“Harvard is a joke, teaches Hate and Stupidity, and should no longer receive Federal Funds,” said US President Donald Trump in a social media post on Wednesday.
Trump’s ire-y eye is set on the private Ivy League institution, calling for the revocation of its government research contracts, clipping at least $2.2 billion in multi-year funding, and proposing a ban on admitting international students.
Trump has suspended federal funding for seven major US universities—including Columbia, Brown, Cornell, Northwestern, the University of Pennsylvania, and Princeton.
According to local media, Trump has also directed the Internal Revenue Service to begin stripping the university of its tax-exempt status.
Under fire now is Harvard President Alan Garber as he rejects demands for supervision and oversight by the White House. “No government – regardless of which party is in power – should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry can pursue, " Garber responded in his letter.
Here’s what you need to know about the Harvard crackdown.
Why Harvard, and why so harsh?
It all started with protests over Palestine.
The Trump administration claims that universities, including Harvard, failed to protect Jewish students from harassment during nationwide campus protests against Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. They also accuse universities for allowing support for the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
In a series of moves led by Republicans, the government has targeted universities where such protests occurred, alleging widespread antisemitism. Protesters maintain they were denouncing Israel’s actions in Gaza, not promoting hate.
Columbia University—another protest epicentre—agreed in March to federal oversight of its Middle Eastern Studies department after the government threatened to pull $400 million in federal funding.
For Harvard, in particular, the Trump administration has ordered the university to crack down on protesters, screen international students for “hostility to American values,” and enact broader leadership reforms. That includes changes to admissions policies, student club recognition. The government also demanded Harvard audit its faculty and student body to ensure a wide range of opinions in every department and diversify by admitting additional students and hiring new faculty.”
What makes Harvard stand out is its refusal to comply. The varsity has defied Trump, citing the First Amendment, in stark contrast to several other universities that have folded under pressure from the White House.
Trump is particularly furious at Harvard for rejecting his demand to submit to government supervision on admissions, hiring and ideology. Now, the Trump administration is pushing for direct political oversight of the university.
Broader political agenda
What began as a response to alleged anti-Semitism has expanded into a wider assault on what Republicans see as liberal bias in higher education.
Conservatives argue that right-wing voices are silenced on college campuses and that preferences are unfairly given to Black and minority students over white applicants.
The Republicans claim that universities are dominated by radical leftist “woke” ideology. A key driver of this agenda is Trump’s deputy chief of staff for police, Stephen Miller, who pushes most of the president’s domestic agenda.
“For decades the conservative movement, and Miller as its disciple, have railed against college campuses as training grounds for the radical left,” one Republican strategist told the Financial Times. “This is their chance to do something about it.”
Trump gave some pretty clear idea as to what kind of schools he would focus on during the campaign trail last year, saying that he would hone in on educational establishments that push “critical race theory, transgender insanity, and other inappropriate racial, sexual, or political content.”
International students are in the crossfire
One of the key issues at stake for Harvard is its acceptance of international students. Trump has threatened to revoke Harvard’s ability to admit students from abroad, which made up 27.2 percent of Harvard's enrolment this academic year, according to the university website.
Homeland Security has ordered Harvard to turn over “detailed records" of its foreign student visa holders’ "illegal and violent activities” by April 30.
Already, more than 1,000 international students at 160 colleges, universities and university systems from across the US have had their visas or legal status revoked, with several filing lawsuits against the Trump administration arguing that they were denied due process.
Defunding Harvard poses an existential threat
In addition to cuts of $2.2 billion multi-year in federal funding and $60 million “in multi-year contract value”, Homeland Security has also cancelled $2.7 million worth of research grants to the university.
Federal funding constitutes a massive bulk – two-thirds – of Harvard’s sponsored research funding. That’s nearly $700 million, a loss of which would set back any higher education establishment.
The cuts pose a major challenge for Harvard.
“There’s no university in the country that could survive the loss of federal money,” Brian Leiter, a professor of law and philosophy at the University of Chicago, told the New Yorker.
Harvard has a hefty endowment worth $53.2 billion in 2024, the largest of its competitors. But that doesn’t mean that all of that is cold hard cash lying in a bank account. In reality, these assets are invested in everything from stocks and bonds to real estate.
Watchers have been suggesting the university dip into its endowment fund to make up for the loss in federal grants, but restrictions tied to donor earmarking, legality and research priorities make this a challenge.
While Harvard boasts a $53.2 billion endowment—the largest in the US—much of that is tied up in investments and bound by donor restrictions. But that doesn’t mean that all of that is cold, hard cash lying in a bank account. In reality, these assets are invested in everything from stocks and bonds to real estate.
Watchers have been suggesting the university dip into its endowment fund to make up for the loss in federal grants but restrictions tied to donor earmarking, legality and research priorities make this a challenge.
Harvard, the wealthiest and oldest institution of higher education in the US, is remaining stalwart against the Trump administration, for now. But as Liza Minelli famously crooned: “money makes the world go round.” As the smoke clears and cuts set in, Harvard will have two options: to bend or to snap.
