By Michael C. Bender
The Trump administration urged federal agencies this week to find other universities to fill government contracts now held by Harvard. Every week seems to bring another escalation in the conflict between the school and the government, which says Harvard’s professors are biased, its Jewish students are unsafe and its officials use “diversity” to admit “woke” applicants.
Americans have fought for centuries over what students are taught. But the Trump administration has a new approach: It is using the government’s power to compel compliance with its views. Can a president determine what universities teach, whom they employ, how they admit people and what government largess they deserve as a result?
More than 2,600 four-year colleges are watching closely to find out. For them, the implications are clear. Harvard has sued the administration, but if the government wins in court, the commander in chief can impose a political agenda on colleges and universities. He or she could use roughly $60 billion in research money to ensure that administrators do what they’re told.
The White House says it wants to send a message. It cites concerns from Jews on campus who said they were harassed during protests over the Gaza war. It says Harvard’s hiring and admissions discriminate against conservatives, especially white men with traditional views about gender. It says it wants to protect civil rights and free speech.
But university officials say the administration’s approach is a threat to academic freedom — and an attack on some of the longest-held tenets of American culture. College campuses incubate new ideas because they welcome experimentation and novelty. Attracting high-caliber students from all over the world has been one of the greatest sources of the nation’s academic, economic and scientific strength for more than a century.
What levers has the Trump administration pulled to bring Harvard into line? I’ve been tracking them. In April, the administration sent a demand letter telling the school to meet 10 requirements that went far beyond concerns about antisemitism or diversity policies. The government wanted curriculum changes; a ban on admitting students “hostile to the American values”; and an audit to verify the school had “viewpoint diversity.” Harvard said it wouldn’t comply.
Funding cuts and freezes
- The administration cut $2.2 billion in multiyear research grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard, mostly from the National Institutes of Health.
- It froze roughly 500 N.I.H. grants for Harvard-affiliated institutions, such as Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston.
- It disqualified Harvard from future federal grants.
- The administration terminated grants worth $450 million from eight federal agencies, saying the school was a “breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination.” It did not identify the agencies involved.
- The Centers for Disease Control ended $60 million in grants.
- The White House urged all federal agencies to cancel any remaining contracts with Harvard — worth an estimated $100 million.
Investigations
- After medical school graduates wore buttons or scarves in support of Palestine, the Health and Human Services Department said it would investigate. Later, the agency said it would expand its inquiry to include all activities at Harvard since Oct. 7, 2023, the date of the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in Israel.
- Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, requested detailed records about the student body. When Harvard resisted, she ended Harvard’s ability to enroll international students. The university quickly sued, and a judge blocked the action.
- The Education Department said the college had submitted “incomplete and inaccurate disclosures” of large foreign donations. It is legal for colleges to take such money, and Harvard says it has submitted accurate disclosures required by law.
- Separate agencies are reviewing the use of racial preferences at the student-run Harvard Law Review and in Harvard’s hiring. The government noted a rise in faculty who are scholars of color, women and those identifying as nonbinary. It also pointed to the decrease of white men in tenure-track jobs.
- The Education Department is investigating whether Harvard uses racial discrimination against undergraduate applicants. A letter informing the school did not refer to any specific concern about its admissions process but asked for a lot of data.
- The Justice Department opened an investigation under the False Claims Act, a law designed to punish those who swindle the government. It did not cite any particular wrongdoing, but the government has said Harvard was not complying with the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision that struck down race-conscious admissions.
Threats from Trump
- In a meeting with his aides, President Trump has asked, “What if we never pay them?” The idea would be to withhold all federal funding from Harvard. About one-third has already been halted. Linda McMahon, the education secretary, said in an interview this month that canceling the rest was a possibility.
- Trump posted online that his administration would revoke the university’s tax-exempt status. “It’s what they deserve!” he added. It’s unclear whether the I.R.S. will try to do so.
