The Trump administration will scrutinize billions of dollars in federal funding to Harvard University, The Washington Post reported Monday, marking another escalation in the administration's efforts to force change at prominent universities that failed to adequately respond to escalating protests and ensure campus safety during the Israel-Gaza war.
The Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, recently formed by the administration, will review more than $255 million in contracts between the federal government, Harvard, and its affiliates. The task force will also examine more than $8.7 billion in multiyear grant commitments to ensure compliance with federal regulations, according to an announcement from the departments of Health and Human Services, Education, and the US General Services Administration.
The reviews follow significant cuts at Columbia University, where the administration cut off $400 million in federal grants earlier this month, claiming the school was not doing enough to protect Jewish students. Colleges nationwide struggled last year to contain protests that had become increasingly intense and in some cases violent over the Israel-Hamas war. Jewish students reported that pro-Palestinian protests were hostile, antisemitic, and created frightening environments on campus.
A spokeswoman for the Education Department said that funding to Harvard and its affiliates is being reviewed and not canceled. President Trump has been sharply critical of universities for what he has characterized as failing to respond to antisemitism – and signed an executive order designed to counter it shortly after taking office in January.
"Harvard's failure to protect students on campus from antisemitic discrimination – all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry – has put its reputation in serious jeopardy," Education Secretary Linda McMahon said in a written statement. "Harvard can right these wrongs and restore itself to a campus dedicated to academic excellence and truth-seeking, where all students feel safe on its campus."
In a message to the campus community Monday, Harvard President Alan M. Garber responded, "If this funding is stopped, it will halt life-saving research and imperil important scientific research and innovation." He acknowledged that antisemitism remains an urgent problem that he has experienced directly while serving as president, and detailed steps Harvard has taken to combat it over the past 15 months, including implementing standardized procedures for disciplinary cases, pursuing disciplinary action, updating campus use policies, adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, and explicitly including Jewish and Israeli identities in the university's anti-bullying and antidiscrimination policies.
Following a congressional hearing on campus antisemitism held in July 2023 and led by Representative Elise Stefanik, Harvard's former President Claudine Gay resigned in February after she was unable to say unequivocally that calls on campus for the genocide of Jews would violate the school's conduct policy.
Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum, a member of the task force, stated, "While Harvard's recent actions to curb institutionalized antisemitism – though long overdue – are welcome, there is much more that the university must do to retain the privilege of receiving federal taxpayer's hard-earned dollars." He added, "This administration has proven that we will take swift action to hold institutions accountable if they allow antisemitism to fester. We will not hesitate to act if Harvard fails to do so."
