Trump’s multi-pronged attack on Harvard explained

WASHINGTON - The administration of US President Donald Trump is waging a campaign against Harvard University, the country’s oldest and richest school, across multiple fronts, including funding freezes, investigations and threats to the school’s tax-exempt status.

The President says he is trying to force change at Harvard – and other top-level universities across the US – because they have been captured by leftist “woke” thought and become bastions of anti-Semitism. 

The Trump administration has opened numerous investigations into Harvard. Some are looking at threats against Jewish students and faculty after pro-Palestinian protests broke out following the Oct 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel and subsequent Israeli military actions in Gaza. 

Others are probing if Harvard discriminates based on sex and gender, along with the school’s ties to foreign governments and international students. 

Harvard and other universities say Mr Trump’s attacks are threats to freedom of speech, freedom of academics and the schools’ very existence. 

Here are the main avenues Mr Trump’s administration is using to take on Harvard: 

Federal grants and contracts   

The Trump administration in April sent a letter to Harvard demanding it make far-reaching changes in how it operates. Harvard’s President Alan Garber publicly rejected the demands, saying they amounted to ceding control of the university to the government. 

Hours after Dr Garber rejected the demands, the Trump administration announced it was freezing more than US$2 billion (S$2.58 billion) in federal contracts and grants with Harvard, which fund mostly scientific and medical research. 

A total of some US$3 billion in funding has now been frozen by the Trump administration after more blocks were announced. Those were mainly through frozen National Institutes of Health grants, along with blocked monies from eight different federal agencies and the Centres for Disease Control.       

Harvard is fighting the funding cuts in court.     

Mr Trump in May said he is considering taking previously awarded grant money for scientific and engineering research away from Harvard and giving it to trade schools.     

Foreign students    

The Trump administration in May revoked Harvard’s ability to enrol international students and said it was forcing current foreign students to transfer to other schools or lose their legal immigration status.   

Harvard sued over that action, and a judge has temporarily blocked the administration’s action. 

More than a quarter of Harvard’s students come from outside the US, and they serve as a vital revenue source at the Ivy League school and at hundreds of other colleges across the US.     

In late May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said

the administration would start “aggressively” revoking visas issued to Chinese students

attending Harvard and all US schools. Republican concerns over Chinese students in the US are not new – many have expressed worries China is manipulating Harvard and other universities to gain access to US advanced technology. 

The action on Chinese students is a direct blow to Harvard’s strong links to China, and it has left Chinese students in a legal limbo as they contemplate their academic futures.      

Taxes     

There are two main ways the Trump administration is using the tax system to attack Harvard. 

First, they are threatening the university’s tax-exempt status, which experts say likely saves the school hundreds of millions of dollars each year. It is unclear, however, if the Internal Revenue Service would rescind that tax exemption, or if it would hold up before courts.      

Most universities, including Harvard, are exempt from federal income tax because they are deemed to be charitable organisations operated exclusively for public educational purposes. The exemption also allows people to make tax-deductible donations to such organisations, a valuable source of income for colleges with wealthy alumni.

The second prong on this front is language in Trump’s massive spending Bill that is before Congress. 

It would drastically hike taxes that Harvard and other elite schools pay on the profits their massive endowment investments make. Critics say that would weaken the ability of Harvard and other rich schools to provide generous financial aid packages to poorer students. REUTERS