The US federal government said Tuesday it was freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University after the prestigious institution said it would defy the Trump administration’s demands to overhaul its admissions, hiring, and disciplinary processes — made largely in the name of combating antisemitism.

The administration’s effort comes in the wake of widespread anti-Israel and in some cases antisemitic protests on campuses across the US last year that saw frequent expressions of support for the Hamas terror group and its October 7, 2023, attack, as well as violations of school rules and local law. It also echoes decades of criticism by conservatives citing a lack of “viewpoint diversity” and controversial speech at colleges and universities.

Later Tuesday, US President Donald Trump threatened to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status. Trump said the university “should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity” if it does not submit to his demands for the college to change the way it runs itself. Tax-exempt status is “totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST,” he added in a post on his Truth Social network.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also told reporters Trump wanted to see Harvard apologize for what she called “antisemitism that took place on their college campus against Jewish American students.”

She accused Harvard and other schools of violating Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination by recipients of federal funding based on race or national origin.

The hold on Harvard’s funding sets the stage for a showdown between the federal government and America’s oldest and wealthiest university. With an........

© The Times of Israel