The Trump administration said Monday that it froze 2.2 billion dollars in federal funds for Harvard University, making the announcement hours after the school said it would not accept an agreement with the Trump administration, which threatened Harvard for accusations of anti -Semitism linked to its handling of the prolastation protests on the campus.
Key data
The joint work group to combat anti -Semitism, composed of several federal agencies, including the Department of Justice and the Department of Education, announced a “freezing of 2.2 billion dollars in multiannual subsidies and 60 million dollars in value of multiannual contracts for Harvard University”.
The working group did not specify what programs the subsidies were related.
“Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow the federal government to take over it,” wrote lawyers who represent Harvard in a letter to the education department before financing was frozen.
Several agencies, including the Department of Education, announced last month a review of 9 billion dollars in government contracts and subsidies for Harvard to ensure that the university “complied with federal regulations”, including the way in which Harvard handled the alleged anti -Semitism on the campus during a wave of prolastine protests in the University Campus of the United States.
The Trump administration sent a list of demands to Harvard on April 11, including applications for the University to make radical changes in its governance, admission and contracting processes, as well as for Harvard to be monitored by administration officials.
Harvard will continue to fight anti -Semitism on the campus and “remain open to dialogue about what you have done and plan to improve the experience of each member of their community,” wrote the lawyers who represent Harvard, adding that Harvard “is not prepared” to meet demands that “go beyond the legal authority of this or any administration.”
The president of Harvard, Alan Garber, who said last month that the University would cooperate with the review, said that the latest demands “go beyond the power of the federal government” and violate the rights of the first Harvard amendment.
Garber argued that “no government, regardless of the party in power, should dictate what private universities can teach” or who admit and hire.
Cita Crucial
“It makes it clear that the intention (of the Trump administration) is not to work with us to address anti -Semitism in a cooperative and constructive way,” Garber wrote, arguing that the “majority” of the White House demands “represent a direct government regulation of the ‘intellectual conditions’ in Harvard.”
Main critic
Former President Barack Obama said he expected other universities to “follow the example” while supporting Harvard’s decision to reject “an illegal and clumsy attempt to quell academic freedom, while taking concrete measures to ensure that all Harvard students could benefit from an intellectual research environment, rigorous debate and mutual respect.”
How big is Harvard’s endowment?
Harvard’s endowment increased to 53.2 billion dollars in its fiscal year 2024, after a 9.6% profitability on investments, according to the latest financial report of the University. Harvard has had the largest amount of endowment funds of any university in the United States for years, followed by the University of Yale and the University of Texas system, which reported endowments of 42,000 million dollars and 40,000 million dollars in 2021, respectively.
What other universities are under review by the Trump administration?
The Trump government began a large -scale investigation in 60 universities for accusations of anti -Semitism. A letter from the Civil Rights Office of the Department of Education warned universities about possible coercive measures if a review determines that they violated the title VI of the Civil Rights Law – a measure that prevents universities from receiving federal funds if they discriminate for reasons of race, color and nationality – for not protecting Jewish students in the campus. The University of Columbia, among the top five institutions investigated, suffered the cancellation of 400 million dollars in federal subsidies and contracts by the Trump government, while some research contracts were frozen at the Universities of Princeton, Cornell and Northwestern.
Key history
The Trump government formed a new inter -institutional working group earlier this year to investigate allegations of discrimination and harassment of Jewish students in American universities. This working group occurred after pro-palestinian protests on university campuses last year, which opposed the Israeli invasion of Gaza. The protesters greatly demanded that their universities disable in companies that work with Israel and Israeli universities. The protests were sometimes tarnished by cases of anti -Semitism. Last month, the Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, accused Harvard of not protecting Jewish students and “promoting divisive ideologies to the detriment of free research.” Garber warned that the loss of federal financing for Harvard would stop “vital research and endanger important scientific research and innovation.” In addition to persecuting universities with financing reviews, the Trump government has revoked visas, detained and tried to deport students linked to protests. Among the detainees is the student of Columbia Mahmoud Khalil, who was put in custody in early March despite having a valid visa and being permanent legal resident in the United States. A judge ruled last week that Khalil could be deported.
This article was originally published by Forbes Us.
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