The Trump administration is ramping up pressure on Harvard University, demanding detailed reports on incidents of antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias as it issues a new threat to cut an additional $1 billion in federal funding.
The request is part of a broader effort to scrutinize elite universities and push for changes in how they handle campus speech, diversity programs, and allegations of discrimination.
Officials are reportedly tying the demand for transparency to the potential loss of significant federal research funds, following an earlier freeze on $2.3 billion in grants. Harvard, meanwhile, has pushed back, defending its commitment to academic freedom and its ongoing work to address bias through internal task forces.
The escalating tensions have sparked national debate, with critics warning that the administration’s actions could jeopardize not only scientific research but also the autonomy of academic institutions.
The Trump administration is pressuring Harvard University to turn over all reports related to antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias on campus dating back to October 2023. The demand marks an intensifying clash between the administration and the Ivy League institution, with billions in federal funding potentially on the line. This move is part of a broader effort by the administration to align prominent U.S. universities with its political agenda.
Harvard, seen by many as a symbol of resistance to the Trump administration, has been ordered to hand over all reports—public and private—produced by its task forces addressing antisemitism and anti-Muslim bias on campus. This includes unpublished drafts, according to a letter sent Saturday by the Office for Civil Rights within the Department of Health and Human Services to the university’s leadership.
This move marks the latest development in the Trump administration’s intensifying clash with Harvard over institutional governance and autonomy.
The White House has threatened to freeze more than $2.2 billion in grants and contracts unless the university complies with a series of demands—including the dismantling of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, a ban on masks during campus protests, implementation of merit-based hiring and admissions, and a reduction in the influence of faculty and administrators accused of prioritizing activism over academics.
Meanwhile, the Internal Revenue Service is reportedly exploring the possibility of revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status, and the administration has suggested it may restrict the university’s ability to admit international students.
Other institutions, including Princeton, Cornell, and Northwestern, have also had federal funding paused under similar conditions.
The new $1 billion threat follows Harvard’s release of an April 11 letter from the federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, which demanded unprecedented federal oversight of the university’s admissions, hiring practices, and campus culture. According to sources cited by The Wall Street Journal, Harvard’s decision to go public with the letter further fueled tensions with the White House.
According to The Wall Street Journal, prior to the release of the letter, the Trump administration had reportedly planned to be more lenient with Harvard than it was with Columbia University. However, the public disclosure of the letter prompted officials to escalate pressure on the Ivy League institution. Sources familiar with Harvard’s position said there had been no agreement to keep the letter confidential, and that the administration’s demands—which included federal oversight of admissions, hiring, and even campus ideology—were deemed unacceptable by the university.
In contrast, Columbia University made a series of policy changes last month following President Donald Trump’s move to revoke $400 million in federal funding over campus unrest.
Harvard, however, took a firm stance.
Harvard University has pushed back strongly against the Trump administration’s demands, saying most of them exceed the federal government’s authority and amount to direct interference in the university’s “intellectual conditions” rather than addressing antisemitism, according to university President Alan M. Garber.
The April 11 letter containing those demands, however, may not have been properly authorized.
Harvard, for its part, did not dispute the letter’s legitimacy and noted that the administration has already frozen billions in federal funding as part of its ongoing pressure campaign.
The organization’s CEO and national director voiced concern that the federal government may be exceeding its mandate, potentially using the issue of antisemitism as a pretext to penalize Harvard for broader ideological reasons.
“The challenge of addressing antisemitism on college campuses should be handled based on its own facts and processes,” Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, wrote Friday in an op-ed for the Times of Israel. “While broader conversations about higher education are valid, they should not be conflated with the urgent need to fight antisemitism.”
Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, a Harvard alumna and Democrat, also criticized the Trump administration’s efforts—particularly its threat to strip the university of its nonprofit status. “It’s part of Donald Trump’s ongoing strategy to silence dissent.”
She added, “He’s targeted law firms, corporations, everyday Americans—and now he’s turning his attention to colleges and universities, using every tool at his disposal.”