After $2.2 billion fund freeze, Trump threatens to strip Harvard of tax-exempt status

Harvard University - File File Photo

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to strip Harvard University of tax-exempt status, if it continues to, in his words, promote “political, ideological, and terrorist-inspired/supporting sickness.”

"Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting “Sickness?” Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.

This came shortly after Harvard was hit with a $2.2 billion federal funding freeze after rejecting a list of sweeping demands that the White House said was intended to crack down on campus anti-Semitism.

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

In a letter to students and faculty, Harvard president Alan Garber vowed to defy the government, insisting that the school would not "negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights."

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

"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.

"The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable. It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support."

Campuses across the country were rocked last year by student protests against Israel's war in Gaza, with some resulting in violent clashes involving police and pro-Israel protests.

Trump and other Republicans have accused the activists of supporting Hamas, a US-designated terrorist group that led the deadly October 7, 2023 attack against Israel that sparked the conflict.

The Department of Education announced in March that it had opened an investigation into 60 colleges and universities for alleged "anti-Semitic harassment and discrimination."

Garber's letter came after the administration placed $9 billion in federal funding to Harvard and its affiliates under review, making its first demands.

On Friday, the government sent Harvard a much more detailed list, including demanding an "audit" of the views of students and faculty.