Harvard University is currently the only university in the U.S. to reject the demands of the Donald Trump administration, which, if fulfilled, would have significantly compromised its independence, calling the requests “illegal.”
In a statement, the university’s president, Alan Garber, emphasized that no government has the authority to dictate what universities teach, who attends, or who teaches.
In response to Harvard’s refusal, the Trump administration announced it would freeze $2.2 billion in grants to the university, along with a separate $60 million contract.
Trump demanded, among other things, the data of current and prospective students and professors, as well as a revision of programs he referred to as “anti-Semitic.”
Since taking office in January, Trump has targeted universities, saying that he wants to eliminate diversity efforts and “unchecked anti-Semitism” within them. His administration has suspended hundreds of millions of dollars in federal research funding to universities nationwide.
One of the universities targeted by Trump was Columbia, which had $400 million in funding frozen.
In the end, Columbia University agreed to the demands set by the U.S. president, including the establishment of separate security for the Middle Eastern Studies department, with a new security force made up of 36 “special officers” who would have the authority to arrest and remove individuals from the campus.
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