Harvard faces $1 billion in additional cuts as row with US admin deepens

After freezing $2.3 billion in federal funding to Harvard University, the Trump administration is now reportedly preparing to suspend $1 billion in federal research funding to the school.

By World Israel News Staff

The Trump administration is threatening to suspend an additional $1 billion in federal funding for Harvard University, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal daily on Sunday, as tensions continue to rise between the Ivy League college and the White House.

Sunday’s report cited multiple sources familiar with the matter who said that the Trump administration now plans to suspend some $1 billion in funding for Harvard, this time targeting research funding.

Last week, the US Department of Education froze $2.3 billion in federal funding to Harvard after the school’s president, Alan Garber, pushed back on a letter sent by the administration calling on the school to make sweeping reforms amid the ongoing antisemitism controversy.

“Harvard’s statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges – that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws,” a federal antisemitism task force said last Monday.

“The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable. It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support.”

The funding suspension included a freeze on $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in multi-year contracts.

Since then, however, Harvard has made no indication it is willing to accept the Trump administration’s demands that it submit its hiring and admissions policies to federal oversight and cancel all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.

Last Tuesday, the administration threatened to end Harvard’s tax-exempt status.

According to Sunday’s report, the Trump administration had initially planned to take a more lenient approach with Harvard, in comparison with Columbia.

Now, however, administration officials have reportedly resolved to crackdown on Harvard as well.

The Trump administration has also demanded the school ban face masks on campus – noting their use by protesters and vandals to evade identification – and to hand over information on any illegal activities by foreign students, citing the role of foreign students in pro-Hamas agitation on campus since October 7, 2023 Hamas onslaught on Israel.

The Department of Homeland Security has cut tens of millions in funding for Harvard over the issue, with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem threatening to drop Harvard from the federal Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP) – a move that would prevent the school from bringing foreign students.

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