The US Department of Health and Human Services has said that it is terminating $60 million in federal grants to Harvard University due to its "failure to address anti-Semitic harassment and race discrimination."

"Due to Harvard University's continued failure to address anti-Semitic harassment and race discrimination, HHS is terminating multiple multi-year grant awards — totalling approximately $60 million over their full duration," HHS said in a statement on X on Monday.

"In the Trump Administration, discrimination will not be tolerated on campus. Federal funds must support institutions that protect all students."

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has escalated its actions against Harvard. It began a formal review into nearly $9 billion in federal funding for Harvard and demanded that the university crack down on some pro-Palestinian groups and masks in protests.

It has also urged Harvard to give more details on its foreign ties and threatened to remove its tax-exempt status and its ability to enrol foreign students.

Earlier in April, the university rejected Trump's demands, calling them an attack on free speech and academic freedom, and in late April, it sued the Trump administration for suspending around $2.3 billion in federal funding.

Universities targeted

The Trump administration has been tightening its chokehold on the prestigious university amid a wider crackdown on US universities over pro-Palestine protests and other issues.

He started with Columbia, which ignited a wave of pro-Palestine protests across US campuses, cancelling $400 million in federal funding to the university.

The university ultimately yielded to his pressure, announcing sweeping policy changes, including campus protest policies.

He later froze federal funding for both Cornell University and Northwestern University for allowing pro-Palestine protests.