Harvard targeted as billions of dollars frozen in White House crackdown on elite US universities

ISTANBUL

The Trump administration cut more than $2 billion in federal funding to Harvard on Monday, citing its refusal to implement policy reforms, as tensions grow between the government and top US universities.

Harvard President Alan M. Garber stated that the university “will not surrender its independence or its constitutional rights,” CNN reported.

The school is the first major university to openly defy the administration’s directives, which Trump officials said are to combat antisemitism following campus protests concerning Israel's brutal war in the Gaza Strip.

The administration is also targeting diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, which it called “illegal and immoral discrimination.”

Defending the funding freeze, the Trump administration said universities must uphold civil rights laws and stop the harassment of Jewish students, though it gave no examples.

A federal task force warned it is “time for elite universities to take the problem seriously.” Trump threatened Tuesday to remove Harvard's tax-exempt status.

The administration has also moved to revoke the visas of more than 525 students, faculty and researchers at over 80 US institutions, citing offenses ranging from alleged support for terror organizations to years-old misdemeanors.

Columbia University was among the first targeted. On March 7, the Trump administration announced it would revoke $400 million in federal funding, citing the school's alleged failure to curb antisemitism during campus protests.

After receiving a second letter outlining specific demands, including stricter protest rules, a mask ban and a review of its Middle East studies, Columbia’s trustees issued an action plan addressing “antisemitism, discrimination, harassment, and bias.”

Princeton University President Christopher Eisgruber declared: “Princeton stands with Harvard,” in a LinkedIn post on Tuesday after the administration froze $210 million in research funds and cut an additional $4 million in climate research grants.

He called the pressure “the greatest threat to American universities since the Red Scare of the 1950s,” and told The New York Times, “I believe it is essential for us to protect academic freedom.”

Stanford University is also currently under a federal investigation for alleged “antisemitic discrimination and harassment.”

President Jonathan Levin and Provost Jenny Martinez said universities depend on “government investment but not government control,” citing the Supreme Court’s defense of academic freedom.

The Trump administration also planned to halt $510 million in grants and contracts to Brown University in early April, according to The New York Times, as part of broader efforts to address antisemitic activity on campuses.

Most recently, the administration froze over $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell University and $790 million for Northwestern University, citing “ongoing, credible, and concerning Title VI investigations,” according to a White House official.

Cornell reported receiving more than 75 stop-work orders from the Defense Department and is seeking clarification from federal officials.

Northwestern stated it has “fully cooperated” with investigations and warned that critical research, including work on Alzheimer’s disease and a miniature pacemaker, could be jeopardized.

The school also announced its participation in a lawsuit against the Energy Department on unrelated proposed cuts to indirect research costs.