The Trump administration has announced an additional $450m cut in grants to Harvard University, escalating pressure over what it describes as inadequate responses to antisemitism on campus. This brings total federal penalties against the institution to approximately $2.65bn, following a previous $2.2bn freeze.
The taskforce to combat antisemitism accused Harvard of becoming a 'breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination', stating that the university had 'repeatedly failed to confront the pervasive race discrimination and antisemitic harassment plaguing its campus'. The cuts target Harvard's refusal to comply with demands including shutting down diversity programmes, cooperating with immigration authorities, and banning face masks.
Harvard President Dr Alan Garber, who is Jewish, has resisted, calling the administration's demands 'illegal' and an attempt 'to control whom we hire and what we teach'. The university, with an endowment over $53bn, has launched legal action against the initial freeze, arguing it faced threats to international students' education and potential revocation of its tax-exempt status.
The administration cited incidents such as a fellowship awarded by the Harvard Law Review as evidence of radicalisation. Meanwhile, nationwide campus protests continue, including hunger strikes at California State University campuses in solidarity with Gaza. Harvard's own investigations into antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias have failed to satisfy officials.
