The Trump administration is making its latest move to take away funding from Harvard University on Tuesday, writing in a letter that all federal agencies should look at canceling their government contracts with the Ivy League college or move them somewhere else.
Why Trump administration wants to end Harvard contracts
The letter from the U.S. General Services Administration alleges that Harvard “continues to engage in race discrimination, including in its admissions process and in other areas of student life.” It also claims that the school is not doing enough to project Jewish students from harassment on campus.
“In light of this deeply troubling pattern, each agency should consider its contracts with Harvard University and determine whether Harvard and its services efficiently promote the priorities of the agency,” the letter says. “Going forward, we also encourage your agency to seek alternative vendors for future services where you had previously considered Harvard.”
The Supreme Court ruled in 2023 that Harvard’s race-conscious admission policies were unconstitutional. But since then, Harvard says admissions workers no longer have access to certain information about an applicant’s race. The school reported a drop in Black student enrollment last fall after the affirmative action ruling.
Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
What happens next?
The federal agencies have a June 6 deadline to respond to the GSA with the actions they are taking.
“The goal at the end is for the government to be out of business with Harvard, but to do it in a way that preserves critical services that agencies think they still need by transitioning that to a new vendor,” the senior administration official said.
What about Harvard-related hospitals?
The official said the contract review would not include the Harvard hospital system. Funding for Massachusetts General Hospital, which has a partnership with Harvard, would not be impacted.
On Monday, President Trump said he’s considering rerouting $3 billion in Harvard grants to trade schools across the U.S. The administration has already frozen billions of dollars in federal funding to Harvard, and last week moved to block the university from enrolling foreign students.
Harvard has sued the Trump administration, saying the funding freeze is part of the government’s efforts to control policies at the school. Harvard president Alan Garber has said that while the school has taken steps to address antisemitism, “The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”
“Sucking everything they can out of Harvard”
“In many ways, it’s not just a battle between Trump and Harvard, even though that’s the way people describe it. It’s a battle over the rule of law in the United States and I think Harvard has shown that it is committed to being on one side of this and, in that way, I don’t think it’s going to back down,” Harvard political science professor Ryan Enos said Tuesday.
“The tangible impacts just keep coming. Students are feeling them. Professors are feeling them. Everybody involved in research is feeling it now. We’ve seen more and more ‘stop work’ orders for projects or people who are actively doing research that was awarded to them by the federal government because they were deemed the best people to do it, who are now seeing that research shut down and with the order today, I’m sure we’re going to see more and more of that. They’re sucking everything they can out of Harvard as part of this political grievance they have.”
