• The Trump administration continued its crackdown on US universities announcing it had frozen $2.2 billion in funding for Harvard University.

• The decision came after the university rejected 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 on a list Harvard received on April 3, which ordered officials to shut diversity offices and cooperate with immigration authorities for screenings of international students.

• Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in a public letter on April 14 that demands made by the Department of Education would allow the federal government “to control the Harvard community” and threaten the school’s “values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge”. 

• Within hours of Harvard taking its stand, the Trump administration announced it was freezing $2.2 billion in federal funding to the school. The funding freeze comes after the Trump administration had earlier said it was reviewing $9 billion in federal contracts and grants to Harvard.

• The move escalates the high-stakes dispute between the Trump administration and some of the universities that has raised concerns about speech and academic freedoms.

• The issue of anti-Semitism on campus erupted before Trump took office for his second term, following pro-Palestinian student protests at several universities following the 2023 Hamas attack inside Israel and the subsequent Israeli attacks on Gaza.

• Campuses across the US were rocked last year by student protests, with some resulting in violent clashes involving police and pro-Israel counter-protesters.

• The Trump administration has been critical of Harvard’s handling of student protests related to the Gaza war. It has accused the University of failing to adequately protect Jewish students on campus from antisemitic discrimination and harassment, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

• 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”.

• Deportation proceedings have begun against some detained foreign students who took part in pro-Palestinian demonstrations, while visas for hundreds of other students have been cancelled. 

How is Harvard funded?

• On October 28, 1636, Harvard, the first college in the American colonies, was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Harvard University was officially founded by a vote by the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

• Today, the University’s graduate and professional Schools are filled with students and faculty from every corner of the planet addressing the world’s most pressing problems across various sectors. It has over four lakh alumni worldwide.

• The University’s annual operating expenses in the 2024 fiscal year was $6.4 billion.

• Harvard is funded, in part, by an endowment. The endowment includes thousands of philanthropic gifts donated since Harvard’s early history, many of which were given to support specific aspects of Harvard’s teaching and research work. 

• An endowment is a dedicated source of long-term funding, made up of donated gifts, that supports the mission and work of a philanthropic organisation like a university. 

• The endowment’s annual distributions are a critical source of funding for the University, making up more than a third of Harvard’s revenue each year, the largest single revenue stream. In this way, the endowment bridges the gap between revenue that is brought in from tuition and research grants, and the critical costs associated with the University’s teaching and research activities. 

• Together, these gifts form a permanent source of funding that connects scholars and learners from many diverse backgrounds with opportunities at Harvard.

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