(The Center Square) – House Republicans and the federal government are putting more pressure on Harvard University, Republican’s long-criticized symbol of Ivy League liberalism that is now at the center of the battle over antisemitism and DEI on college campuses.
The U.S. Department of Education said Friday it began an investigation into Harvard’s sources of foreign donations, the latest in a string of actions by the Trump administration to pressure Harvard, which has pushed against demands from President Donald Trump.
“As a recipient of federal funding, Harvard University must be transparent about its relations with foreign sources and governments,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. “Unfortunately, our review indicated that Harvard has not been fully transparent or complete in its disclosures, which is both unacceptable and unlawful. This records request is the Trump Administration’s first step to ensure Harvard is not being manipulated by, or doing the bidding of, foreign entities, which include actors who are hostile to the interests of the United States and American students.”
The administration has threatened Harvard’s tax-exempt status if the university does not comply with a list of demands, including eliminating DEI programs, combating antisemitism and increasing “viewpoint diversity.”
Trump said Harvard has “lost its way” and froze $2.2 billion in federal funding.
“Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting “Sickness?” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!”
Harvard President Alan Garber said the administration went too far.
“No government – regardless of which party is in power – should dictate what private universities can teach,” Garber said in a letter posted online.
Though Harvard is a private university, it receives hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funding. Harvard received at least $686 million in federal funding in fiscal year 2024 alone, according to the House Oversight Committee.
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., the chairwoman of House Republican Leadership, announced an investigation this week into Harvard.
“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is conducting oversight of Harvard University’s lack of compliance with civil rights laws despite receiving more than half a billion dollars in federal funds annually,” the lawmakers said in a letter to Garber.
“Harvard’s potentially improper use of federal funds requires this oversight. The Committee requests documents and communications to inform its oversight of this matter, and to determine whether legislation is necessary to ensure that institutions of higher education receiving federal financial assistance are no longer able to violate the law while lucratively benefitting from the generosity of the American people,” the letter continued.
As The Center Square previously reported, the Department of Homeland Security has also applied pressure to Harvard. On Thursday, Secretary Kristi Noem ended two Department of Homeland Security grants totaling $2.7 million. Noem said Harvard is “unfit to be entrusted with taxpayers’ dollars.”
