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Harvard University continued the Trump administration on Monday to block its “illegal” efforts to freeze more than $ 3 billion in federal funding and increase the surveillance of the government of the Venerable Institution.
In a press release, Harvard president Alan Garber, warned The “radical and intrusive requirements of the government … would impose unprecedented and inappropriate control over the university” with “severe real consequences for patients, students, teachers, staff, researchers and the position of American higher education in the world”.
He added: “We defend the truth that colleges and universities across the country can adopt and honor their legal obligations and better fulfill their essential role in society without inappropriate government.”
The government accused Harvard of not having fought against anti -Semitism on the campus. After frozen $ 2.2 billion in federal funding at the beginning of the month, he also seeks to block future subsidies worth hundreds of millions of Harvard dollars and four other US elite universities.
In an email disclosed to the newspaper Nature and Posted on X On Monday, a senior official of the National Institutes of Health asked colleagues to “retain the awards” to the universities of Harvard, Brown, Columbia, Cornell and Northwestern – and not to give any reason for discounts. Last year’s subsidies at these institutions totaled $ 1.7 billion.
The Trump administration also threatened to revoke Harvard’s exempt status after university leaders rejected the demands for close government controls on its academic freedom.
Separately, disclosed letters At the Fix College, last week’s publication showed that the American Department of Health and Social Services Department’s Department of Department has asked Harvard to provide copies of all of his conclusions or his projects of reports on the fight against anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli biases, as well as others on anti-muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian biases.
Seven universities have been distinguished for targeted government cuts since March. Michael Kotlikoff, President of Cornell, said in an email At his university on Monday that he had not received any official communication from the government confirming a freezing of $ 1 billion announced in early April.
But he added that Cornell researchers had received a series of “stop work” orders from government donors and said that the university “responded forcefully”. “This includes legal, strategic and policy commitment to reverse these actions and prevent additional disturbances,” he added.
In addition, the government has intensified in recent weeks in the detention of demonstrators of pro-Palestinian students across the country, revoking hundreds of visas of international students. Last week, he demanded that Harvard provide detailed registers of his “illegal and violent activities for holders of foreign visas” or loses his eligibility for receiving foreign students.
Harvard replied that he “would not renounce his independence or would not give up his constitutional rights”. “We will continue to respect the law and expect the administration to do the same,” Garber said in a statement.
The university has created committees to investigate anti -Semitism and released their Preliminary recommendations Last summer. Garber said on Monday that this report and a separate report on Muslim, anti-arab and anti-Palestinian biases would be published “soon”.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the government’s anti -Semitism working group had been irritated by Harvard’s decision to disclose its letter and planned more freezes of $ 1 billion.
Harvard’s decision to challenge government’s requests – unlike the concessions of Columbia University to the order of the administration for an overhaul of governance and discipline of students – triggered an increase in old donations, with several thousand contributions reported by the crimson newspaper last week.
Facitoral members, students and alumni in other universities have also increased their higher coordination requests in resistance to attacks by the Trump administration against higher education establishments.
Claire Shipman, the acting president of Columbia, said in a declaration: “Although we seek to continue a constructive dialogue with the government, we reject any agreement that would force us to renounce our independence and our autonomy as a teaching establishment.”
Harvard is in a better position than most universities to resist reductions in government financing; Its endowment of $ 53 billion is the largest in all higher education establishments in the United States.
Several universities, including Harvard, have turned to bond markets to generate short -term species, providing them with liquidity to help fill the short -term decline in funding and potential legal battles. Many have also implemented employment gels and cost reduction measures.
