Harvard won’t comply with Trump admin’s demands amid threats of cutting federal funding

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Trump admin to review billions in funding for Harvard University

Fox News correspondent CB Cotton reports on the Trump administration’s decision to review federal funding for Harvard University over claims of antisemitism on campus.

Harvard University’s top official told members of the community that the Massachusetts-based school will not comply with the Trump administration’s demands, despite risking the loss of grants and contracts to conduct research on "groundbreaking innovations."

Harvard President Alan M. Garber sent a defiant letter to members of the university community on Monday, saying "no government… should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and areas of study and inquiry they can pursue."

"For three-quarters of a century, the federal government has awarded grants and contracts to Harvard and other universities to help pay for work that, along with investments by the universities themselves, has led to groundbreaking innovations across a wide range of medical, engineering, and scientific fields," Garber wrote. "These innovations have made countless people in our country and throughout the world healthier and safer.

"Over the last several weeks, the federal government has threatened its partnerships with several universities, including Harvard, over accusations of antisemitism on our campuses. These partnerships are among the most productive and beneficial in American history," he continued.

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Harvard University President Alan Garber sent a letter to the school's community saying the school will not comply with the Trump administration's demands amid threats of losing federal funding. (Paul Marotta/Getty Images)

Garber pointed to research the university has conducted, including life-changing advancements like treatments for Alzheimer’s, Parkinsons and diabetes, as well as breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, quantum science, engineering and other areas.

The university president said the federal government was risking not just the health and well-being of millions of individuals by retreating from partnerships with Harvard and other universities, but also the economic security and vitality of the country.

"Late Friday night, the administration issued an updated and expanded list of demands, warning that Harvard must comply if we intend to ‘maintain [our] financial relationship with the federal government,’" Garber wrote. "It makes clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner. Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the ‘intellectual conditions’ at Harvard."

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Harvard faculty and staff hold signs from inside Harvard Yard during a press conference by faculty supporters of the Harvard Out of Palestine coalition outside Harvard Yard.? (John Tlumacki/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

He encouraged the community to read the letter, pointing out that it requires Harvard to "audit" the viewpoints of the student body, staff, and faculty, while also reducing the power of certain students, faculty and administrators due to their ideological views.

"We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement," Garber said. "The University will not negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights. The administration’s prescription goes beyond the power of the federal government. It violates Harvard’s First Amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI. And it threatens our values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge.

"No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue," he added.

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FILE - Students protesting against the war in Gaza, and passersby walking through Harvard Yard, are seen at an encampment at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., on April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

Garber said the university has made it clear that it does not take its moral duty to fight antisemitism lightly.

Over the past 15 months, he said, the university has taken many steps to address antisemitism at Harvard, and it plans to do more.

For instance, he said the university will continue to nurture a thriving culture of open inquiry on campus and broaden the intellectual and viewpoint diversity within the community.

He also said the university will respect free speech and dissent while also ensuring protest occurs in a time, place and manner that does not interfere with teaching, learning and research.

And finally, he said Harvard will work together to find ways, consistent with the law, to foster and support a vibrant community that exemplifies, respects and embraces differences.

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President Donald Trump has suspended federal funding from nearly all Ivy League universities over their failure to address antisemitism on their campuses. (Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

"These ends will not be achieved by assertions of power, unmoored from the law, to control teaching and learning at Harvard and to dictate how we operate. The work of addressing our shortcomings, fulfilling our commitments, and embodying our values is ours to define and undertake as a community," Garber wrote. "Freedom of thought and inquiry, along with the government’s longstanding commitment to respect and protect it, has enabled universities to contribute in vital ways to a free society and to healthier, more prosperous lives for people everywhere. All of us share a stake in safeguarding that freedom. We proceed now, as always, with the conviction that the fearless and unfettered pursuit of truth liberates humanity—and with faith in the enduring promise that America’s colleges and universities hold for our country and our world."

President Donald Trump has suspended federal funding to every Ivy League, besides Penn and Dartmouth, over investigations into anti-Israel protests that have taken place on their campuses since October 2023. Funding for dozens of other universities has also been impacted by investigations for the same reason.

Columbia University, which had more than $400 million in federal funding taken away, was the first Ivy League to lose money over its failure to make Jewish students feel safe on campus. The university caved to demands from the Trump administration late last month in hopes of restoring the funding. 

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Earlier this month, a federal antisemitism task force announced a review of Harvard's federal grants and contracts, worth nearly $9 billion, as the university faces an investigation into campus antisemitism. 

The Trump administration has promised to be more aggressive in ending campus antisemitism after saying President Joe Biden did not hold universities accountable for their violent protests.

The administration has also made moves to detain and deport foreign students who participated in or orchestrated anti-Israel protests at American universities.

Fox News Digital’s Elizabeth Pritchett and The Associated Press contributed to this report.