The Trump administration has said it is freezing more than $2 billion (£1.5 billion) in federal funds for Harvard University, hours after the elite college rejected a list of demands from the White House.
“Harvard’s statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges,” the Department of Education said in a statement.
The White House sent a list of demands to Harvard last week, which it said were designed to fight anti-Semitism on campus. They included changes to its governance, hiring practices, and admission procedures.
Harvard rejected the list and said the White House was trying to “control” its community.
It is the first major US university to defy pressure from the Trump administration to change its policies.
The sweeping changes demanded by the White House would have transformed its operations and ceded a large amount of control to the government.
President Trump has accused leading universities of failing to protect Jewish students when college campuses around the country were rocked by protests against the war in Gaza and US support for Israel last year.
In a letter to the Harvard community on Monday, its President Alan Garber said the White House had sent an “updated and expanded list of demands” on Friday, alongside a warning that the university “must comply” in order to maintain its “financial relationship” with the government.
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“We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement,” he wrote. “The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”
Mr. Garber added that the university did not “take lightly” its obligation to fight anti-Semitism, but said the government was over-reaching.
“Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating anti-Semitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the ‘intellectual conditions’ at Harvard,” he said.
Shortly after his letter was sent, the education department said it was freezing $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard immediately.
“The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable,” it said.
“The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable. It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support,” the statement added.
The White House said in its letter on Friday that Harvard had “in recent years failed to live up to both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment.”
The letter included 10 categories for proposed changes that the White House said were needed in order for Harvard to maintain its “financial relationship with the federal government”.
Some of the changes include reporting students to the federal government who are “hostile” to American values, ensuring each academic department is “viewpoint diverse” and hiring an external government-approved party to audit programmes and departments “that most fuel anti-Semitic harassment.”
The letter orders the university to take disciplinary action for “violations” that happened during protests on campus over the past two years.
It also demands an end to the university’s diversity, equity, and inclusion policies and programmes.
Since taking office, President Trump has put pressure on universities to tackle anti-Semitism and end diversity practices.
