Trump Freezes $2B Harvard Funding After Rejection

Trump freezes $2B Harvard funding just hours after the university rejected a list of demands from the White House, marking a strong move by the Trump administration against Harvard.

The Department of Education said, "Harvard's response today shows the sense of entitlement that seems common in top U.S. universities."

Last week, the White House sent Harvard a list of demands aimed at addressing antisemitism on campus. These demands included changes to how the university operates, hires staff, and admits students.

Harvard rejected the demands, stating that the White House was attempting to take control of its community. Harvard has become the first major U.S. university to push back against pressure from the Trump administration to change its policies. The White House had demanded significant changes that would have substantially altered how the university operates and handed more control to the government.

President Trump has accused top universities of not doing enough to protect Jewish students during nationwide protests last year over the war in Gaza and U.S. support for Israel.

In a letter to students and staff on Monday, Harvard President Alan Garber stated that the White House sent an "expanded list of demands" on Friday, warning that Harvard must agree to them to continue receiving government funding.

"We have informed the administration through our lawyers that we will not accept their proposed agreement," Garber wrote. "Harvard will not surrender its independence or its constitutional rights."

Garber emphasized that the university takes the issue of antisemitism seriously but believes the government is overstepping its bounds.

"While some demands are intended to combat antisemitism, most are attempts by the government to control Harvard’s academic environment," he said.

Meanwhile, Columbia University has agreed to one of Trump's demands to ban face masks on campus. The administration has also withdrawn $400 million in funding from Columbia and revoked hundreds of international student visas. Soon after Harvard’s president sent his letter, the U.S. Department of Education announced that it was freezing $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts for the university.

“The ongoing disruption on campuses is unacceptable,” the department said. “The harassment of Jewish students cannot be tolerated. Elite universities must take this issue seriously if they want to continue receiving taxpayer money.

In a letter sent on Friday, featured by The New York Times, the White House stated that Harvard had “failed in recent years to meet the intellectual and civil rights standards” expected in return for federal funding.

The letter listed 10 areas where Harvard needed to make changes to maintain its financial support from the government. Some of the demands included:

Reporting students who act "hostile" towards American values to the federal government

Ensuring that academic departments reflect a variety of viewpoints

• Hiring an outside, government-approved group to review programs accused of encouraging antisemitism
• Disciplining students involved in protests over the past two years
• Ending Harvard’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs
• Since taking office, President Trump has increased pressure on universities to take stronger action against antisemitism and to end DEI policies.

Back in December, university presidents were grilled in a heated congressional hearing. They were accused of failing to protect Jewish students after the Israel-Hamas war began two months earlier.

Claudine Gay, Harvard’s president at the time, faced backlash for saying that calls for violence against Jews would only be considered misconduct “depending on the context.” She later apologized but also faced plagiarism accusations and resigned a month later.

In March, the Trump administration began reviewing $256 million in Harvard’s federal contracts and an additional $8.7 billion in future grant commitments. In response, some Harvard professors sued the government, saying it was violating free speech and academic freedom.

The White House had already pulled $400 million in federal funds from Columbia University, accusing it of not doing enough to stop antisemitism or protect Jewish students.

At the time, Education Secretary Linda McMahon said, “If universities want federal funding, they must follow antidiscrimination laws.

Shortly after, Columbia University agreed to many of the Trump administration's demands. This decision criticized by some students and staff members.

Earlier on Monday, a lawyer said that a pro-Palestinian protest organizer at Columbia was arrested by immigration officials while attending a citizenship interview.

The student, Mohsen Mahdawi, who holds a green card and is set to graduate next month, was detained in Colchester, Vermont.

In recent weeks, other students involved in campus protests against the war have also been detained, including Mahmoud Khalil from Columbia University and Rumeysa Ozturk from Tufts University.

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