The Trump administration has frozen over $2.2 billion in federal grants and contracts to Harvard University after the Ivy League school refused to comply with a list of sweeping demands aimed at curbing protests and student activism.
The funding halt, first reported by the Associated Press, marks an intensification of tensions between President Donald Trump and elite academic institutions.
The administration’s letter to Harvard included proposed policy overhauls ranging from leadership reforms and student conduct rules to an outright ban on face masks on campus.
Harvard calls demands unconstitutional
In a letter to the university community, Harvard President Alan Garber rejected the administration’s conditions, saying they violate the university’s First Amendment rights and “exceed the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI,” a federal law that bars discrimination based on race, color, 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 said, while noting that Harvard had already implemented reforms to address antisemitism on campus.
Part of a broader crackdown on elite schools
Harvard is one of several universities targeted by the Trump administration in recent weeks. The University of Pennsylvania, Brown, and Princeton have also faced funding freezes as part of what the administration describes as a “compliance campaign.”
President Trump has argued that institutions like Harvard failed to address antisemitism during recent campus protests against Israel’s war in Gaza—claims that the universities deny.
Several Harvard alumni have since written to university leaders, urging them to mount a legal challenge against the funding freeze.
What were the Trump administration’s demands?
The list of demands issued to Harvard includes:
- Enforce merit-based hiring; end racial, religious, or identity-based preferences
- Submit hiring and admissions data to the federal government
- Adopt merit-based admissions without race-based considerations
- Screen international applicants for hostility toward American values
- Sanction faculty or students who promote terrorism or antisemitism
- Conduct viewpoint diversity audits of faculty, staff, and students
- Dismantle all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs
- Consistently enforce disciplinary actions and eliminate ideological bias
- Ban and penalize the use of face masks on campus
- Revoke recognition and funding from student groups that promote violence or criminal activity
- Launch whistleblower protection programs and allow anonymous reporting
- Disclose all sources of foreign funding and submit to audits
- Submit quarterly progress reports on reform compliance
Schools like Harvard Law, the Divinity School, and the School of Public Health were reportedly named as specific areas of concern by the administration.
As of now, the university has maintained its stance, and no resolution has been reached.