By Bill Pan
Contributing Writer
Harvard University will not comply with the Trump administration’s demands to dismantle diversity programs or limit student protests in exchange for continued access to federal research funding.
“The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Harvard president Alan Garber wrote in a campus-wide message on Monday afternoon.
The announcement comes amid a growing standoff between elite academic institutions and the federal government.
Two weeks ago, the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, along with the General Services Administration, launched a review of approximately $9 billion in federal funding provided to Harvard. Days later, the administration sent the university an initial list of “areas of reform that the government views as necessary for Harvard University’s continued financial relationship with the United States government.”
Those steps include the elimination of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, a ban on face coverings during protests, and reforms to admissions and hiring systems that prioritize merit-based criteria over race- or gender-based preferences. The letter also urges the university to fully cooperate with federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security, and to pursue structural reforms and leadership changes to ensure long-term compliance.
On Friday, the three agencies sent the university another letter with a more detailed list of demands.
“The United States has invested in Harvard University’s operations because of the value to the country of scholarly discovery and academic excellence. But an investment is not an entitlement,” the letter read. “It depends on Harvard upholding federal civil rights laws, and it only makes sense if Harvard fosters the kind of environment that produces intellectual creativity and scholarly rigor, both of which are antithetical to ideological capture.”
This new letter instructed Harvard to overhaul its international admissions process to screen out applicants deemed “hostile to American values” or “supportive of terrorism or antisemitism.” It also called on the university to commission an external audit of faculty, students, staff and leadership to assess “viewpoint diversity” across all departments and academic units.
The administration demanded an audit of specific programs — most notably Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies — that allegedly “fuel antisemitic harassment or reflect ideological capture.” The audit must produce a report identifying any faculty who “discriminated against Jewish or Israeli students” or “incited students to violate Harvard’s rules” following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led terror attacks on Israel, which triggered a wave of campus protests across the United States.
The government stated it would work with Harvard to determine “appropriate sanctions” for such faculty members “within the bounds of academic freedom and the First Amendment.”
While the initial letter dated April 3 did not specify a timeline, the follow-up on Friday set a compliance deadline of August 2025.
Garber officially took the helm at Harvard last August after his predecessor, Claudine Gay, resigned amid criticism over missteps at a congressional antisemitism hearing and multiple allegations of plagiarism.
He said the “majority” of those demands represent “direct governmental regulation of the intellectual conditions at Harvard.”
“We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement. The university will not negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights,” Garber told students and faculty.
Harvard is not the only elite institution to face scrutiny from the administration over its handling of antisemitism on campus and alleged violations of federal anti-discrimination laws. Columbia University was subjected to a similar tri-agency review that put nearly $5 billion in federal funding at risk.
Columbia first received notice in early March that the government was reviewing $54.1 million in federal contracts. Days later, on March 7, the administration rescinded $400 million in grants and contracts and issued a sweeping list of demands for compliance. Columbia agreed to nearly all the requirements a week later, but the withheld funds have yet to be reinstated.
Last week, the National Institutes of Health reportedly froze an additional $250 million in research funding to Columbia, compounding the $400 million already in limbo.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
