Education Secretary Linda McMahon sent a letter to Harvard on Monday telling the university it will no longer be eligible for new research grants from the government as it and the Trump administration do battle on multiple fronts.
The Ivy League school will no longer be eligible for new grants until it can “demonstrate responsible management,” a senior Education Department official said on a call with reporters.
“It’ll explain that public confidence in higher education as a sector is at an all time low, and that’s really because of all the essential terrible behavior at institutions like Harvard,” the official said.
The pause will only be on new research funding, according to the official, and will not impact other funding such as federal student aid.
McMahon lists four aspects Harvard will have to correct in order to be able to apply for new grants: problems with antisemitism, alleged race-based discrimination happening at the Harvard Law Review, the “abandonment of rigor and academic excellence” and a lack of “viewpoint diversity” on campus.
“The bottom line of the letter is the Trump administration won’t stand by as taxpayer dollars are used to support policies that tolerate antisemitism or that support racist policies,” the senior department official said.
The Hill has reached out to Harvard for a response.
This move is just the latest development in the Trump administration’s fight against Harvard.
The federal government has already opened up investigations into the school’s foreign donations and claims the Harvard Law Review is engaged in race-based discrimination, with one editor reportedly allegedly saying “a piece should be subject to expedited review because the author was a minority.”
President Trump has called for the IRS to revoke the school’s tax-exempt status, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said the department may take away Harvard’s ability to admit foreign students.
The biggest tipping point occurred when Harvard sued the Trump administration after it paused $2 billion in federal funding.
The Trump administration took away the funding after the college refused to cave to its demands to change its admission and hiring practices, along with eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
