Trump slaps $2.3 bn fund freeze on Harvard for rejecting demands

Harvard on Monday rejected numerous demands from the Trump administration that it said would cede control of the school to a conservative government that portrays universities as dangerously leftist.

Within hours of Harvard taking its stand, the administration of President Donald Trump announced it was freezing $2.3 billion in federal funding to the school.

The funding freeze comes after the Trump administration said last month it was reviewing $9 billion in federal contracts and grants to Harvard as part of a crackdown on what it says is antisemitism that erupted on college campuses during pro-Palestinian protests in the past 18 months.

On Monday, a Department of Education task force on combating antisemitism accused America’s oldest university of having a “troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges — that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws.”

The exchange escalates the high-stakes dispute between the the Trump administration and some of the world’s richest universities that has raised concerns about speech and academic freedoms.

Deportation proceedings have begun against some detained foreign students who took part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, while visas for hundreds of other students have been canceled.

Later, Trump posted on his Truth Social handle, that the varsity could lose its tax exempt status and be taxed as a political entity. “Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting sickness?” he said.

“Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions — rejecting an unlawful attempt to stifle academic freedom,” said a statement from Obama, as reported by The Guardian. “Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”

This follows 876 faculty members at Yale University, Harvard’s fellow Ivy League institution, publishing a letter to their leadership expressing support for standing up to the Trump administration. Harvard Crimson reports Trump has forced Harvard President Alan M Garber to make a final choice — sue or stand down.