{"id":948,"date":"2025-04-15T02:09:29","date_gmt":"2025-04-15T02:09:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/captainnews.info\/?p=948"},"modified":"2025-04-15T02:09:29","modified_gmt":"2025-04-15T02:09:29","slug":"trump-administration-freezes-2-2-billion-in-grants-to-harvard-over-campus-activism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/captainnews.info\/?p=948","title":{"rendered":"Trump administration freezes $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard over campus activism"},"content":{"rendered":"

The federal government says it\u2019s freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University, after the institution said it would defy the Trump administration\u2019s demands to limit\u00a0activism on campus<\/span>.<\/p>\n

In a letter to Harvard Friday, President Donald Trump\u2019s administration had called for broad government and leadership reforms at the university, as well as changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded the university audit views of diversity on campus, and stop recognizing some student clubs.<\/p>\n

The federal government said almost $9 billion in grants and contracts in total were at risk if Harvard did not comply.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A student protester stands in front of the statue of John Harvard, the first major benefactor of Harvard College, draped in the Palestinian flag, at an encampment of students protesting against the war in Gaza, at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., April 25, 2024. (AP Photo\/Ben Curtis, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On Monday, Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not bend to the government\u2019s demands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,\u201d Garber said in a letter to the Harvard community. \u201cNo government \u2014 regardless of which party is in power \u2014 should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hours later, the government froze billions in Harvard\u2019s federal funding \u2014 marking the seventh time the Trump administration has taken the step at one of the nation\u2019s most elite colleges. Six of the seven are in the Ivy League.<\/p>\n

The first university targeted by the Trump administration was Columbia, which\u00a0acquiesced to the government\u2019s demands<\/span>\u00a0under the threat of billions of dollars in cuts. In an attempt to force compliance with its agenda, the administration also has paused federal funding for the\u00a0University of Pennsylvania<\/span>,\u00a0Brown<\/span>,\u00a0Princeton<\/span>,\u00a0Cornell and Northwestern<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s administration has normalized the extraordinary step of withholding federal money to pressure major academic institutions to comply with\u00a0the president\u2019s political agenda<\/span>\u00a0and to influence campus policy. The administration has argued universities allowed antisemitism to go unchecked at campus protests last year against Israel\u2019s war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Students protesting against the war in Gaza, and passersby walking through Harvard Yard, are seen at an encampment at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on April 25, 2024. (AP Photo\/Ben Curtis, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Harvard, Garber said, already has made extensive reforms to address antisemitism. He said many of the government\u2019s demands don\u2019t relate to antisemitism, but instead are an attempt to regulate the \u201cintellectual conditions\u201d at Harvard.<\/p>\n

Withholding federal funding from Harvard, one of the nation\u2019s top research universities in science and medicine, \u201crisks not only the health and well-being of millions of individuals but also the economic security and vitality of our nation.\u201d It also violates the university\u2019s First Amendment rights and exceeds the government\u2019s authority under Title VI, which prohibits discrimination against students based on their race, color or national origin, Garber said.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s demands included that Harvard institute what it called \u201cmerit-based\u201d admissions and hiring policies and conduct an audit of the study body, faculty and leadership on their views about diversity. The administration also called for a ban on face masks at Harvard \u2014 an apparent target of pro-Palestinian campus protesters \u2014 and pressured the university to stop recognizing or funding \u201cany student group or club that endorses or promotes criminal activity, illegal violence, or illegal harassment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harvard\u2019s defiance, the federal antisemitism task force said Monday, \u201creinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation\u2019s most prestigious universities and colleges \u2014 that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has promised a more aggressive approach against antisemitism on campus, accusing former President Joe Biden of letting schools off the hook. It has opened new investigations at colleges and\u00a0detained and deported<\/span>\u00a0several foreign students with ties to pro-Palestinian protests.<\/p>\n

The demands from the Trump administration had prompted a group of Harvard alumni to write to university leaders calling for it to \u201clegally contest and refuse to comply with unlawful demands that threaten academic freedom and university self-governance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHarvard stood up today for the integrity, values, and freedoms that serve as the foundation of higher education,\u201d said Anurima Bhargava, one of the alumni behind the letter. \u201cHarvard reminded the world that learning, innovation and transformative growth will not yield to bullying and authoritarian whims.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s pressure on Harvard also sparked a protest over the weekend from the campus community and residents of Cambridge and a lawsuit from the American Association of University Professors on Friday challenging the cuts.<\/p>\n

In their lawsuit, plaintiffs argue that the Trump administration has failed to follow steps required under Title VI before it starts cutting funds, including giving notice of the cuts to both the university and Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese sweeping yet indeterminate demands are not remedies targeting the causes of any determination of noncompliance with federal law. Instead, they overtly seek to impose on Harvard University political views and policy preferences advanced by the Trump administration and commit the University to punishing disfavored speech,\u201d plaintiffs wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The federal government says it\u2019s freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University, after the institution said it would defy the Trump administration\u2019s demands to limit\u00a0activism on campus. In a letter to Harvard Friday, President Donald Trump\u2019s administration had called for broad government and leadership reforms at the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":951,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[13,14],"class_list":["post-948","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-news","tag-trump"],"yoast_head":"\nTrump administration freezes $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard over campus activism - CAPTAINNEWS<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/captainnews.info\/?p=948\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Trump administration freezes $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard over campus activism - CAPTAINNEWS\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The federal government says it\u2019s freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University, after the institution said it would defy the Trump administration\u2019s demands to limit\u00a0activism on campus. 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