OAN Staff James Meyers
11:05 AM – Monday, April 21, 2025
President Donald Trump is reportedly planning to pull another billion dollars in funding from Harvard University, only a week after freezing $2.2 billion in multi-year federal grants over the university’s refusal to make changes to stop antisemitism and admission policies.
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The latest punishment comes after Harvard released a lengthy list of demands from the Trump administration that White House officials had thought would remain private, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Trump officials were planning to treat Harvard more leniently than Columbia University, but changed course after the school’s president publicized the letter’s contents, including requirements that Harvard allow federal government oversight of admissions as well as the hiring and the ideology of students and staff, according to the report.
Harvard President Alan Garber addressed the letter from Trump’s new Task Force to Combat antisemitism, citing the requests made clear that “the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner,” according to the Journal.
“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,” Garber wrote, adding that the university had taken extensive reforms to address antisemitism.
“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 continued.
“The work of addressing our shortcomings, fulfilling our commitments, and embodying our values is ours to define and undertake as a community.”
Harvard’s release of the Trump administration’s letter detailing demands, along with Harvard’s announcement that it plans to fight, deepened the stand off and caused the Trump administration to pause $2.26 billion in funding.
Additionally, the White House threatened Harvard’s tax-exempt status and ability to enroll international students, which could possibly drain billions of dollars from the school.
In March, Harvard reached out to the Trump administration to try to avoid confrontation, but after back-and-forth talks, the university felt the demands were far more intrusive than it could accept.
According to multiple sources, the April 11th letter was expected to be the final offer from the university. Harvard officials stated that the letter wasn’t marked private, but task force members claimed they made it clear they wanted those discussions to remain out of the public eye.
Individuals familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal that as escalations continued, Trump officials were under the impression that Harvard never intended to negotiate.
The demands were also released a day earlier than intended, but a White House spokesperson insisted its contents were not an error.
“Instead of grandstanding, Harvard should focus on rebuilding confidence among all students, particularly Jewish students,” the spokesman said. “The White House remains open to dialogue, but serious changes are needed at Harvard.”
Garber also claimed that even though some of Trump’s demands addressed antisemitism, most would represent “direct governmental regulation.”
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