The US government has announced fresh funding cuts to Harvard University, terminating $450 million in grants on top of the $2.2 billion in cuts unveiled last week. The Department of Health and Human Services cited a “dark problem” of discrimination at the school. Harvard has taken the Trump administration to court over what it calls an unlawful attempt to control aspects of the university’s operations.
Harvard President Alan Garber asserted that “we share common ground on a number of critical issues” with the Trump administration in a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon. Garber said the university launched institution-wide reforms after “an extraordinarily painful year for our community” following the October 7, 2023, Hamas assault on Israel. “The challenges of that academic year have led to meaningful reform and recommendations designed to eliminate antisemitism and other forms of hate from our campus,” Garber wrote.
The university’s inability to change its grant status in at least one case has been attributed to the severity of the allegations. According to a grant funding termination letter from the National Institutes of Health, grant administrators stated that “no corrective action possible here” due to alleged anti-Semitism.
The Trump administration justifies the crackdown on US universities as a reaction to uncontrolled anti-Semitism and a need to reverse diversity programs aimed at addressing historical oppression of minorities. However, Harvard claims the funding cuts violate its First Amendment rights and the Administrative Procedure Act. “The freezes and terminations will chill Harvard’s exercise of its First Amendment rights,” the complaint states. “Harvard will be unable to make decisions regarding its faculty hiring, academic programs, student admissions, and other core academic matters without fear that those decisions will run afoul of government censors’ views on acceptable levels of ideological or viewpoint diversity on campus.”
In response, Trump’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism criticized Harvard as “a breeding ground for virtue signalling and discrimination.” The task force added that “Harvard, and its leadership group who are tainted by the egregious infractions under its watch, faces a steep, uphill battle to reclaim its legacy as a lawful institution and centre of academic excellence”.
Interesting