Casey Boston: The federal government said it has frozen more than $2.2 billion in grants and contracts from Harvard University as the agency said on Monday it did not comply with the Trump administration’s requirement to limit activism on campus. In a letter to Harvard on Friday, the government called for extensive government and leadership reforms, a requirement that Harvard Institute’s so-called “merit-based” admissions and employment policies, and audits of research institutions, faculty and leadership to understand their perceptions of diversity.
These demands are the latest news from earlier letters, and also demand a ban on face masks, which appears to be targeting pro-Palestinian protesters. They also put pressure on the university to stop acknowledging or funding “any student group or club that recognizes or promotes criminal activities, illegal violence or illegal harassment.” Harvard President Alan Garber said in a letter from the Harvard community that the claims violated the university’s First Amendment rights and “overtake the statutory restrictions on government powers under Title Six” that prohibit discrimination against students based on their racial, color or ethnic origin.
“No matter which party is in power, no matter which party in power, the party in power should decide what private universities can teach, who they can acknowledge and hire, and which areas of study they can pursue,” Garber wrote. “These purposes will not be able to control Harvard teaching and determine how we operate through claims of power, no legal claims.” “The work of addressing our shortcomings, fulfilling our commitments and embodying our values is our work that defines and assumes the community.”
Harvard’s demand is part of a widespread push to use taxpayer funds to put pressure on major academic institutions to comply with President Donald Trump’s political agenda and influence campus policy. The government also believes that universities allow protests against Israel in the war in Gaza last year during campus protests. The school denies it. Harvard is one of several Ivy League schools in a government pressure campaign that has also suspended federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania, Brown and Princeton to force compliance with its agenda. Harvard’s letter of demand is similar to one that prompted changes at Columbia University, a threat to billions of dollars in cuts.
The Trump administration’s demand prompted a group of alumni to write letters to university leaders calling for “legal competition, refusal to comply with illegal requirements that threaten academic freedom and university autonomy.” “Today, Harvard becomes the integrity, values and freedom as the foundation of higher education,” said Anurima Bhargava, one of the alumni behind the letter. “Harvard reminds the world that learning, innovation and transformative growth will not succumb to bullying and authoritarian whimsicality.” This has also sparked protests from members of Harvard community and Cambridge residents, challenging on Friday in a lawsuit by the American Association of University Professors.
The plaintiff argued in his lawsuit that the Trump administration failed to follow the steps required in Chapter 6 before starting to cut funds and notified the cuts to universities and Congress. “These comprehensive and uncertain requirements are not remedies for reasons for the decision not to comply with federal law. Instead, they openly seek to impose political views and policy preferences at Harvard University proposed by the Trump administration and promised the university to punish dispersed rhetoric,” the plaintiff wrote.
