Trump administration meddling in university affairs, freezes $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard University over ‘campus activism’

STC MONITORING DESK
APRIL 15 (STC): Harvard University refusing to fall in line with the Donald Trump administration dictate to curb campus activism, faces ‘frozen’ funds as the White House has announced $2.2 billion in grants freeze to the University. Besides, the Donald Trump administration has also reportedly frozen $60 million in contracts to the University for refusing to comply with the government dictates.
According to the reports,in a letter sent Friday, the US President Donald Trump-led administration called on Harvard to implement sweeping changes, including adopting “merit-based” admissions and hiring practices, conducting an audit of students, faculty, and leadership on their views of diversity, and banning face masks — a move seemingly aimed at pro-Palestinian protesters.
Besides, the university has been asked to cut funding or recognition for any student group that promotes “criminal activity, illegal violence, or illegal harassment.”
Responding to the Trump administration demands, Harvard President Alan Garber reportedly called the demands a violation of the university’s First Amendment rights and an overreach of federal authority under Title VI, which bars discrimination based on race, color, or national origin.
“No government — regardless of party — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they admit or hire, or which fields of study they pursue,” news agency Associated Press cited a letter by Garber to the Harvard community, adding that the university had already enacted reforms to address antisemitism.
Trump’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism has in a statement said, “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.”
It’s pertinent to mention that Harvard is among several Ivy League institutions hit by the Trump administration broader efforts to use federal funding as leverage to reshape campus policy in line with its political interests. The administration has accused several universities of allowing antisemitism to go unchecked during protests over Israel’s war in Gaza — a claim schools deny.
(Inputs from agencies)