The White House has halted more than $2.2 billion in multi-year federal grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University following ongoing tensions over the school’s handling of antisemitism and admissions practices. The administration alleges the university failed to address issues stemming from pro-Hamas and anti-Israel campus protests.
As part of a broader investigation by the White House’s Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, Harvard was instructed to take action against masked protestors and revise its admissions criteria to focus more on merit than race.
Harvard’s interim president, Alan Garber, publicly rejected these demands, defending the university’s autonomy and framing the administration’s actions as violations of First Amendment rights. “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,” he stated.
The move to freeze federal funding is part of a broader push by the Trump administration to reevaluate how taxpayer dollars are distributed to academic institutions, particularly those perceived as ideologically biased or uncooperative with government directives.
With the possibility of up to $9 billion in total funding now at risk, Harvard is facing mounting pressure to either comply with the White House’s demands or endure long-term budgetary consequences. Supporters of the freeze argue that elite universities have enjoyed federal subsidies for too long without sufficient accountability.
Critics, meanwhile, worry the move sets a dangerous precedent for politicized interference in higher education and threatens the independence of academic institutions.
This funding freeze illustrates a larger national debate about whether institutions receiving taxpayer support should be held to higher standards of neutrality, transparency, and civic responsibility, especially in moments of social unrest.
