Trump freezes $2bn Harvard University funds after rejecting president’s demands

United States President Donald Trump’s administration has frozen more than $2 billion in grants to Harvard University.

The United States government declared this on Monday night, after the university said it would not accept Trump administration demands that included auditing viewpoints of the student body.

The administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism announced the cuts in a statement that called out “the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges.”

It said that $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million “in multi-year contract value” would be frozen to the Ivy League university.

Earlier on Monday, Harvard rejected the administration’s demands.

Harvard said on its X account: “The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.

“Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.”

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In an email to the Harvard community, President Alan M. Garber said the university received “an updated and expanded list of demands” from the White House administration, warning it to comply if it would like to “maintain financial relationship with the federal government.”

The 10 demands, which the administration says are aimed at addressing antisemitism on campus, include restricting the acceptance of international students who are “hostile to the American values and institutions.”

The administration also wants a third party to audit programs that it says “fuel antisemitic harassment or reflect ideological capture.”

The administration also demanded the immediate shuttering of all diversity, equity and inclusion programs and initiatives, including in hiring and admissions. It asked Harvard to exchange them for “merit-based” policies.

Garber called the demands “unprecedented,” denouncing them as an attempt “to control the Harvard community” by policing the viewpoints of students, faculty and staff members, NBC News reported.

The university informed the Trump administration through legal counsel that it would not accept the terms.

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