The Trump administration has sent Harvard a list of requests that schools must meet to end the $9 billion government review that they receive in federal funds.
The government released a review earlier this week. This threatened to cancel all or part of the campaign, all or part of what they consider to be unconfirmed anti-Semitism.
The terms follow the playbook the Trump administration used to force Columbia University to force Columbia University to its request after cancelling the school's federal grants and contracts. In both cases, the government urged Harvard University and Columbia to impose a ban with little exemptions on masking.
Palestinian students blurred their identity after many said they were harassed online when personal information was revealed, using masks during protests against the war in Gaza.
The Trump administration has also pressured universities to “account with” student groups and to step up efforts to halt admission practices based on race, color, or country of origin and campus protests.
Harvard is also required to “cooperate fully” with the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Foreign Security.
The Trump administration did not argue that certain academic departments would be placed under external surveillance, also known as “receivership,” as did Columbia, but said Harvard's “programs and departments promoting anti-Semitic harassment must address bias, make the necessary changes to improve perspective diversity and improve audience material capture.”
White House officials said early Thursday that the administration intended to block $510 million in federal contracts and grants to Brown University, the fifth university known to face a potentially disastrous loss of federal funds.
Like many of his Ivy League peers, Brown was a site of conflict over the war in Gaza. But it is also an agreement that came under criticism that it was one of the few universities that made deals with students to end the protest camp in the spring, and was too soft for the students.
A Harvard spokesman confirmed that the university received the letter Thursday but did not make any additional comments. The letter was first reported by Fox News.
A letter from the Trump administration said Harvard University has “fundamentally failed to protect American students and faculty from anti-Semitic violence,” and it hopes for “immediate cooperation in implementing these important reforms.”
“U.S. taxpayers have made significant investments in American universities and universities, including Harvard,” the letter said. “These funds are investments, and like any investment, they are not a matter of habit or rights, but based on the performance of the recipient.”
The letter was signed by Josh Groenbaum, Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Services for the General Services Agency. Sean Keveney, acting advisor to the Department of Health and Human Services. Thomas E. Wheeler, acting advisor to the Ministry of Education.
On Monday, Harvard President Alan Gerber said the university has spent “significant effort” working on anti-Semitism over the past 15 months, adding that there will be more work.
He said Harvard would work with the administration, but warned that cancelling federal funding would “stop life-saving research and put important scientific research and innovation at risk.”
“There are many dangers here,” writes Dr. Gerber. “In our long-standing partnership with the federal government, we have launched and nurtured pass break research that has made countless people healthier, safer, more curious, more knowledgeable, and improved our lives, our communities and our world.”
The administration's crusades against elite institutions of higher education include the creation of a task force on anti-Semitism, targeting ten universities, including Harvard, the world's wealthiest university.
The Trump administration last month announced that it would include a multi-year grant commitment with a group that appears to include several Boston-area hospitals and a group that would include several Boston-area hospitals, and a multi-year grant commitment.
Harvard announced a job freeze in early March, citing the uncertainty created by Trump's threat of continuing to cut funding for higher education, despite both public and private universities across the country being deeply affected by Trump's funding cuts.
Ryan Enos, co-author of the teacher's letter calling on Harvard to oppose government attacks on higher education, said the request of Thursday's message “not a serious policy goal, not an authoritarian terror.” He urged Harvard University to reject them.
Over the next few weeks, the Trump administration announced actions against three more universities. This included a suspension of $175 million in funding for the University of Pennsylvania and a suspension of dozens of grants to Princeton.
Alan Blinder and Vimal Patel Reports of contributions.
