Harvard hit with US$2 billion funding freeze after rejecting Trump’s demands

The White House said its demands were intended to crack down on antisemitism following student protests against Israel’s war in Gaza

Reading Time:3 minutes

Demonstrators rally at a protest in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Saturday calling on Harvard to resist interference by the federal government. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:18am, 15 Apr 2025Updated: 10:55pm, 15 Apr 2025

Elite US university Harvard was hit with a US$2.2 billion freeze in federal funding on Monday after rejecting a list of sweeping demands that the White House said was intended to crack down on antisemitism.

The call for changes to its governance, hiring practices and admissions procedures expanded on a list Harvard received on April 3 which ordered officials to close diversity offices and cooperate with immigration authorities for screenings of international students.

Harvard president Alan Garber vowed in a letter to students and staff to defy the government, insisting that the university would not “negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights”.

US President Donald Trump’s “Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism” responded with a statement announcing the US$2.2 billion hold in multi-year grants, plus a freeze on US$60 million in government contracts.

People walk through Harvard Yard at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Photo: AFP

“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,” it said.