Trump Threatens Harvard with $1B Cut Over Pro-Palestine Stance

By Staff, Agencies

The Trump administration is intensifying its punitive measures against Harvard University, now threatening to slash an additional $1 billion in health research funding. This escalation follows Harvard’s refusal to comply with demands aimed at suppressing pro-Palestinian activism on campus.

Since taking office in January, Trump has targeted elite US universities—including Harvard and Columbia—for what he claims is a failure to curb antisemitism.

However, many students, faculty, and human rights advocates, including Jewish voices, argue that criticism of "Israel" and its brutal assault on Gaza is being deliberately misrepresented as antisemitism to silence legitimate protest.

Last week, Harvard rejected the administration’s demands, which sought government control over student governance, faculty decisions, and academic content. The university asserted that yielding to such terms would amount to surrendering its independence.

In response, the administration froze $2.3 billion in federal funding and the following day threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Trump officials had initially hoped for quiet negotiations following their April 11 letter to Harvard, which outlined new conditions for continued funding. The letter was signed by officials from the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and the General Services Administration. When Harvard publicly released the letter, the administration responded with even harsher measures.

The administration’s list of demands includes a campus-wide mask ban, dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, and increased coordination with law enforcement. The April 11 letter went further, urging Harvard to derecognize pro-Palestinian student groups and report foreign students who violate internal policies—effectively turning universities into tools of surveillance and repression.

Officials say they had initially planned to treat Harvard more leniently than Columbia, but after Harvard’s defiance, they opted to increase the pressure.

The White House and Harvard have not issued formal comments on the latest threats as of Sunday.

This campaign against academic institutions reflects the Trump administration’s broader effort to crush pro-Palestinian advocacy and shield "Israel" from growing international and domestic criticism. At its core, the administration is attempting to delegitimize solidarity with the Palestinian people, while using federal funding as a political weapon against universities that refuse to comply.