The United States government planned to withdraw another $1 billion in federal grants and health research contracts from Harvard University, escalating conflict over institutional autonomy, as reported by The Wall Street Journal.
The administration announced last Monday its decision to suspend $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in contract value after Harvard’s refusal to comply with policy requirements.
Officials were caught off guard when the university disclosed a letter from the Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, according to the Journal’s Sunday report.
“Before Monday, the administration was planning to treat Harvard more leniently than Columbia University, but now officials want to apply even more pressure to the nation’s most prominent university, according to the people,” the Journal reports.
“People familiar with Harvard’s response say there was no agreement to keep the letter private, and that its contents – including requirements that Harvard allow federal-government oversight of admissions, hiring and the ideology of students and staff – were a nonstarter.”
Columbia University yielded to administration demands last month by implementing policy changes, including protest limitations, new disciplinary measures, and an immediate review of Middle East studies, following President Donald Trump’s withdrawal of $400 million in federal funding over campus demonstrations.
According to the Journal’s Sunday report, sources close to the situation indicated the task force anticipated Harvard would similarly comply with its requirements.
The funding withdrawal threat represents the latest development in the ongoing dispute between the institution and the government.
Harvard, now representing resistance to Trump’s policies, firmly declined the demands in an April 11 letter, with President Alan M. Garber stating that the “University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”
The letter’s demands included prohibiting masks at campus demonstrations, revising merit-based recruitment and admissions processes, and reducing authority of staff “more committed to activism than scholarship.”
The university leadership maintains these requirements exceed federal authority, with most “represent direct governmental regulation of the ‘intellectual conditions’ at Harvard” rather than addressing antisemitism.
On Wednesday, CNN reported the internal revenue service’s plans to withdraw the university’s tax-exempt status, according to two informed sources. The administration additionally threatened Harvard’s authorisation to enrol international students.
The New York Times reported on Friday that the April 11 letter was sent erroneously and was “unauthorized,” citing two anonymous sources familiar with the situation.
A White House representative, while not addressing the error claim, confirmed the letter’s authenticity to CNN on Saturday, stating the White House “stands by the letter.”
Harvard informed CNN it accepted the letter’s authenticity, noting the administration’s existing freeze on billions in federal funding.
