The President of the United States, Donald Trump, has threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status after the prestigious institution declined to implement extensive policy changes requested by the White House.
Yesterday, Mr. Trump initiated the freezing of €1.94 billion in federal funds as a recompense for the university’s resistance to the administration’s efforts to enforce greater compliance among educational institutions.
He remarked that Harvard “should lose its tax-exempt status and be taxed as a political entity” if it continues to ignore his demands for the university to alter its operational practices, which include the selection process for students and the authority granted to professors.
He emphasized that tax-exempt status is “entirely contingent on acting in the public interest,” as stated in a post on his Truth Social platform.
In response, President Trump’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism issued a statement announcing the freeze on €1.94 billion in multi-year grants, along with an additional hold on €53 million in government contracts.
The statement said, “Harvard’s announcement today confirms the concerning sense of entitlement that permeates our nation’s most esteemed universities – where federal funding is deemed a right without the corresponding duty to uphold civil rights laws.”
“The disruption of academic learning that has affected campuses recently is intolerable. The harassment faced by Jewish students is unacceptable. It is time for elite institutions to address the issue seriously and commit to substantial reforms if they wish to maintain taxpayer support.”
Donald Trump has accused students protesting against Israel’s actions in Gaza of endorsing Hamas.
Last year, campuses nationwide witnessed significant student protests against Israel’s military actions in Gaza, some of which escalated into violent confrontations involving law enforcement and pro-Israel counter-protestors.
Mr. Trump, along with other Republican leaders, has charged that these activists support Hamas, a group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, whose attack on October 7, 2023, on Israel ignited the current conflict.
The U.S. Department of Education declared in March that it was investigating 60 colleges and universities for alleged “anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination.”
A letter from Mr. Garber followed the administration’s move to review €7.95 billion in federal funding allocated to Harvard and its affiliates, marking the beginning of its demands.
Last Friday, the government provided Harvard with a comprehensive list of demands for an “audit” of student and faculty perspectives, which the university subsequently made public.
‘Raging anti-Semitism’
Located in Massachusetts, Harvard reported an operating surplus of nearly €40 million on a revenue base of €5.75 billion in the last financial year.
Mr. Garber expressed that the university was “open to new information and different perspectives,” but firmly refused to comply with requests that “exceed the lawful authority of this or any administration.”
“No government, regardless of the party in office, should dictate the curriculum of private universities, the admission and hiring processes, or the areas they choose to explore,” he asserted.
Prominent Republican congresswoman Elise Stefanik, who received praise from Mr. Trump last year for her assertive questioning of universities regarding anti-Semitism, called for Harvard to be defunded, describing it as “the epitome of the moral and academic degradation in higher education.”
Known as a staunch supporter of Israel and U.S. Jewish causes, the New York congresswoman accused the university of permitting “raging anti-Semitism.”
Harvard University in Massachusetts
In stark contrast to Harvard’s reaction to the White House’s demands was the approach taken by Columbia University, which was at the center of last year’s pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
The Trump administration withheld €353 million in grants from the private New York institution, alleging it failed to protect Jewish students from harassment amid protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The university responded by committing to reform its student disciplinary procedures and hiring 36 additional security personnel to augment its security measures.
In addition to the funding cuts, immigration officials have focused on two organizers of the pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia: Mahmoud Khalil, who faces deportation, and Mohsen Mahdawi, who was arrested yesterday while attending a U.S. citizenship interview.
