Harvard Sues Federal Government After Barrage of Threats

The Trump administration plans to slash another $1 billion in federal grants and contracts for health research to Harvard, on top of an existing $2.2 billion cut, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday.

The new cut comes after Garber decided to publicly reject the revised — and more aggressive — set of demands that the White House issued to Harvard last Friday as part of his message to Harvard affiliates on Monday. Garber’s rejection sparked the federal government’s first funding freeze.

Citing the two anonymous sources, the Journal reported that the Trump administration saw the release as a breach of a confidential negotiation process.

The National Institutes of Health has been instructed not to make grant payments to Harvard and other universities whose funds have been frozen, according to an internal email reported by several news outlets.

The email directs NIH employees not to communicate with universities about whether or why their funds have been frozen. The list of affected schools includes Columbia, Cornell, Brown, and Northwestern.

The NIH press office did not respond to a Saturday morning request for comment on reasons for the freeze.

Updated April 19, 2025, at 9:05 a.m.

The White House had not intended to send its revised — and more aggressive — set of demands to Harvard on April 11, according to a report by the New York Times published Friday evening.

Trump administration officials claimed that the demands — which were seen as excessive and illegal to Harvard’s administrators — should not have been sent and were “unauthorized,” according to the Times, which cited two unnamed sources.

The Department of Education asked Harvard to turn over records on donations from foreign sources on Friday, alleging that the University inaccurately disclosed foreign gifts.

In a nine-page letter addressed to Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76, the Education Department alleged that Harvard’s disclosures of foreign funding were “incomplete and inaccurate.”

“As a recipient of federal funding, Harvard University must be transparent about its relations with foreign sources and governments. Unfortunately, our review indicated that Harvard has not been fully transparent or complete in its disclosures, which is both unacceptable and unlawful,” said Education Department Secretary Linda McMahon in a press release.

Harvard is receiving an average of 88 online donations an hour as alumni rally behind University President Alan M. Garber ’76’s resounding rebuke of the White House’s demands on Monday.

Between Garber’s email and 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Harvard received nearly 4,000 online gifts totalling $1.14 million, according to a giving update produced by Harvard Alumni Affairs and Development and obtained by the Crimson.

Forty-seven percent of the development office’s gifts have been directed to the Harvard College Fund and 14 percent to Garber’s unrestricted fund, according to the document. Seventy-seven percent of the gifts have been less than $250.

fter Harvard publicly rejected the Trump administration’s demands, a wave of support — and money — has come rushing in.

In the 24 hours after Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced that he would not comply with the White House, the University received more than 3,800 online donations totaling more than $1 million, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The surge — more than 40 times Harvard’s average daily intake in April — was a striking show of support for Garber’s forceful stance, drawing praise from alumni, faculty, and even some non-Harvard affiliates.

The Harvard School of Public Health is laying off employees, shrinking its campus footprint, and making targeted cuts to departmental budgets in response to the Trump administration’s escalating attacks on Harvard — including pulling more than $2 billion in federal funding and threatening the University’s eligibility to enroll international students.

The budget-tightening at HSPH, the Harvard school most reliant on federal funds, comes after the school received three stop-work orders worth more than $60 million in the last two days and as its neighbor, Harvard Medical School, warned employees of impending layoffs on Wednesday.

The layoffs at HSPH have already begun taking place and have mostly impacted staff and researchers whose projects at the schools have lost funding this year. HSPH is not targeting a specific number of layoffs and intends to honor existing commitments to faculty.

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ormer United States President Joe Biden celebrated Harvard’s decision to defy demands from the Trump administration at a private Institute of Politics seminar with senior advisor Mike Donilon on Wednesday afternoon.

The discussion with the Democratic Party’s de facto leader, planned weeks in advance of the University’s funding showdown, comes as Harvard’s confrontation with President Donald Trump escalates. After rebuffing Trump’s demands, Harvard is now facing possible revocation of its tax-exempt status on top of a $2.2 billion funding freeze — with layoffs expected and stop-work orders rolling in.

Harvard’s endowment is not a $53.2 billion pile of cash. But as the University sits on the precipice of historic financial losses, it has increasingly faced calls to draw from endowment funds to make up the difference.

Even as Harvard’s annual financial report emphasizes that the endowment is a long-term investment, not a slush fund, it leaves room for flexibility during crises.

“While the University has no intention of doing so, there are additional investments held by the University and the endowment that could be liquidated in the event of an unexpected disruption,” the report reads.

The Phillip Brooks House Association, Harvard’s largest organization dedicated to public service, called for donations to a newly-established an emergency fund in anticipation of shortfalls two days after Trump froze $2.2 billion in funding to the University.

The PBHA is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization made up of more than 80 student-led programs. Programs include after-school care, which serves more than 1,000 low-income youth in the Greater Boston area, overnight shelter Y2Y Harvard Square, and many more.

Half of PBHA’s current $5.5 million budget is managed by or funded by Harvard directly. This budget includes $1.45 million dedicated to “critical operations including program expenses, staff salaries, and student stipends.”

Updated April 17, 2025, at 3:52 p.m.

The Department of Homeland Security sent Harvard a letter on Wednesday threatening to revoke its eligibility to enroll international students unless it submits information on international students’ disciplinary records and protest participation.

In a Wednesday press release, the DHS wrote that it had also canceled two grants worth $2.7 million to Harvard.

The Internal Revenue Service is preparing to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status after the University rejected federal demands on Monday, CNN reported Wednesday afternoon.

The plans have yet to be finalized, according to CNN, but they come just one day after United States President Donald Trump threatened to pull Harvard’s tax-exempt status.

CNN cited two unnamed sources in its reporting. Spokespeople for the IRS, the Treasury Department, and Harvard all did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Harvard Medical School leadership told employees at a town hall Wednesday morning that the school was preparing to make staffing reductions and cut programs as a result of the Trump administration’s actions against Harvard — including a $2.2 billion freeze.

“I know this news is sobering. I know that many of you have been expecting this news, and so to actually be clear and transparent about it, it’s difficult for all of us,” said HMS Executive Dean for Administration Lisa M. Muto, according to a recording of the town hall obtained by The Crimson.

HMS Chief Financial Officer Julie Joncas — who noted that 75 percent of HMS’ research is federally funded — pointed to federal research funding cuts, a loss of nonprofit status for the University, an endowment tax increase, tariffs, and legal fees as key risks that put the school in a bind.

United States President Donald Trump argued that Harvard “can no longer be considered even a decent place of learning” in a scathing post on Truth Social just two days after his administration cut off $2.2 billion in federal grants and contracts to the University.

Trump’s Wednesday post marked his fiercest broadside yet against Harvard — and is a sign that the cut in funding may only be the preview of an impending crusade against the University.

In the post, Trump argued that Harvard’s professoriate was responsible for disseminating “hate and stupidity” to students.

Harvard University warned investors that mounting legal challenges with the White House over its $2.2 billion federal funding freeze could materially harm the institution’s financial standing, reputation, and operations, according to a disclosure filed on Tuesday in connection with a successful bond sale.

“Further developments in these and other matters are likely, which may include but are not limited to legal actions such as audits, investigations, lawsuits, charges, or other proceedings,” the disclosure reads, in reference to the Trump administration’s Monday freeze and review of nearly $9 billion in federal funding.

“The impact of any such developments or matters is not known, but there may be a material adverse effect on the University’s business, reputation, financial profile, and operations,” the disclosure continues.

In the days leading up to Harvard’s dramatic refusal of the Trump administration’s demands, more than 140 Harvard Graduate School of Education students, faculty, and staff signed onto a letter urging Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 and HGSE Dean Nonie K. Lesaux not to capitulate to the government.

The letter mirrored similar efforts at the Harvard Kennedy School and Harvard School of Public Health, each of which laid out point-by-point requests that ran directly counter to the federal government’s nine initial demands.

In another letter, sent Tuesday morning and addressed to HGSE students, more than 100 HGSE faculty wrote that “current federal initiatives and rhetoric threaten our fundamental rights to free speech, education, and safety.”

Harvard’s decision to defy the Trump administration’s orders on Monday was quickly echoed by statements from peer schools, setting up the possibility that it will be the opening shot in a reinvigorated clash between elite universities and the White House.

On Tuesday, Columbia University — which had conceded to demands from the White House last month when hit with a $400 million funding cut — argued that just like Harvard, Columbia would not allow the Trump administration “to require us to relinquish our independence and autonomy.”

Columbia President Claire Shipman’s bold message was an about-face for the university whose acquiescence had been cast as a foil to Harvard’s defiance — and a sign that Garber’s approach is beginning to resonate among top-tier institutions.

Hospitals affiliated with Harvard will not be affected by the Trump administration’s $2.2 billion pause in federal grants and contracts, according to a Department of Education spokesperson.

When the White House announced a $9 billion review of federal funding two weeks ago, it threatened to slash funding from Harvard’s hospital affiliates — but Education Department spokesperson Madison Biedermann confirmed Monday's cut was limited to the University itself.

Just hours after President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced that Harvard would defy the Trump administration’s demands, Mass General Brigham CEO Anne Klibanski wrote in a letter to researchers that the funding threats to the University were “not applicable to our separately incorporated and independently operated medical and research hospitals.”

Harvard-affiliated researchers have begun receiving stop-work orders on contracts worth tens of millions of dollars less than one day after the Trump administration announced a $2.2 billion pause of federally-funded research Monday evening.

David R. Walt, a professor at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Womens’ Hospital — who has been displayed as the face of the University’s research accomplishments on its public homepage, harvard.edu, since Monday — received an immediate stop work order from a Health and Human Services grant supporting ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease.

Walt told The Crimson that the grant was worth upwards of $300,000 per year.

United States President Donald Trump threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status less than one day after Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 rebuffed the White House’s demands, marking yet another escalation in the Trump administration’s campaign against the University.

“Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting “Sickness?,” he wrote in a Tuesday post on Truth Social.

“Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST,” Trump added.

Former United States President Barack Obama took to social media to praise Harvard’s decision to rebuff the Trump administration’s demands.

“Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect,” Obama wrote in a Monday night post on X.

Obama was the highest-profile voice to join a chorus of praise for Harvard on the left. Earlier Monday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Massachusetts Governor Maura T. Healey ’92, and Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) all said Harvard’s stand could be a model for other schools staring down threats from Washington.

Harvard students breathed “a sigh of relief” Monday afternoon after University President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced Harvard would not comply with a lengthy list of White House demands — a move students said left them “pleasantly surprised.”

The Crimson spoke with more than two dozen undergraduates who applauded Harvard’s leadership for standing their ground against a “blatant attack on academic freedom.”

“One of the big reasons I chose Harvard was a place to explore intellectual freedom, explore interests, learn about different perspectives,” Henry D. Pahlow ’28 said. “The statement really ties down those values. It’s Garber standing up to the administration — which is trying to silence us.”

David R. Walt, a professor at Harvard Medical School and Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, lost hundreds of thousands in research funding from the Trump administration last week — just two months after receiving the nation’s highest honor for technological achievement.

By Monday afternoon, Walt and his lab at the Wyss Institute were front and center on Harvard’s home page as the face of the University’s campaign to present itself as a defender of science against funding threats from the White House.

The harvard.edu page, now titled “Research Powers Progress,” has been entirely made over to display the development of Harvard-affiliated technologies and scientific breakthroughs — ranging from wearable robotic devices for stroke survivors to CRISPR treatment for sickle cell patients.

Updated April 15, 2025, at 3:51 a.m.

Mass General Brigham CEO Anne Klibanski responded to funding threats against its hospitals in an email to employees on Monday night, writing that the impact of the federal funding freeze on MGB and Harvard Medical School’s other teaching hospitals “remains unknown.”

Klibanski distanced MGB’s hospitals from Harvard University in her message, emphasizing that “the government’s requests of Harvard University are not applicable to our separately incorporated and independently operated medical and research hospitals.”

Updated April 14, 2025, at 8:35 p.m.

The Trump administration paused $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in multi-year contracts to Harvard over its decision earlier today to reject the White House’s demands — a dramatic escalation in its crusade against the University.

The move came just hours after Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 issued a resounding rebuke of the Trump administration’s demands, calling them coercive and beyond federal authority.

Massachusetts Governor Maura T. Healey ’92 praised Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76’s refusal to comply with the Trump administration’s demands on Monday.

“I join others around the country in extending congratulations and gratitude to Harvard University, President Garber and the Corporation for their leadership in standing up for education and freedom by standing against the Trump Administration's brazen attempt to bully schools and weaponize the U.S. Department of Justice under the false pretext of civil rights,” Healey wrote in a statement to The Crimson.

Healey has been an outspoken critic of the White House’s funding cuts to universities, condemning the administration’s termination in late March of more than $12 billion in public health grants to states.

The American Association of University Professors’ national office — and Harvard’s chapter — cheered Harvard’s decision to refuse the Trump administration’s demands after University President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced the move Monday afternoon.

The AAUP’s national president, Rutgers University professor Todd Wolfson, praised the decision in a brief post on X.

“Universities stand up!!!” Wolfson wrote.

Rep. Elise M. Stefanik ’06 (R-N.Y.) — one of Harvard’s fiercest critics since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel — blasted Harvard for rebuffing the Trump administration’s demands.

“Harvard University has rightfully earned its place as the epitome of the moral and academic rot in higher education,” she wrote in a scathing post on X.

“It is time to totally cut off U.S. taxpayer funding to this institution that has failed to live up to its founding motto Veritas,” added Stefanik, who was recently tapped by President Donald Trump to serve as chairwoman of House Republican Leadership.

Some of Harvard’s most prominent faculty applauded University President Alan M. Garber ’76 for his refusal on Monday to comply with the Trump administration’s demands to keep its federal funding.

“A powerful and entirely justified statement by @Harvard president Alan Garber in response to massive overreach by the federal government,” former Harvard Medical School dean Jeffrey S. Flier wrote in a post to X on Monday afternoon.

“I read President Garber’s email with a great sense of encouragement,” University Professor Danielle S. Allen — who has been a key force in the push to expand faculty governance at Harvard — wrote in a statement to The Crimson. “This is the right framework for a forward path. I’m grateful for the courage of our university leadership.”

Harvard will not comply with the Trump administration’s demands to dismantle its diversity programming, limit student protests, and submit to far-reaching federal audits in exchange for its federal funding, University President Alan M. Garber ’76 announced in a message to affiliates Monday afternoon.

“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” he wrote.

The announcement comes two weeks after three federal agencies announced a review into roughly $9 billion in Harvard’s federal funding and days after the administration sent its initial demands, which included dismantling diversity programming, banning masks, and committing to “full cooperation” with the Department of Homeland Security.