In addition to significant adjustments to the university’s admissions procedures, the Trump administration seeks extensive leadership and governance improvements. Additionally, it requested that the institution cease recognizing some student organizations and conduct an assessment of campus diversity.

Boston: By rejecting a set of broad requests, prestigious US institution Harvard is jeopardizing $60 million in government contracts and $2.2 billion in grants.

which, according to the Trump administration, are meant to combat antisemitism on campuses.

Harvard’s financing has been suspended for the eighth time in a row by President Donald Trump’s administration to compel adherence to his political agenda at one of the country’s most prestigious universities. The Ivy League includes six of the seven universities.

Trump’s administration demanded extensive leadership and governance improvements at Harvard, along with adjustments to the institution’s admissions procedures, in a letter sent to the university last Friday. Additionally, it called for the institution to discontinue recognizing some student organizations and conduct an assessment of campus diversity.

The federal government warned that Harvard’s failure to comply may jeopardize almost $9 billion in grants and contracts. Harvard President Alan Garber said on Monday that the institution will not budge to the demands of the government. Garber wrote to the Harvard community, “The University will not give up its autonomy or its constitutional rights.” “No government should dictate what private universities can teach, who they can admit and hire, or what subjects they can study and research, regardless of which party is in power.” The government halted billions of dollars in Harvard’s federal funds a few hours later.

Columbia was the first institution the Trump administration targeted, and it gave in to the government’s demands when it threatened to eliminate billions of dollars. Federal money for the University of Pennsylvania, Brown, Princeton, Cornell, and Northwestern has also been halted by the administration.

The unprecedented measure of withholding government funds to influence college policy and compel big universities to support the president’s political agenda has become commonplace under Trump’s administration. The government has claimed that during last year’s college demonstrations against Israel’s war in Gaza, institutions let antisemitism continue unchecked. According to Garber, Harvard has already implemented significant antisemitic changes. He said that many of the government’s requests are an effort to control Harvard’s “intellectual conditions” rather than being related to antisemitism.

It “risks not only the health and well-being of millions of individuals but also the economic security and vitality of our nation” to withhold government support from Harvard, one of the leading scientific and medical research institutions in the country. According to Garber, it also goes beyond the government’s jurisdiction under Title VI, which forbids discrimination against students on the basis of race, color, or national origin, and violates the university’s First Amendment rights.