WASHINGTON – Harvard University has become the last target of the Trump administration approach to combat campus anti -Semitism, with the announcement of a new “complete review” which could compromise billions of dollars for Ivy League College.
A working group on federal anti -Semitism examines more than $ 255 million in contracts between Harvard and the federal government to ensure that the school respects civil rights laws, the administration announced on Monday. The government will also examine $ 8.7 billion in granting commitments to Harvard and its affiliated companies.
The same working group has reduced $ 400 million from Columbia University and threatened to reduce billions more if it refused a list of requests from President Donald Trump. Columbia has accepted many changes this month, attracting praise of certain Jewish groups and condemning groups of freedom of expression, which see it as an astonishing intrusion by the federal government.
Find out more: Columbia University sees a drop in requests – and some admitted reconsiderating registration
Dozens of other universities have been put forward by the Trump administration that they could face similar treatment on anti -Semitism allegations. The federal government is a major income supplier for American universities thanks to subsidies for scientific research.
The Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon, said that Harvard symbolizes the American dream, but endangered his reputation by “promoting division ideologies in relation to a free survey” and by not protecting students from anti -Semitism.
“Harvard can repair these wrongs and eat on a campus dedicated to academic excellence and the search for truth, where all students feel safe on his campus,” McMahon said in a statement.
Harvard president Alan Garber admitted that anti -Semitism even exists on his campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, but he said that Harvard had done a lot to fight him.
“In the past fifteen months, we have devoted considerable efforts to the fight against anti -Semitism,” Garber said in a statement. “We have strengthened our rules and our approach to discipline those who violate them.”
Harvard will ensure that the government has a full account of the work of the university, said Garber. If federal funding is drawn, he added, it “will stop vital research and jeopardize important scientific research and innovation”.
The Elite University is part of more than 100 colleges and school systems facing investigations for anti -Semitism or Islamophobia after an attack on Hamas on October 7, 2023 against Israel. The Trump administration has promised a more difficult action than its predecessor, appointing anti -Semitism as the absolute priority for civil rights surveys.
Find out more: Surveys at Columbia University come up against concerns about freedom of expression on campus
The announcement on Monday did not say if the government had made specific Harvard requests. The Department of Education, the Department of Health and Social Services and the US General Services Administration examine its contracts and subsidies.
These agencies will determine whether the work stopping orders should be issued for certain contracts between Harvard and the federal government, the government said. The working group also orders Harvard to submit a list of all contracts with the federal government, both directly with the school or through its affiliates.
“The working group will continue its efforts to eliminate anti-Semitism and to refocus our higher education institutions on the fundamental values underlying a liberal education,” said Sean Keveney, Acting General Councilor for Health and Social Services. “We are happy that Harvard is ready to engage with us on these objectives.”
Some of the country’s most prestigious colleges faced an extraordinary Republican examination at the Congress following a wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations that started in Columbia and spread across the country last year. The presidents of several Ivy League schools were called before the Congress for allegations according to which they allowed anti -Semitism to transmit themselves.
The hearings of Capitol Hill contributed to the resignation of the presidents to Harvard, Columbia and Penn. The acting president who took over in Columbia, Katrina Armstrong, resigned last week after the school accepted government requests.
Trump and other officials accused demonstrators of being “pro-Hamas”. Activist students say they oppose the military activity of Israel in Gaza.
Instead of going through a long process that allows the education department to reduce the financing of schools which violate civil rights laws, the Trump administration has found a rapid lever effect by drawing contracts and subsidies. Tactics are challenged in a federal trial brought by the American Association of University Professors and the American teachers’ federation.
—The Holly Ramer has contributed to Concord reports, New Hampshire.
