Trump's administration froze $2.3 billion in funds for Harvard

The White House spokesperson, Harrison Fields, stated on Monday through a communiqué that President Donald Trump is "working to make higher education great again by ending rampant antisemitism and ensuring that federal taxpayer money doesn't fund Harvard's support of dangerous racial discrimination or racially motivated violence."

Hours after Harvard made its stance public, President Trump's administration announced the decision to freeze 2.3 billion dollars in federal funding intended for the university.

This measure adds to a broader review that the Trump administration initiated last month, in which 9 billion dollars in contracts and grants awarded to Harvard are being evaluated. The review is part of a campaign against a surge of antisemitism on university campuses, linked to left-wing pro-Palestinian demonstrations that have occurred over the last year and a half.

In a letter published on Friday, the Department of Education indicated that Harvard "had not complied with the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment."

The letter also demanded that the university limit the influence of professors, employees, and students who prioritize left-wing political activism over academic work, and requested an external audit of the faculty and student bodies in each school to ensure a "diversity of opinions."

Additionally, it was indicated that, starting in August, Harvard must base its faculty hiring and student admissions exclusively on merit, eliminating any preference based on race, color, or nationality.

The institution must also evaluate international applicants to prevent the admission of students who oppose American values, and must report to federal immigration authorities those foreign students who violate conduct rules.

Last week, a group of Harvard faculty filed a lawsuit to prevent the Trump administration from reviewing nearly 9 billion dollars in federal contracts and grants awarded to the university.

The Columbia Case

According to reports, the Trump administration is considering requiring Columbia, another Ivy League institution, to sign a legal consent agreement that would formally oblige it to comply with federal guidelines regarding the fight against antisemitism.

As in the case of Harvard, some Columbia faculty have filed lawsuits against the government in response. Previously, the administration had frozen 400 million dollars in grants and federal aid intended for Columbia.

The president of Harvard, Alan Garber, criticized the government's demands to "audit" the opinions of students, faculty, and employees to identify those with extremist views, representing, according to him, a "violation of the rights to freedom of expression" protected by the First Amendment.

In January, Harvard agreed to provide additional protections for Jewish students as part of an agreement that solved two lawsuits accusing the university of becoming a center of antisemitism.