Trump administration issues demands on Harvard as conditions for billions in federal money
Some alumni want Harvard to resist Trump administration demands the university must meet to receive $9 billion in federal grants and contracts being threatened during an investigation into campus antisemitism
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has issued a list of demands Harvard University must meet as a condition for receiving almost $9 billion in grants and contracts, federal money that is being threatened during an investigation into campus antisemitism.
In a letter to Harvard's president on Thursday, three federal agencies outlined demands described as necessary for a “continued financial relationship” with the government. It's similar to a demand letter that prompted changes at Columbia University under the threat of billions of dollars in cuts.
Some alumni and faculty members implored Harvard to push back, decrying the government intervention as an attack on academic freedom.
The government’s letter is a “dominance test,” not an effort to fight antisemitism, said Kirsten Weld, a Harvard history professor and president of the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors.
“If Harvard, the wealthiest university on the planet, accedes to these demands, the task force won’t go away — it will simply return with additional demands, just like a schoolyard bully,” Weld said in a statement. “Harvard must contest this patently unlawful attack in the courts.”
Harvard is the fifth Ivy League school targeted in a pressure campaign by the administration, which also has paused federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, and Princeton to force compliance with its agenda.
The letter describes Harvard's federal money as a taxpayer investment that's based on performance. Harvard has “fundamentally failed to protect American students and faculty from antisemitic violence and harassment” and must take immediate action to keep its funding, the letter said.
Harvard did not comment beyond confirming it got the letter.
The letter calls for a ban on face masks, a demand that was also made at Columbia and targets pro-Palestinian protesters who have sometimes worn masks to hide their identities. Harvard also must clarify its campus speech policies that limit the time, place and manner of protests and other activities.
Academic departments at Harvard that "fuel antisemitic harassment” must be reviewed and changed to address bias and improve viewpoint diversity, the letter said. It does not single out any campus department or order a change in leadership, as Trump administration officials did for Columbia's Middle East studies department.
The demands are generally less prescriptive than the Columbia ultimatum, mostly calling for broad changes focused on “lasting, structural reforms,” the letter said. It also provides no deadline, while Columbia was given about a week to comply.
In a letter to university leaders Thursday, a group of alumni said Harvard should “legally contest and refuse to comply with unlawful demands that threaten academic freedom and university self-governance."
“It's a time for courage, not capitulation,” said Anurima Bhargava, one of the alumni behind the letter. “This is an unlawful attack and an attempt to coerce Harvard by threatening the very lifeblood of the institution, which is its researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs and scholars.”
Some others supported the move. Alexander “Shabbos” Kestenbaum, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School who is suing the university over campus antisemitism, said Trump's Republican administration is right to threaten the money.
“In the same way that the federal government threatened to withhold funds from racist school districts that refused to integrate, the power of the purse is the last tool available to coerce Harvard to treat all its students with equality and justice,” Kestenbaum wrote in an opinion piece for The Crimson student newspaper.
In a separate investigation of campus antisemitism, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has subpoenaed the University of California for the employment status and contact information of hundreds of faculty members who signed two open letters. One in October 2023 condemned the Hamas attack on Israel and also expressed sympathy for the people in Gaza, and another in May 2024 expressed concern over the safety of Jewish students during campus protests.
Severin Borenstein, a professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business who signed the first letter, said Friday he believes the Trump administration is looking to interview signatories who experienced antisemitism.
“I think this is just part of the Trump administration using antisemitism as a smokescreen to attack higher education,” said Borenstein, who is Jewish, “so it makes me pretty unhappy.”
Some demands in the Harvard letter align with Trump’s political agenda but appear less directly connected to the investigation on antisemitism.
It includes orders to adopt “merit-based” admissions and hiring policies and to remove any preferences based on race, religion, sex or other characteristics. Harvard also must work to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs that teach students and faculty to “make snap judgments about each other based on crude race and identity stereotypes,” the letter said.
The letter separately says Harvard must comply with a federal law requiring the disclosure of foreign gifts and contracts, a priority of some Republicans in Congress who have raised concerns about Chinese influence at U.S. schools.
It was sent by officials at the General Services Administration, the Education Department and the Health and Human Services Department.
Federal officials notified Harvard on Monday that the university faces a review to determine its eligibility to receive $255 million in contracts and more than $8 billion in grants.
Harvard President Alan Garber responded with a campus message saying the school had “devoted considerable effort to addressing antisemitism” and would provide a full accounting to the government.
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Associated Press reporters Michael Casey in Boston and Janie Har in San Francisco contributed to this report.
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