Harvard pushes back as Trump targets funding

What you probably already know: At least seven universities across the United States are under financial assault as the federal government flexes its political agenda and threatens to withhold billions of dollars in funding. Columbia University is negotiating with the Trump administration to reinstate $400 million in federal grants and contracts. This week, the country’s wealthiest and oldest university took a stand against the federal government’s war on academia when Harvard University refused the administration’s demands to change certain policies and programs. The federal government responded by freezing $2.2 billion in multiyear grants to the institution. President Trump also threatened Harvard’s tax-exempt status.

Why? During his campaign, Trump promised to purge “woke” ideology on campus and cut funding for schools that push “critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content.” Trump’s administration aims to remake what it sees as a liberal-leaning higher education system by throttling the flow of $60 billion in federal research funding; part of this pressure campaign involves a government task force called the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism. The group is working to “root out antisemitic harassment in schools and on college campuses” by investigating potential civil rights violations that occurred last year during pro-Palestinian protests at universities like Columbia and Harvard. Republicans have heavily criticized the demonstrations and multiple Ivy League presidents have since testified before Congress. Several have also stepped down.

What it means: The Trump administration is making an example out of Columbia University and is considering putting the school under a type of oversight called a consent decree. This would put a federal judge in charge of monitoring Columbia’s compliance with federally mandated changes; the university could be fined and held in contempt of court if it fails to meet those demands. In the past, schools typically agreed voluntarily to make changes if a federal investigation found civil rights violations. Using a consent decree — and even simply targeting funding first, then opening dialogue second — within the higher education sphere is unprecedented. Columbia has so far agreed to a list of demands, including installing new oversight of its Middle Eastern studies department. Columbia’s acquiescence has bolstered the task force’s aggressive approach, but Harvard’s response could empower other schools to resist.

What happens now? Harvard said it’s working to address antisemitism, but “will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights” and accused the task force of making unlawful demands to remedy alleged and unproven wrongs. Harvard, which had an endowment of more than $53 billion in 2024, receives nearly $9 billion in federal funding. In the meantime, the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on higher education will likely expand. The Education Department has sent letters to 60 universities, warning them of potential repercussions amid investigations into antisemitism allegations. “If Harvard had not taken this stand,” Ted Mitchell, the president of the American Council of Education, told The New York Times, “it would have been nearly impossible for other institutions to do so.”