unlawful demands that threaten academic freedom and university self-governance."
"Harvard stood up today for the integrity, values and freedoms that serve as the foundation of higher education," said Anurima Bhargava, one of the alumni behind the letter. "Harvard reminded the world that learning, innovation and transformative growth will not yield to bullying and authoritarian whims."
It also sparked a protest over the weekend from members of the Harvard community and residents of Cambridge, and a lawsuit from the American Association of University Professors on Friday challenging the cuts.
In their lawsuit, plaintiffs argue that the Trump administration has failed to follow steps required under Title VI before it starts cutting funds, and giving notice of the cuts to both the university and Congress.
"These sweeping yet indeterminate demands are not remedies targeting the causes of any determination of noncompliance with federal law. Instead, they overtly seek to impose on Harvard University political views and policy preferences advanced by the Trump administration and commit the University to punishing disfavoured speech," the plaintiffs wrote.
With files from CBC News