”For the government to retreat from these partnerships now risks not only the health and well-being of millions of individuals but also the economic security and vitality of our nation,” Harvard stated.
By JNS staff
The federal Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism announced on Monday that it is freezing $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million worth of contracts to Harvard University, after the private Ivy League school said that it would not comply with the Trump administration’s demands.
“In recent weeks, the federal government has threatened its partnerships with several universities, including Harvard, over accusations of antisemitism on our campuses,” stated Alan Garber, the Harvard president, who is Jewish. “These partnerships are among the most productive and beneficial in American history.”
“New frontiers beckon us with the prospect of life-changing advances—from treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and diabetes, to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, quantum science and engineering and numerous other areas of possibility,” Garber said. “For the government to retreat from these partnerships now risks not only the health and well-being of millions of individuals but also the economic security and vitality of our nation.”
The Harvard president said that the government’s demands aim, in part, at curbing Jew-hatred, but “the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the ‘intellectual conditions’ at Harvard.” He called the requirements “unprecedented demands” and said that “the university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.”
The federal task force, which brings together several U.S. government agencies, stated on Monday that “Harvard’s statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges—that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws.”
“The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable,” the federal task force said. “It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support.”
The task force had previously said it was auditing $9 billion in grants and contracts to Harvard.
Earlier this year, the Harvard Crimson, a student paper, reported that the university received $151 million from the governments of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Bangladesh between January 2020 and October 2024, which was 13% of the $1.1 billion it received from foreign donors that period.