The Trump administration said on Monday that it was reviewing roughly $9 billion in federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard, claiming that the school had allowed antisemitism to run unchecked on its campus.
In a statement on Monday, the administration said that it was examining about $256 million in contracts, as well as another $8.7 billion in what it described as “multiyear grant commitments.”
“While Harvard’s recent actions to curb institutionalized antisemitism — though long overdue — are welcome, there is much more that the university must do to retain the privilege of receiving federal taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars,” Josh Gruenbaum, a senior official at the General Services Administration, said in a statement.
“This administration has proven that we will take swift action to hold institutions accountable if they allow antisemitism to fester,” he added. “We will not hesitate to act if Harvard fails to do so.”
Alan M. Garber, Harvard’s president, was not immediately available for comment. But he has previously emphasized the importance of federal money to the university’s operation.
“We could not carry out our mission the way we do now without substantial federal research support, nor could we provide the benefits to the nation that we do now without that support,” Dr. Garber said in a December interview with The Harvard Crimson, the campus newspaper.
The threatened action against Harvard followed a decision, made public on March 7, to cut about $400 million in funding for Columbia “due to the school’s continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” Desperate to restart the funding, Columbia agreed two weeks later to comply with preconditions demanded by the administration, a step toward regaining the money.
Harvard and Columbia were among the 10 universities that a federal task force said in February it was reviewing because of possible antisemitic activity on campuses.
Soon after, Harvard said it was placing a freeze on staff and faculty hiring, given the uncertain environment.
Even so, the university, which has an endowment fund of more than $50 billion, said it was increasing its financial aid package for students. Under the new plan, students whose families have income of $200,000 and under are eligible for free tuition, placing Harvard among the nation’s most generous schools.
The administration’s attack on universities has profound implications for the First Amendment and the government’s power to police protests, even when they occur on private campuses. There are also likely to be enormous economic and academic repercussions.
Although private philanthropy is important, federal funding has long been the lifeblood of American academic research, and university leaders have warned that few schools can continue marshaling the financial firepower for projects if Washington stops helping with the bills. Shutdowns, even temporary ones, of research programs could lead to new layoffs and hiring freezes that could trickle through local economies.
But the administration came to power in January bristling with rage toward the most elite realms of American higher education. As candidates, President Trump depicted top schools as overrun by “Marxists, maniacs and lunatics” and Vice President JD Vance derided them as “insane.” (Mr. Trump and Mr. Vance both hold degrees from Ivy League universities.)
And Mr. Trump himself subsequently vowed on social media that “All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests.”
Other schools targeted by the antisemitism task force were George Washington University; Johns Hopkins University; New York University; Northwestern University; the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Minnesota; and the University of Southern California.
Columbia’s acquiescence without a court fight was widely seen as something akin to a permission slip for the federal government to go after other universities. Campus leaders across the country have been preparing for bitter disputes with Washington, which finances most university research in the United States and plays an essential role in the student financial aid system.
In the wake of the agreement with the Trump administration, Katrina Armstrong, Columbia’s acting president, relinquished her post.
Although much of the administration’s focus has been on what it sees as endemic antisemitism on American campuses, it also paused about $175 million in funding for the University of Pennsylvania because it had allowed a transgender woman onto its women’s swim team in 2022.
Alan Blinder is a national correspondent for The Times, covering education. More about Alan Blinder
Stephanie Saul reports on colleges and universities, with a recent focus on the dramatic changes in college admissions and the debate around diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education. More about Stephanie Saul
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