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The Trump administration is blocking an additional $450 million in federal grants from Harvard University, intensifying its campaign against the Ivy League school just one day after Harvard pushed back on accusations of political bias and antisemitism.
In a letter issued Tuesday, a federal task force on antisemitism notified Harvard that it would lose funding from eight federal agencies, in addition to the $2.2 billion in grants previously frozen by the administration.
The letter criticized Harvard as a “breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination” and warned that the university faces a “steep, uphill battle” to regain its reputation for academic integrity.
“There is a dark problem on Harvard’s campus, and by prioritizing appeasement over accountability, institutional leaders have forfeited the school’s claim to taxpayer support,” the letter read.
It was signed by officials from the Department of Education, Health and Human Services and the General Services Administration. Shortly after the new cuts were announced, Harvard amended its April lawsuit challenging the original funding freeze, filing new legal objections to what it described as escalating and politically motivated sanctions, according to The Associated Press.
Harvard became the first major university to openly defy the administration’s demands to restrict pro-Palestinian activism and dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. President Trump has called for Harvard to lose its tax-exempt status, and the Department of Homeland Security has threatened to rescind the university’s ability to enroll international students.
Last week, the Education Department said the school would be ineligible for new federal grants until it complies with the administration’s directives.
Trump wrote last month that Harvard has “lost its way” one day after his administration froze $2.2 billion in federal funds over the university’s refusal to comply with efforts to stop antisemitism.
The president shared the statement on his Truth Social account on April 16, following the controversy between Harvard and the Trump administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism.
“Everyone knows that Harvard has ‘lost its way.’ They hired, from New York (Bill D) and Chicago (Lori L), at ridiculously high salaries/fees, two of the WORST and MOST INCOMPETENT mayors in the history of our Country, to ‘teach’ municipal management and government. These two Radical Left fools left behind two cities that will take years to recover from their incompetence and evil,” Trump wrote.