WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s training secretary mentioned on Monday (Could 5) that Harvard will not obtain federal grants, escalating an ongoing battle with the distinguished college because it challenges the funding cuts in court docket.
The Trump administration has for weeks locked horns with Harvard and different increased training establishments over claims they tolerate anti-Semitism on their campuses – threatening their budgets, tax-exempt standing and enrollment of overseas college students.
Training Secretary Linda McMahon, in a letter despatched to Harvard’s president and posted on-line, mentioned that the college “ought to not search GRANTS from the federal authorities, since none will probably be supplied”.
She alleged that Harvard has “didn’t abide by its authorized obligations, its moral and fiduciary duties, its transparency obligations, and any semblance of educational rigour”.
Harvard – routinely ranked among the many world’s high universities – has drawn Trump’s ire by refusing to conform along with his calls for that it settle for authorities oversight of its admissions, hiring practices and political slant.
That prompted the Trump administration to, in mid-April, freeze US$2.3 billion in federal funding, with a complete of US$9 billion below evaluation.
McMahon, a former wrestling govt, mentioned that her letter “marks the tip of latest grants for the College”.
Harvard is the wealthiest US college with an endowment valued at US$53.2 billion in 2024.
The newest transfer comes as Trump and his White Home crack down on US universities on a number of fronts, justified as a response to what they are saying is uncontrolled anti-Semitism and a must reverse variety packages aimed toward addressing historic oppression of minorities.
The administration has threatened funding freezes and different punishments, prompting considerations over declining tutorial freedom.
It has additionally moved to revoke visas and deport foreign students concerned within the protests, accusing them of supporting Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose Oct 7, 2023, assault on Israel provoked the battle.
Trump’s claims about variety faucet into long-standing conservative complaints that US college campuses are too liberal, shutting out right-wing voices and favouring minorities.
