Harvard University will not receive hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding because it has become a “breeding ground” for hatred and discrimination against Jews, according to the Trump administration’s new, multi-agency Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism.
The Task Force, in a statement shared by Robert F. Kennedy’s Department of Health and Human Services on Tuesday, said Harvard has “repeatedly failed to confront the pervasive race discrimination and antisemitic harassment plaguing its campus.” Because of this, the Task Force said eight federal agencies are now canceling $450 million in funding to the university — adding to the $2.2 billion that was recently slashed last week.
“Harvard’s campus, once a symbol of academic prestige, has become a breeding ground for virtue signaling and discrimination. This is not leadership; it is cowardice,” The Task Force said in its joint statement on Tuesday.
The statement continued: “And it’s not academic freedom; it’s institutional disenfranchisement. There is a dark problem on Harvard’s campus, and by prioritizing appeasement over accountability, institutional leaders have forfeited the school’s claim to taxpayer support.”
The statement is signed by Josh Gruenbaum, Commissioner of the Federal Acquisition Service; Sean R. Keveney, acting general counsel for the HHS; and Thomas E. Wheeler, the acting general counsel of the Department of Education.
The statement further noted that the Task Force “fully supports” the Trump administration’s push to cut government funding from Harvard and other universities that fail to protect Jewish students from harassment. President Trump created the Task Force in February, days after signing an executive order that outlined “additional measures to combat anti-semitism.”
Harvard sued the Trump administration last month over the funding cuts, arguing it is unconstitutional and “flatly unlawful.” The Ivy League university’s $53.2 billion endowment is the largest in the world.
Like several other Ivy schools, Harvard has been home to several anti-Israel protests since Oct. 7, 2023. Harvard settled two antisemitism lawsuits a day after President Trump returned to the White House when the school was accused of not doing enough to stop Jewish students from being bullied.
Meanwhile, RFK Jr.’s Health and Human Services Department commended Columbia University for combating antisemitism last week, a day after local police arrested dozens of pro-Palestine student protesters for loudly occupying a library.
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