Harvard's president said Monday the school will not agree to demands pushed by the Trump administration as a condition for maintaining nearly $9 billion in federal funding. Hours later, the administration's antisemitism task force said it will freeze $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in multi-year contracts to the institution.
Harvard President Alan Garber told the campus community that lawyers for the school informed the Trump administration that Harvard "will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights" by adopting the changes to its admissions and hiring processes, student disciple and certain areas of study that the federal government ordered.
“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 they can pursue,” Garber wrote.
The federal government's Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism issued a statement Monday night saying it would freeze some funding because Harvard refused to adopt its demands.
"Harvard’s statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges — that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws," the statement read.
“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach."
Alan Garber
President Trump, in a post on Truth Social, suggested on Tuesday that Harvard should lose its tax-exempt status, as well.
“Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting “Sickness?” Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!” he posted.
Democratic lawmakers quickly came to Harvard's defense, applauding the university for rejecting the Trump administration's demands.
U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren in a statement Tuesday said she supports Harvard's "efforts to fight back" and encourages more universities to do so.
“We invest in education and scientific research to build a stronger country and thriving democracy," she wrote. "President Trump’s threats against universities are lawless, and denying funding for the next medical breakthrough will make us all poorer and worse off. Cutting research for cancer or heart disease does not help anyone."
Gov. Maura Healey weighed in on Harvard's stance earlier Monday. She extended her "congratulations and gratitude" to the school's leadership for "standing against the Trump Administration's brazen attempt to bully schools and weaponize the U.S. Department of Justice under the false pretext of civil rights."
"We all agree that antisemitism has no place in America and that it should be fought in the workplace, classrooms and everywhere," Healey said in a statement. "Complying with the Trump Administration's dangerous demands would have made us all less safe and less free."
Former President Barack Obama also posted on social media Monday, before the federal administration announced the funding cuts, applauding Harvard.
"Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect."
Earlier this month, the federal government threatened pulling funding and contracts that would decimate research efforts across the institution and its affiliates if the school didn't eliminate diversity, equity and inclusion programming and cooperate with law enforcement officials. And then late Friday, the task force sent an updated, and much more specific, set of demands to Garber and the Harvard Corporation that the administration said would help combat antisemitism on campus.
“The administration’s prescription goes beyond the power of the federal government,” Garber wrote Monday. “It violates Harvard’s First Amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI.”
Harvard is the first major university to publicly push back against the Trump administration's orders. Last month, Columbia University found itself in a similar situation and acquiesced to the demands.
In his message to the school community, Garber linked to the feds' updated list of demands, as well as Harvard attorneys' response to the government.
He urged the community to read the feds' letter “to gain a fuller understanding of the unprecedented demands being made by the federal government” against Harvard.
Friday's list of demands expanded upon a prior, vaguer list. Federal officials have requested an audit of all faculty hiring and admissions data starting August through at least the end of 2028, as well as audits to ensure "viewpoint diversity." The list includes a review of programs the feds claim "most fuel antisemitic harassment or reflect ideological capture," and singles out a number of schools and centers including the Divinity School, Graduate School of Education, School of Public Health and Center for Middle Eastern Studies.
The administration also demanded that Harvard "reform its recruitment, screening and admissions" of international students by August and “immediately report” to authorities any student who “commits a conduct violation."
On protest matters, the federal government ordered "a comprehensive mask ban," the "meaningful discipline" of pro-Palestinian student protesters, plus the expulsion of Harvard graduate students involved in the Oct. 18, 2023 confrontation during a pro-Palestinian protest.
The demand letter was signed by officials from the General Services Administration, Health and Human Services and Department of Education.
“This was a historic moment for Harvard where they had to look and say how will we be remembered in history."
Ryan Enos
In his message, Garber reiterated that the university has taken steps to address antisemitism on campus, and "plan to do much more." But he said the majority of these demands “represent direct governmental regulation of the 'intellectual conditions' at Harvard.”
“We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement," Garber wrote. “The University will not negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights.” Later on Monday afternoon, Garber's letter on the Harvard website was edited to read, "The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights." A Harvard spokesman did not immediately respond to request for comment on why it changed the language.
The letter to the federal government was signed by D.C.-based attorneys for the firms Quinn Emanuel and King & Spalding. That letter said the school is "open to dialogue" with the federal administration about measures it has already taken to address the campus experience and future steps.
In an interview, Harvard government professor Ryan Enos applauded Harvard’s response.
“This was a historic moment for Harvard where they had to look and say how will we be remembered in history," he told WBUR. "And at this moment they've done the right thing and the importance of that cannot be overstated."
Nikolas Bowie, the secretary-treasurer of the Harvard faculty chapter of the American Association of University Professors and a Harvard law professor, also praised the university response.
"I'm really grateful for Harvard's leadership to stepping up and recognizing that so long as the Trump administration is going to make unlawful demands of American universities, there's no limit to what it can demand, and therefore, the only rational response is to say, see you in court," he said.
On Friday, the Harvard AAUP chapter filed a lawsuit in federal court to block the administration's review of the school's federal funding, alleging the investigation impinges on free speech and academic freedom on campus.
