by Temitope Oladeji
15/4/2025
Harvard University is facing a $2.2 billion freeze in federal funding after refusing to comply with a series of sweeping demands from the White House aimed at addressing alleged anti-Semitism activities in the University.
The investigation, which began under the former Biden administration, echoed a tough stance initiated under the President Trump-era Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, imposed the freeze on Monday following the university’s defiant stance.
The federal government had initially presented Harvard with a list of conditions on April 3, including the closure of diversity offices, changes to hiring and admissions policies, and cooperation with immigration authorities for vetting international students.
These demands were later expanded last week, with new calls for an “audit” of the political and ideological leanings of faculty and students.
Harvard President Alan Garber responded in a letter to students and staff, firmly rejecting the federal directive.
He asserted that the university would not “negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights,” emphasizing the importance of academic freedom and the institutional autonomous power of the academic institution.
In response, the Joint Task Force announced an immediate suspension of $2.2 billion in multi-year federal grants and an additional freeze on $60 million in active government contracts.
The task force criticized what it called a culture of entitlement among elite institutions, stating:
“Harvard’s statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities… The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable. It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support.”
The funding freeze comes amid intensified scrutiny of university campuses following widespread student-led protests over Israel’s military actions in Gaza.
Some of these demonstrations turned violent and were met with heavy police intervention.
Republican politicians, including President Donald Trump, have alleged that many of the protestors were sympathetic to Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization whose October 7, 2023, attack on Israel reignited the ongoing conflict.
The Department of Education had previously announced investigations into 60 universities for alleged anti-Semitic incidents, with Harvard’s $9 billion in total federal funding placed under review earlier this year.
Despite Harvard’s refusal to meet the latest demands, Garber expressed a willingness to engage in dialogue: “We are open to new information and different perspectives,” he said.
However, he drew a line at actions he described as overreach. Garber said, “No government, regardless of which party is in power, should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study they can pursue.”
Harvard reported an operating surplus of $45 million on revenues of $6.5 billion in the last fiscal year, but the funding suspension could have far-reaching implications for research and academic programs.
Republican Representative Elise Stefanik, a vocal critic of elite universities’ handling of anti-Semitism, praised the funding freeze. “Harvard is the epitome of the moral and academic rot in higher education,” she declared, renewing her call for the university to be defunded entirely.
Harvard’s resistance to federal pressure stands in contrast to Columbia University, which has taken a more conciliatory approach following last year’s campus protests.
As tensions between academia and Washington escalate, the confrontation over Harvard’s funding is expected to have lasting implications across the U.S. higher education landscape.