Harvard has been hit with a $2.2 billion freeze in federal funding, after the United States-based university rejected a list of demands from the Trump administration intended to crack down on campus anti-Semitism.
The demands include calls for change to the university's hiring practices and admissions procedures, orders for officials to shut diversity offices and cooperation with immigration authorities for screening of international students.
Harvard president Alan Garber refused the demands and said in no uncertain terms in a letter to students and faculty that Harvard would not “negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights.”
In response, Trump's Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism issued a statement announcing a freeze on $2.2 billion in multi-year grants, and $60 million in government contracts.
"Harvard's statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges - that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws," the statement said.
"The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable. It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support."
This follows protests from students across the U.S. on college campuses against Israel's war on Gaza, resulting in police involvement and violence from pro-Israel counter-protesters.
The Department of Education also announced in March that it had opened an investigation into 60 colleges and universities for alleged “anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination” and in the same month Columbia University had US$400 million in federal grants cut as it faced accusations of failing to protect Jewish students from harassment during the protests.
