Dozens of Harvard Medical School faculty and students protested outside of the school on March 15, 2024. They were protesting an event featuring the president of the American Medical Association, over the powerful physicians’ group’s repeated refusal to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. (Suzanne Kreiter/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
(JTA) — The Trump administration announced it will review almost $9 billion in grants and contracts at Harvard University, the latest school to be threatened with a federal financial penalty over campus antisemitism.
The announcement of the review on Monday means that Harvard could face the same predicament as Columbia University, where the Trump administration froze $400 million in funding last month over similar claims. Columbia later acquiesced to many of the government’s demands, and its interim president resigned on Friday.
“Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from anti-Semitic discrimination — all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry — has put its reputation in serious jeopardy,” said Education Secretary Linda McMahon in a statement.
The review will include over $255 million in contracts between the federal government and Harvard and its affiliates. It also includes more than $8.7 billion in “multi-year grant commitments,” according to the announcement.
Harvard has already taken steps in response to accusations of campus antisemitism following Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel and the outbreak of the Gaza war. The school settled two lawsuits with Jewish organizations in January over allegations that it had fostered an antisemitic atmosphere. Among the terms of the settlement were stipulations around the policing of anti-Zionist speech, more funding for the study of antisemitism and a pledge to partner with an Israeli campus.
Last week, Harvard paused its relationship with a Palestinian university in the West Bank, following public pressure to suspend their ties. The school also dismissed faculty leaders of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, which the Harvard Jewish Alumni Alliance for accused of promoting anti-Israel narratives.
In a statement, Harvard President Alan M. Garber wrote that the school would “fully embrace the important goal of combatting antisemitism, one of the most insidious forms of bigotry.”
Garber, who is Jewish, also said he had personally faced antisemitism on campus while serving as president.
“Urgent action and deep resolve are needed to address this serious problem that is growing across America and around the world. It is present on our campus,” he wrote. “I have experienced antisemitism directly, even while serving as president, and I know how damaging it can be to a student who has come to learn and make friends at a college or university.”
He also expressed concern over potential cuts to the school’s research funding, writing that it could “halt life-saving research and imperil important scientific research and innovation.”
The recent announcement comes after the Trump administration sent letters to Harvard and 60 other universities earlier in March informing them of investigations into allegations of antisemitism on their campuses.
“While Harvard’s recent actions to curb institutionalized anti-Semitism – though long overdue – are welcome, there is much more that the university must do to retain the privilege of receiving federal taxpayer’s hard earned dollars,” said Josh Gruenbaum, the commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service, in a statement.
“This administration has proven that we will take swift action to hold institutions accountable if they allow anti-Semitism to fester. We will not hesitate to act if Harvard fails to do so,” said Gruenbaum.
In recent weeks, students from other Ivy League universities including Columbia and Tufts have seen students detained by ICE over their involvement in pro Palestinian protest in another sharp escalation of the administration’s response.
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