Trump freezes $2B in Harvard grants and the freakout begins

Harvard University is getting a priceless lesson in cause and effect after President Donald Trump’s administration froze $2.2 billion in grants.

The administration had previously set out a list of conditions Harvard would have to meet in order to continue to qualify for federal grants, including the elimination of DEI initiatives as well as screening incoming foreign students for potentially being “supportive of terrorism and anti-Semitism.” Harvard has blatantly refused to comply with these demands, which puts a total of $9 billion in federal money at risk.

On Monday, the administration officially put the money on ice after Harvard President Alan Garber wrote a statement saying that the university “will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”

“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.’ 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,” he wrote.

“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,” the statement continues.

Garber also listed several ways in which the school was attempting to tackle antisemitism:

• nurture a thriving culture of open inquiry on our campus; develop the tools, skills, and practices needed to engage constructively with one another; and broaden the intellectual and viewpoint diversity within our community;
• affirm the rights and responsibilities we share; respect free speech and dissent while also ensuring that protest occurs in a time, place, and manner that does not interfere with teaching, learning, and research; and enhance the consistency and fairness of disciplinary processes; and
• work together to find ways, consistent with law, to foster and support a vibrant community that exemplifies, respects, and embraces difference. As we do, we will also continue to comply with Students For Fair Admissions v. Harvard, which ruled that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act makes it unlawful for universities to make decisions “on the basis of race.”

“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,” he ends the letter. “The work of addressing our shortcomings, fulfilling our commitments, and embodying our values is ours to define and undertake as a community. 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.”

In a letter on Monday, lawyers for the university reiterated the refusal to comply with the administration’s conditions.

“Harvard remains open to dialogue about what the university has done, and is planning to do, to improve the experience of every member of its community,” they claimed. “But Harvard is not prepared to agree to demands that go beyond the lawful authority of this or any administration.”

Writer/Columnist

Sierra Marlee is a millennial whose hunger for the truth in a world of fake news has led her to BizPac Review.

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