Harvard will continue to feel Trump’s wrath as it pays out a new tax on endowment investments which Congress imposed on the country’s wealthiest universities in July.

By Dion J. Pierre, The Algemeiner

Harvard University registered a $113 million budget deficit caused chiefly by the Trump administration’s confiscation of much of its federal contracts and grants as punishment for, among other alleged misdeeds, its admitted failure to combat antisemitism on campus, a Harvard report revealed last week.

According to Harvard’s “Financial Report: Fiscal Year 2025,” the university’s spending exceeded the $6.7 billion it amassed from donations, taxpayer support, tuition, and other income sources, such as endowment funds earmarked for operational expenses.

Harvard also suffered a steep deficit in non-restricted donor funds, $212 million, a possible indication that philanthropists now hesitate to write America’s oldest university a blank check due to its inveterate generating of negative publicity — prompted by such episodes as the institution’s botching the appointment of its first Black president by conferring the honor to a plagiarist and its failing repeatedly to quell antisemitic discrimination and harassment.

Despite the 2025 fiscal year deficit, the total value of Harvard’s endowment grew by 11.9 percent to $56.9 billion, according to the report.

However, school officials noted the challenge that federal pressure has presented to its financial situation.

“Even by the standards of our centuries-long history, fiscal year 2025 was extraordinarily challenging, with political and economic disruption affecting many sectors, including higher education,” Harvard president Alan Garber said in a statement.

“We continue to adapt to uncertainty and threats to sources of revenue that have sustained our work for many years. We have intensified our efforts to expand our sources of funding.”

US President Donald Trump’s abrupt cancellation of taxpayer funds awarded to Harvard maimed the university as well, dropping its federal sponsored revenue by 8 percent to $629 million and incinerating exorbitant dollar amounts from Harvard’s portfolio.

Speaking to The Harvard Gazette on Thursday, Harvard’s chief financial officer Ritu Kalra pointed to “$116 million in sponsored funds — which are reimbursements for costs the university has already incurred” that “disappeared almost overnight” when Trump penalized Harvard in April.

Harvard will continue to feel Trump’s wrath as it pays out a new tax on endowment investments which Congress imposed on the country’s wealthiest universities in July.

Liability could be as high as $368.2 million, climbing to $454.8 million by 2030, according to an analysis conducted by American Enterprise Institute (AEI) researchers Mark Schneider and Christopher Robinson.

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, in April, Trump ordered the expropriation of $2.26 billion in Harvard’s federal funds after the institution refused to agree to a wishlist of policy reforms that Republican lawmakers said would make higher education more meritocratic and less welcoming to anti-Zionists and far-left extremists.

Contained in a letter the administration sent to Garber — who subsequently released it to the public — the policies called for “viewpoint diversity in hiring and admissions,” the “discontinuation of [diversity, equity, and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives],” and “reducing forms of governance bloat.”

They also implored Harvard to begin “reforming programs with egregious records of antisemitism” and to recalibrate its approach to “student discipline.”

Harvard refused the president his wishes even after losing the money and took the issue to federal court.

Meanwhile, it built a financial war chest, leveraging its GDP-sized assets to issue over $1 billion dollars in new debt and drawing on its substantial cash reserves to keep the lights on.

Eventually, it overcame the administration in the first stage of litigation, securing from a judge appointed by former US President Barack Obama restitution of some of the funds the administration impounded — but the nine-figure sum it lost in the process has led to its largest budget deficit since the Covid-19 pandemic, according to The Harvard Crimson.

“We are also examining operations at every level of the university as we seek greater adaptability and efficiency,” Garber said in Thursday’s statement.

“In parallel, we continue to ensure that our academic environment nurtures excellence in all of our endeavors. We are promoting open inquiry, constructive dialogue, and viewpoint diversity, and pursuing our priorities with the resolve that the times demand.”

In additional commentary contributed to the report, Harvard treasury officials Timothy Barakett and Ritu Kalra said, “All of these developments have raised new questions about the financial foundations of higher education and underscore a shifting federal policy environment that will shape the future.”

They also said that the “this result could have been much worse,” adding, “it reflects not only the magnitude of the disruption, but also the discipline of a university community that acted quickly and with resolve.”

More disruptions are forthcoming, as Harvard may have to fight again for its taxpayer funds before a US Supreme Court with which it lost a historic case that ended racial preferences in admissions, a policy once popularly known as “affirmative action,” because the court found Harvard’s own imposition of the practice on applicants resulted in widespread discrimination against Asian Americans.

Furthermore, Harvard remains under investigation over its handling of campus antisemitism.

The US House Committee on Education and the Workforce wrote to Garber last month asking the university to comply with requests for internal communications regarding discrimination complaints filed by Jewish students.

The committee said it is especially interested in documents related to an October 2023 incident in which two anti-Zionists activists, joined by a mob, assaulted a Jewish graduate student while screaming “Shame!” at him as he struggled to free himself.

“Obtaining the documents will aid the committee in considering whether potential legislative changes, including legislation to specifically address antisemitic discrimination, are needed,” said the letter, authored by the committee’s chairman, Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI), and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY).

“Harvard does not appear to have disciplined — and instead has rewarded — two students who assaulted an Israeli Jewish student who was filming a ‘die-in’ protest on Oct. 18, 2023.”

Walberg and Stefanik also demanded confirmation of Harvard’s decision to pause a partnership with Birzeit University.

The Harvard-Birzeit partnership was put into abeyance following an internal investigation of Harvard’s François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights (FXB), the institution directly affiliated with Birzeit.

It is not clear what ultimately caused Harvard to discontinue the arrangement, but it is a move for which prominent members of the Harvard community and federal lawmakers have clamored before.

“As you know, postsecondary institutions that receive federal funds must maintain a safe learning environment and fulfill all obligations under Title VI and its accompanying regulations,” they continued.

“This includes the obligation to promptly address discrimination, including harassment that creates a hostile environment, wherever such circumstances may be found to exist.”

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It has already resorted to borrowing, having placed over $1 billion in bonds on the market since April.

By Dion J. Pierre, The Algemeiner

Cornell University is taking a cleaver to its budget amid what it described as a “contraction” in government funding caused by the Trump administration’s impounding $1 billion previously awarded to it via research grants and federal contracts as punishment for its alleged nonresponse to campus antisemitism.

“Urgent action is necessary, both to reduce costs immediately and to correct our course over time — achieving an institutional structure that enables us to balance our budgets over the long term,” Cornell president Michael Kotlikoff wrote in a letter to the campus community.

“Our work toward this goal will progress in several phases, beginning with immediate budget reductions already underway for the current fiscal year across our Ithaca, Cornell AgriTech, Weill Cornell Medicine, and Cornell Tech campuses.”

He continued, “Hiring on all campuses remains restricted indefinitely, with rare exceptions from campus-based position control committees.”

Cornell announced the cuts even as it inches closer toward a reported $100 million settlement with the federal government to restore the confiscated funds.

It has already resorted to borrowing, having placed over $1 billion in bonds on the market since April — according to Bloomberg — and refused to publicly discuss the decision.

Cornell University has seen a series of disturbing antisemitic incidents since the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre perpetrated by Hamas across southern Israel.

Three weeks after the atrocities which ravaged Israeli communities, now-former student Patrick Dai threatened to commit heinous crimes against members of the school’s Jewish community, including mass murder and rape. He was later sentenced to 21 months in federal prison.

Cornell students also occupied an administrative building and held a “mock trial” in which they convicted then-school president Martha Pollack of complicity in “apartheid” and “genocide against Palestinian civilians.”

Meanwhile, history professor Russell Rickford called Hamas’s barbarity on Oct. 7 “exhilarating” and “energizing” at a pro-Palestinian rally held on campus.

Cornell University and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) sparred all of last academic year, with SJP pushing the limits of what constitutes appropriate conduct on campus.

In September, school officials suspended over a dozen SJP affiliated students who disrupted a career fair, an action which saw them “physically” breach the area by “[pushing] police out of the way.”

In February, the university amnestied some of the protesters, granting them “alternate resolutions” which terminated their suspensions, according to The Cornell Daily Sun.

In January, anti-Zionist agitators at Cornell kicked off the spring semester with an act of vandalism which attacked Israel as an “occupier” and practitioner of “apartheid.”

The students drew a blistering response from Kotlikoff, who said that “acts of violence, extended occupations of buildings, or destruction of property (including graffiti), will not be tolerated and will be subject to immediate public safety response,” but the university has declined to say how it will deal with the matter since identifying at least one of the culprits in February.

Other elite colleges may soon face the same hard choices as Cornell.

Just last week, the US Department of Education began investigating Haverford College over alleged violations of civil rights laws stemming from inadequate responses to antisemitism.

“Like many other institutions of higher education, Haverford College is alleged to have ignored antisemitic harassment on its campus, contravening federal civil rights laws and its own anti-discrimination policies,” acting civil rights secretary Craig Trainor said in a statement.

“The Trump administration will not allow Jewish life to be pushed into the shadows because college leaders are too craven to respond appropriately to unlawful antisemitic incidents on campus.”

Earlier this month, a coalition of leading Jewish civil rights groups called on the higher education establishment to prioritize fighting campus antisemitism during the upcoming academic year, citing an unrelenting wave of anti-Jewish hate that has swept the US in recent years.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Jewish Federations of North America, Hillel International, and the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations issued a joint statement, putting forth a policy framework that they say will quell antisemitism if applied sincerely and consistently.

It included “enhanced communication and policy enforcement,” “dedicated administration oversight,” and “faculty accountability” — an issue of rising importance given the number of faculty accused of inciting discrimination.

“These recommendations aren’t just suggestions; they’re essential steps universities need to take to ensure Jewish students can learn without fear,” ADL chief executive officer Jonathan Greenblatt said in a statement.

“Jewish students are being forced to hide who they are, and that’s unacceptable — we need more administrators to step up.”

As previously reported by The Algemeiner, colleges campus across the US erupted with effusions of antisemitic activity following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, an uprising which included calling for the destruction of Israel, cheering Hamas’s sexual assaulting of women as an instrument of war, and dozens of incidents of assault and harassment targeting Jewish students, faculty, and activists.

At the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), anti-Zionist protesters chanted “Itbah El Yahud” at Bruin Plaza, which means “slaughter the Jews” in Arabic.

At Columbia University, Jews were gang-assaulted, a student proclaimed that Zionist Jews deserve to be murdered and are lucky he is not doing so himself, and administrative officials, outraged at the notion that Jews organized to resist anti-Zionism, participated in a group chat in which each member took turns sharing antisemitic tropes that described Jews as privileged and grafting.

At Harvard University, an October 2023 anti-Israel demonstration degenerated into chaos when Ibrahim Bharmal, former editor of the prestigious Harvard Law Review, and Elom Tettey-Tamaklo encircled a Jewish student with a mob that screamed “Shame! Shame! Shame!” at him while he desperately attempted to free himself from the mass of bodies.

More recently, Eden Deckerhoff — a female student at Florida State University — allegedly assaulted a Jewish male classmate at the Leach Student Recreation Center after noticing his wearing apparel issued by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

“F—k Israel, Free Palestine. Put it [the video] on Barstool FSU. I really don’t give a f—k,” the woman said before shoving the man, according to video taken by the victim. “You’re an ignorant son of a b—h.” Deckerhoff has since been charged with misdemeanor battery.

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In recent months, the ministry reviewed 119 applications, representing a total requested investment of approximately $446 million.

By Amelie Botbol, JNS

The Israeli Ministry of Tourism will allocate approximately 230 million shekels ($64 million) to 55 tourism projects across the country. This will include $6 million in Judea and Samaria, the highest budget for the region in the last five years, and $18 million in the country’s north.

“On assuming my role as tourism minister, I decided to increase investment in the Judea and Samaria region, the biblical heartland of Israel, with its rich history, stunning landscapes and natural beauty,” Tourism Minister Haim Katz told JNS on Tuesday.

“Judea and Samaria are a magnet for Jewish and Christian tourists alike. With this significant financial investment in tourism projects in the region, the Tourism Ministry is working to improve the visitor experience, to make history accessible and increase the lodging options in the area,” he continued.

“As we work toward the ‘day after [the war],’ we are focusing our attention on the faith-based market, which continues to prove loyal to Israel. We invite you to show your support for Israel by planning your next visit within the coming year,” Katz said.

The ministry’s allocation is part of a total investment of approximately $114 million in the approved projects, which include an ecological promenade in Kibbutz Kfar Aza, laser shows at the marina in Eilat and the citadel in the Knights’ Halls in Acre, and a walk-on-water experience in Kibbutz Ginosar on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee.

In Judea and Samaria, projects include accessibility improvements at the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron, the establishment of an archaeological park in Beit El in the Binyamin region, and the creation of a Psalms Trail segment and park project in Mount Hebron.

“We have distributed the investment across the country,” said Ministry of Tourism Director-General Dani Shahar.

Ninety-eight local authorities responded to the ministry’s invitation to submit requests for funding. In recent months, the ministry reviewed 119 applications, representing a total requested investment of approximately $446 million.

“The ministry evaluated the projects based on criteria such as potential to attract visitors from Israel and overseas, proximity to existing or planned accommodations, alignment with ministry and government policies, local authority’s ability to maintain the project, maintenance complexity, and diversification or enhancement of the tourism product,” Shahar said.

“The infrastructures we are creating will offer an unforgettable visitor experience in every place.”

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