Harvard stands firm as Trump freezes $2.3b over demands dispute

The Trump administration has frozen $2.3 billion in funding to Harvard University after the Ivy League institution refused to comply with federal demands to ban face coverings on campus, dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, and overhaul its governance and admissions practices.

The freeze includes $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in contracts, according to the US Department of Education’s Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, which issued the decision on Monday evening.

Earlier that day, Harvard University formally rejected the administration’s list of conditions in a letter addressed to federal officials.

The university's attorneys wrote that Harvard “will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” calling the government’s proposals unconstitutional and “beyond the power of the federal government.”

“Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government,” the letter stated. “Accordingly, Harvard will not accept the government’s terms as an agreement in principle.”

The Trump administration’s conditions included ending DEI programs, enforcing a campus-wide mask ban targeting protesters, and reporting international students for disciplinary code violations.

Other conditions involved changes to hiring and admissions policies to reflect a more “merit-based” approach, and the restructuring of academic departments accused of enabling antisemitic discourse.

Harvard President Alan Garber said the demands were not framed in good faith, claiming they were part of a wider federal effort to control campus discourse.

“Although some of the demands are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the ‘intellectual conditions’ at Harvard,” Garber said in an email to faculty and students.

The Department of Education defended the funding freeze, stating that federal support “does not come without the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws.”

The task force described Harvard’s response as emblematic of a “troubling entitlement mindset” among elite academic institutions.

The move comes amid the administration’s broader crackdown on what it views as pro-Hamas and antisemitic activism on university campuses.

Similar measures have already been taken against other prominent institutions, including Columbia University, which lost $400 million in federal support last month following pro-Palestinian protests and encampments.

Columbia’s decision to accept revised federal guidelines was met with criticism from free speech advocates.

Harvard, however, is the first university to publicly refuse the administration’s terms.

The funding freeze follows months of tensions dating back to student-led protests over the war in Gaza, which gained traction in October 2023 and led to walkouts, encampments, and public confrontations on campuses across the United States.

Harvard’s Commencement in May 2024 was disrupted by a large walkout involving more than 1,000 students and faculty.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Washington correspondent Patty Culhane said Harvard’s resistance marks a turning point. “Other universities have backed down, but Harvard is signalling that it may be ready to challenge this in court,” she said.

The Trump administration has also begun deportation proceedings against detained foreign students involved in campus protests, with hundreds of student visas already revoked.