Details Revealed as President Trump Denies Harvard Funds

On April 11 the Trump Administration sent Harvard a letter outlining expected protocols and hiring practices for universities. Included in the letter was a section devoted to “Reforming Programs with Egregious Records of Antisemitism or Other Bias.” Upon receiving the letter, Harvard faculty filed a lawsuit against the Trump Administration, asking a federal judge to block Trump’s funding freeze.

Also, Harvard President Alan Garber announced his university would not comply with President Donald Trump’s orders to combat antisemitism on campus, so the Trump Administration froze $2.2 billion in grants.

Don’t forget that the previous Harvard President, Claudine Gay, resigned after the backlash to her pitiful appearance before a House committee. While on a panel with other Ivy League presidents, Gay admitted to not pursuing disciplinary measures against pro-Hamas activists calling for the genocide of Jews and threatening Jewish students on campus.

Unfortunately, the current Harvard president appears to be just as tone-deaf in dealing with antisemitism. The official Harvard University X account posted:

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. - President Alan Garber

The Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism (within the Trump Department of Justice) responded to Harvard’s refusal to comply:

Harvard’s statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges – that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws.

The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable. It is time for elite universities to take the problem seriously and commit to meaningful change if they wish to continue receiving taxpayer support.

Look, Harvard is a great school. Many of my friends have graduated from there. However, it has the largest endowment in the world ($53.2 billion as of 2024). Do we really need to be sending $2.2 billion in taxpayer funds to a university that charges more than $80k per year for tuition and school fees?

And since Harvard chose not to address antisemitism on campus, it’s time to freeze taxpayer funding. Sensible Americans should be in favor of putting the $2.2 billion to better use.

ACLJ Senior Counsel for International and Government Affairs Jeff Ballabon reacted to Harvard’s refusal to combat antisemitism:

We are in the middle of Passover. . . . We just came out of the first days, where at the Seder night, we famously read how, in every generation, they rise to destroy our people, and the Holy One, God, saves us from their hands, and it’s very palpable and obvious in this generation that there are many who are rising up. . . . It’s nice to see things beginning to happen under this Administration to those who have really been calling openly for the genocide of the Jews, including many at Harvard University, being sanctioned, being coddled by faculty and certainly students. And so this is a moral thing to do. . . . And now there’s the latest news: The President is threatening their tax-exempt status. Well, good, that needs to happen.

The ACLJ continues to battle antisemitism in America. We recently defended a woman whose memoirs about her Holocaust survivor father were defaced by an Amazon employee. This deliberate act of harassment was not only personally distressing to our client, but it also represented a direct attack on her faith and Jewish identity. Every copy had been defaced with antisemitic slurs and threatening messages like “Zionism kills Jews” and “From the River to the Sea Palestine Will be Free.”

We were able to secure a victory on this woman’s behalf, and we continue to stand vigilant against all attempts to marginalize Jewish people in America. In an era of rising antisemitism across America, holding major corporations accountable for instances of religious and racial discrimination is essential to creating a society where all are respected and protected.

Today’s Sekulow broadcast included a full analysis of President Trump stripping Harvard University of $2.2 billion in taxpayer funding for refusing to address antisemitism on campus. Five for Fighting’s John Ondrasik joined to discuss his new version of “Superman,” which supports the remaining Israeli hostages. We also shared a vital update about our fight to defend Pregnancy Resource Centers in Massachusetts.

Watch the full broadcast below: