Harvard University is punished with freezing $ 2 billion in financing for challenging Trump

Freeze followed a letter sent to the Trump administration on Monday that it rejects government demands

Harvard University was hit by a freezing of $ 2.3 billion in federal funding after the institution of Ivy League positioned itself against the continuous demands of the Trump administration.

The freezing, which represents 35.9% of Harvard’s $ 6.4 billion operating expenses, occurred immediately after a letter sent on Monday by Harvard University lawyers to the Trump administration, stating that he rejected government demands.

The letter, issued by Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and LLP King & Spalding LLP, said that “the university will not give up its independence, nor will it give up its constitutional rights.”

University president Alan Garber also issued a public letter on Monday saying that the university refused to capitulate the Trump government’s demands to “control the Harvard community” and threaten its “values ​​as a private institution dedicated to search, production and dissemination of knowledge”.

Harvard has rejected government demands, including denouncing foreign students for code violations, reforming their governance and leadership, discontinuing their diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and changing their hiring and admission policies, especially to international students.

One of the most detailed sections of the letter was the section on anti -Semitism programs reform or other prejudice, detailing which university programs were considered problematic, including, among others, the Middle East Study Center; Harvard Kennedy School’s Human Rights Center; The Department of Near East Languages ​​and Cultures; and the International Human Rights Clinic of the Harvard Law School.

Garber said such interference was “unprecedented” and “beyond the power of the federal government.” He also stated that the university would not negotiate its independence or its constitutional rights.

“No government – regardless of power party – should dictate what private universities can teach, who they can admit and hire, and what areas of study and research they can follow,” his letter continued.

Gerber’s response was convicted of Elise Stefanik, a republican congressman who helped launch a congressional investigation into Harvard’s response to anti -Semitism.

“Harvard University rightly won its place as the epitome of moral and academic rot in higher education,” she said in a statement. “It’s time to completely cut US taxpayers financing for this institution that has not fulfilled its founding motto, Veritas.”

Harvard’s position was received with derision by President Donald Trump, who said the university should “apologize,” according to press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a press conference.

Harvard is the first university to position itself against the government, which said it was investigating 60 universities for anti -Semitism allegations. Several Ivy League institutions have had threatened or canceled financing.

The Trump government announced in March that Columbia University would lose $ 400 million in federal scholarships and contracts due to accusations that it did not do enough to combat anti -Semitism.

Under review

The Trump government announced on March 31 that it would revise $ 9 billion in federal funds and subsidies for Harvard. He said he would review more than $ 255.6 million in current contracts and $ 8.7 billion in subsidies distributed over several years.

Administration accused the University of not adequately protecting Jewish students on the campus against anti -Semitic discrimination and harassment, violating Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Law.

“Harvard has served as a symbol of the American dream for generations – the maximum aspiration of students around the world to work hard and gain admission in the historic institution,” Linda McMahon secretary Linda said in a statement at the time.

“Harvard’s failure to protect students on the anti -Semitic discrimination campus – while promoting divisionist ideologies over free investigation – put his reputation at serious risk,” added the secretary.

On April 3, the Trump administration sent an initial list of requirements to “correct these mistakes” as part of their repression to what it calls anti-Semitism on US university campuses, referring to generalized protests on the Israeli War in Gaza.

Then, on April 11, the federal task force to combat anti-Semitism sent Harvard an expanded list of requirements.

The “Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism” is made up of four government agencies, including the Department of Justice, the Department of Human Health and Services, the US Department of Education and the US General Services Administration.

The task force was created in February after Trump’s executive order, “additional measures to combat anti-Semitism,” signed in late January.

Harvard’s repression to Palestinian discourse

Prior to the position taken yesterday, Harvard University repressed the pro-Palestinian protests after intense pressure from American legislators and the previous Biden government. Pro-Palestinian protests on American campuses were characterized by the government as “anti-Semites.”

In response to Trump government demands, Harvard lawyers said the university “took substantial political and programmatic measures” during the last 15 months to combat anti -Semitism, promote ideological diversity and maintain order in campus.

Although it did not stipulate these measures in the letter, the university dismissed the leader of the Middle East Studies Center and banned pro-palestine students into the Widener library following a protest of “home study.” His medical school canceled a class with Gaza patients, classifying the lecture as a unilateral, and cut ties with Birzeit University in the occupied Whell.

The university also placed the Palestinian Solidarity Committee on parole after a demonstration, and its school of theology suspended its initiative of religion, conflict and peace.

In addition, he agreed to adopt the broad definition of anti-Semitism of the International Alliance for Holocaust Memory, which consider, broadly, anti-minist or anti-Israeli criticism as anti-Semitism. This was part of a court agreement in two federal cases that accuse the school of not doing enough to prevent anti -Semitic discrimination and harassment.

Critics say the university has failed with its pro-Palestinian students.

Universities process Energy Department

Meanwhile, a group of nine universities announced on Monday-including Brown University, Cornell University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Princeton-which are processing the Department of Energy (DOE) by federal financing cuts for research in areas such as advanced nuclear technology, cyber safety, new radioactive medications and improvements in rural electric networks.

Universities have asked the Federal Court of Massachusetts to immediately block the Trump government to proceed with a policy change designed to reduce government spending in support of “indirect” research costs, which are not easily attributable to specific projects.

Indirect costs are often used to finance facilities, equipment and research teams that add value to various research projects, rather than being linked to a single project, according to the process.

Arbitrary cuts in indirect research costs will force universities to dismiss employees, close expensive facilities and devastate the careers of young scientists, have claimed universities.

“If DOE policy is maintained, it will devastate scientific research in American universities and severely damage our nation’s enviable status as a global leader in scientific research and innovation,” universities wrote in their process.

National Health Institutes (NIH) have announced a similar cut in indirect research costs and are being processed by 12 universities. A federal judge issued an order by preventing the Trump government from continuing these cuts, while the lawsuit over them continues.

Originally published by Mee on 15/04/2025

By Syma Mohammed