Trump administration to examine billions of federal funds at Harvard | News

Updated on March 31, 2025 at 5:25 p.m.

Three federal agencies announced an examination of more than $ 8 billion in “multi -year subsidies commitments” to Harvard as part of an underway investigation into the university by the federal working group to combat anti -Semitism on Monday.

The examination – which was launched by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and Social Services, and the United States General Services Administration – marks a drastic climb in the threats of the Trump administration against Harvard for his response to pro -Palestine demonstrations and the anti -Semitism of the campus.

The exam also includes more than $ 255 million in contracts.

This comes from weeks after the Trump administration has carried out more than $ 400 million in federal funding at the University of Columbia, demanding in exchange that Columbia changes disciplinary policies and put its study programs in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia under administrative control.

Columbia finally gave in to numerous requests – but the exchange led to a massive national reaction and the abrupt eviction of the university’s acting president. Harvard, faced with an unprecedented threat to his operations, could be forced to decide how much he is willing to concede in order to preserve his federal funding.

The public announcement of the examination in Harvard funds has not described specific requests, but linked to a document describing the conditions published in Columbia.

“Harvard’s incapacity to protect students from the campus against anti -Semitic discrimination – while promoting division ideologies in relation to a free survey – has put its reputation in serious danger,” wrote education secretary Linda McMahon in the press release.

Only four days before the Trump administration withdrew $ 400 million in federal funding, Columbia received a letter – similar to that of Harvard – saying that his federal subsidies and contracts were being examined. It is not known if the financing cuts will follow in the case of Harvard.

Under the examination, the Trump administration will examine individual contracts to determine if the work orders at arrest should be issued. The university should also provide the White House with a list of federal contracts not included in the initial examination.

A university spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

“We could not carry out our mission as we do now without substantial federal support for research, and we could not provide the advantages of the nation that we now do without this support,” Garber said in a December interview with The Crimson.

Harvard has spent months stored for an unstable political future and potentially massive losses for its funding – especially after the Trump administration has repeatedly threatened research funding. Harvard president Alan Mr. Garber ’76 announced a freezing of university recruitments in early March, and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences published budget councils in February urging SAF leaders to continue to spend flat during the year 2026.

But Monday’s examination Place Harvard squarely in the reticulus of more targeted threats.

In Columbia, interim president Katrina Armstrong, capitulated the Trump administration’s requests within two weeks. But after Armstrong seemed to minimize the extent of Columbia concessions at a teaching school meeting – perhaps to pacify an indignant teacher – she suddenly left her seat, who was filled by one of the school administrators.

The crisis In Columbia, illustrates that he, elsewhere, the university’s tops have chosen to trade in politics concessions to have a chance of Clémence.

But movements similar to Harvard could ignite the reactions among the teachers who consider them to compromise his academic independence. In an extraordinary unit demonstration, more than 600 Harvard teachers have signed a letter urging the University’s boards of directors to “refuse to comply with illegal requirements that threaten academic freedom and university self-government”.

The federal working group on anti -Semitism – which is investigating nine other schools, including Columbia – plans to visit the Harvard campus but has not yet announced a date.

—The DHRUV screenwriter T. Patel can be contacted at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on x @dhruvtkpatel.

—The Staff writer, Grace E. Yoon, can be contacted at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow it on x @graceunkyoon.