President Donald Trump’s administration is ratcheting up its conflict with Harvard College, asserting Monday that the school will probably be lower off from federal funding till it caves to the president’s calls for.
In a letter to Harvard, later posted on-line, Training Secretary Linda McMahon accused the college of creating a “mockery” of upper training and advised it to cease making use of for federal grants—“since none will be provided.”
“Harvard will cease to be a publicly funded institution, and can instead operate as a privately funded institution, drawing on its colossal endowment, and raising money from its large base of wealthy alumni. You have an approximately $53 Billion head start,” McMahon wrote, in a put up riddled with grammatical errors and the standard Trump-era use of random all caps for emphasis.
The three-page letter trotted out a well-known checklist of conservative grievances: claims of racism, plagiarism scandals, and assaults on college management. At one level, McMahon requested, “Where do many of these ‘students’ come from, who are they, how do they get into Harvard, or even into our country—and why is there so much HATE?”
She additionally accused the college of failing “its legal obligations, its ethical and fiduciary duties, its transparency responsibilities, and any semblance of academic rigor.”
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The letter is the Trump administration’s most aggressive transfer but since Harvard sued the federal government over its resolution to freeze billions in analysis funding after the college refused to adjust to calls for for intrusive federal oversight.
Training officers had beforehand framed the struggle as being about antisemitism on campus. However the administration’s calls for went far past that: appointing an out of doors overseer to watch “viewpoint diversity,” banning masks, eliminating variety packages, and requiring ideological vetting for worldwide college students. Harvard’s president warned in April that what the White Home was asking for amounted to authorities management over the college’s “intellectual conditions.”
In an announcement Monday night time, a Harvard spokesperson stated the administration was “doubling down on demands that would impose unprecedented and improper control over Harvard University and would have chilling implications for higher education.”
“Harvard will continue to comply with the law, promote and encourage respect for viewpoint diversity, and combat antisemitism in our community,” it continued. “Harvard will also continue to defend against illegal government overreach aimed at stifling research and innovation that make Americans safer and more secure.”
The pushback comes simply days after Trump threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt standing. Now, he’s going after its funding. The message is obvious: Universities that don’t fall in line will get punished.
And even capitulation may not be sufficient. Columbia College realized that the laborious method. After complying with the White Home’s calls for in hopes of regaining entry to $400 million in federal grants, the cash nonetheless hasn’t materialized.
Harvard isn’t alone. Since returning to the White Home, Trump has led an aggressive marketing campaign towards the nation’s elite universities, which he and his allies have lengthy accused of pushing liberal ideology and marginalizing conservatives. Past Harvard, the administration has threatened to tug funding from different universities and opened investigations into scores of different colleges, principally elite establishments, as a part of a broader purge of variety, fairness, and inclusion packages.
However no college is extra squarely within the administration’s crosshairs than Harvard.
And the fallout from this newest escalation might be huge. In keeping with The New York Occasions, federally sponsored analysis made up 11% of Harvard’s income in fiscal 12 months 2024. If that funding freeze sticks, the monetary injury might be extreme—and the political message even clearer.
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