WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced Tuesday it was canceling another $450 million in grants to Harvard University after the Ivy League school “repeatedly failed” to quell race discrimination and antisemitism on campus.
“There is a dark problem on Harvard’s campus, and by prioritizing appeasement over accountability, institutional leaders have forfeited the school’s claim to taxpayer support,” members of Trump’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism said in a statement.
“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 center of academic excellence.”
The cuts are coming from at least eight different federal agencies, and are taking place after the task force — which comprises the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services as well as the General Services Administration — terminated $2.2 billion in grants last week.
Reps for Harvard University did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The task force cited the Supreme Court’s 2023 rebuke of the university in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard, internal university investigations and reports about discriminatory practices at the school’s law review journal as proof of the “pervasive” racial bias and anti-semitism.
“[T]he [Harvard Law Review] awarded a $65,000 fellowship — meant to “serve the public interest” — to a protester who faced criminal charges for assaulting a Jewish student on campus,” the task force noted.
“The decision was reviewed and approved by a faculty committee, demonstrating just how radical Harvard has become.”
The $2.2 billion in additional medical and other research grants were yanked by the National Institutes of Health, according to a May 6 letter from NIH director for extramural research Michelle Bulls.
“You may object and provide information and documentation challenging these terminations,” the NIH official added, asking for a response within 30 days.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon had warned Harvard administrators in a separate letter last week not to apply for further federal grants, “since none will be provided.”
In her note to university president Alan Garber, McMahon charged that Harvard “has made a mockery of this country’s higher education system.”
“It has invited foreign students, who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the United States of America, to its campus,” she added. “In every way, Harvard has failed to abide by its legal obligations, its ethical and fiduciary duties, its transparency responsibilities and any semblance of academic rigor.”
