Escalating an ongoing clash between President Donald Trump’s administration and Harvard University, the Department of Education announced an $8 billion pause on Harvard’s grant funding.
“Harvard is not eligible for any new grants from the federal government until they demonstrate responsible management of the university,” a senior official from the Department of Education said on a call with reporters on Monday.
People leave Harvard University, April 17, 2025, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Sophie Park/Getty Images
The official said public confidence in the university is at an all-time low — and that Harvard has failed to combat antisemitism and discrimination on its campus.
It has also abandoned the rigor of academic excellence and has become a leftist institution that limits “viewpoint diversity,” according to the official.
The pause includes medical research funding, according to the senior official.
The university is under federal investigation by several of the administration’s agencies, including the Department of Education and the Health and Human Services Department. They are probing into accusations ranging from failure to disclose foreign gifts to discrimination on the basis of race within the Harvard Law Review.
The administration has also launched a wide-reaching antisemitism task force review, which froze 2.2 billion dollars in funding for the institution last month.
In order for Harvard to return to compliance under federal law, the university would have to come into agreement with the administration, according to the senior official.
There was no announcement about the university’s tax-exempt status, which Trump threatened to take away on May 2.
A Harvard spokesperson told ABC News at the time that there is no “legal basis” to rescind the university’s tax-exempt status, saying that it would endanger the school’s ability to carry out its mission.