Trump administration piles on pressure on Harvard with $450m more in cuts

Eight national agencies volition terminate a further $450m successful grants to Harvard University, the Trump administration announced connected Tuesday, escalating its antagonization of the elite instauration implicit what officials framework arsenic inadequate responses to antisemitism connected campus.

The latest backing cuts travel aft the medication cancelled $2.2bn successful national backing to the university, bringing the full fiscal punishment to astir $2.65bn.

“Harvard’s campus, erstwhile a awesome of world prestige, has go a breeding crushed for virtuousness signaling and discrimination,” the Trump administration’s taskforce to combat antisemitism wrote successful a statement. “This is not leadership; it is cowardice. And it’s not world freedom; it’s organization disenfranchisement.”

The cuts correspond a flexing of national powerfulness implicit the US’s oldest and wealthiest university, archetypal triggered by field protests against Israel’s brutal subject run successful Gaza – 1 that is lone expected to grow successful the coming days – but encompasses a acold broader acceptable of grievances against the instauration and others similar it perceived arsenic politically liberal.

Harvard has truthful acold refused to yield, with the university’s president, Dr Alan Garber, who is Jewish, calling the erstwhile attacks “illegal demands” from the medication “to power whom we prosecute and what we teach”. The assemblage has refused to comply with the administration’s demands, outlined successful a missive past month, which included shutting down diversity, equity and inclusion programs; cooperating with national migration authorities; and banning look masks, which appeared to people pro-Palestinian protesters.

The school, which has an endowment of much than $53bn, had launched ineligible enactment against the archetypal $2.2bn backing freeze, arguing the assemblage faced nary prime aft the Trump administration “threatened the acquisition of planetary students, and announced that it is considering a revocation of Harvard’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status”.

The Trump administration’s taskforce to combat antisemitism justified the latest backing simplification by claiming Harvard had “repeatedly failed to face the pervasive contention favoritism and antisemitic harassment plaguing its campus”.

They referenced a bid of alleged incidents, including a fellowship awarded by the Harvard Law Review, which the taskforce characterized arsenic grounds of “just however extremist Harvard has become”.

Nationwide field protests look to beryllium continuing, adjacent arsenic Columbia students were arrested past week. Dozens of students astatine California State University campuses are staging hunger strikes successful solidarity with Gaza, arsenic they simultaneously telephone connected their schoolhouse to divest from Israel.

Harvard precocious published its ain investigations into allegations of some antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias connected campus, but these self-regulatory efforts look to person done small to fulfill medication officials.

The Trump administration’s announcement of the caller backing cuts was signed by Josh Gruenbaum, commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service astatine the General Services Administration; Sean R Keveney, acting wide counsel astatine the US Department of Health and Human Services; and Thomas E Wheeler, acting wide counsel astatine the US Department of Education.

Harvard did not respond to a petition for comment.