Photo:AI-ganerated.

May10, 2025

Anna Murray 

The Trump administration has taken new actions to target Harvard University for federal funding. Amid a larger national conflict over academic freedom, federal funding, and campus oversight, it suspends all new federal research grants unless the elite institution implements political policy changes. Trump had earlier declared that the Internal Revenue Service had been ordered by his administration to remove Harvard University's tax-exempt status.

Since the outbreak of nationwide student protests against Israel's war in Gaza in 2024, US universities have been embroiled in controversy over suspected anti-Semitism on campus. Harvard has been a target of Trump's broader crackdown on universities.

On the evening of May 5, Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote to Alan Garber, the president of Harvard University. McMahon criticized Harvard for repeatedly breaking its legal obligations, which disqualified it from receiving grants from the federal government.

McMahon concluded by reminding Garber that the Trump administration had been prepared to keep Harvard receiving federal funding, provided the university cooperated with federal law to end racial preferencing and to safeguard and promote student welfare.