The United States government has announced a further round of funding cuts to Harvard University, intensifying a high-profile clash between federal authorities and the prestigious institution. The decision comes just a day after Harvard’s president signalled a willingness to find “common ground” with the Trump administration.
On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services said it would terminate an additional $450 million in grants to the university. This follows the suspension of $2.2 billion in funding last week. The department cited concerns over what it described as a “dark problem” of discrimination on Harvard’s campus.
Harvard has challenged the cuts in court, arguing that the federal government is unlawfully attempting to interfere in the institution’s operations.
The Trump administration has recently increased scrutiny of US universities, claiming they have become hotbeds of anti-Semitism and overzealous diversity policies. It says these practices must be rolled back to address bias against Jewish students and to restore what it calls fairness in education.
In a letter to Education Secretary Linda McMahon on Monday, Harvard President Alan Garber insisted that the university was committed to reform. He noted that the institution had embarked on major changes following a year of intense controversy, particularly in the aftermath of the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel.
“The challenges of that academic year have led to meaningful reform and recommendations designed to eliminate antisemitism and other forms of hate from our campus,” Garber wrote, adding that the university and the administration still shared “common ground on a number of critical issues.”
Despite this, the university was unsuccessful in reversing at least one of the grant terminations. A legal filing on Tuesday revealed that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) declined to reinstate funding, asserting in its May letter that “no corrective action [was] possible.”
White House Task Force Condemns Harvard Culture
Harvard’s efforts to address concerns appear to have done little to appease the Trump administration’s Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, which issued a strongly worded statement accusing the university of fostering a “culture of virtue signalling and discrimination.”
The task force cited Harvard’s internal investigations, which reportedly found that Jewish students had faced widespread harassment, including verbal abuse, physical assault, and intimidation.
“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 centre of academic excellence,” the statement read.
While Garber maintained that the university remains politically neutral, he acknowledged the need for more intellectual diversity and defended Harvard’s admissions policies, stating that students are selected for their “individuals and their unique characteristics” rather than race.
With legal battles ongoing and government pressure mounting, the future of federal funding for one of America’s most elite academic institutions hangs in the balance.