In April 2024, the Trump administration issued a letter containing a list of demands to Harvard University, calling for a series of changes in the school’s action towards the Israel-Palestine campus protests. Accepting the letter’s demands would have required Harvard to ban students deemed “hostile to American values” from admission and to review students’ and faculty ideology for “viewpoint diversity.” These changes would be tracked in quarterly progress reports, and by an outside monitor.
Harvard publicly denounced and refused to capitulate to the letter’s demands, prompting the Trump administration to freeze all of the University’s federal funding. The Department of Energy and the Department of Homeland Security, and other federal organizations terminated hundreds of multi-year research grants together worth 2.2 billion dollars and 60 million dollars in contracts. The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, particularly reliant on federal funds, lost nearly half of its funding for this fiscal year.
Remarking on the endeavor, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields stated, “The gravy train of federal assistance to institutions like Harvard, which enrich their grossly overpaid bureaucrats with tax dollars from struggling American families, is coming to an end.” How terminating billion dollars in funding would allegedly help Harvard eliminate antisemitism was not clarified.
On April 21, Harvard filed the first lawsuit to challenge the legality of the Trump administration’s demands, citing violations of the First Amendment and grant funding reduction procedures. Nearly 200 university leaders signed a joint statement condemning the Trump administration’s actions the following day published by the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Targeting International Students
In response to their “insufficient” compliance, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attempted to terminate the university’s ability to enroll international students on May 22.
Later on June 4, President Trump signed a proclamation banning specific Harvard students from the United States, citing concerns for national security and countering antisemitism.
As one-fourth of Harvard’s student body consists of international students, Harvard would lose revenue from a considerable portion of its student body, claims Chuck Ambrose, former president of the University of Central Missouri. Foreign students contribute roughly 43 billion dollars to the U.S. economy every year.
In response to the proclamation, Harvard immediately countered with a second emergency lawsuit. A few hours later, U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs issued a temporary injunction, citing “immediate and irreparable injury” to the university.
A Turning Point
On June 20, Trump mused about possibly striking a deal with Harvard on social media, following federal Judge Burroughs’ temporary injunction on his administration’s efforts to bar international students from enrollment.
Trump insisted Harvard has “acted extremely appropriately during these negotiations and appear to be committed to doing what is right” on Truth Social. Harvard declined to comment.
While the prospect of a settlement remains unclear, Harvard continues to internally debate how to reach a settlement with the Trump administration without compromising its values or capitulating to political pressure.