On Monday April 14th, the Trump Administration announced that they would be freezing $2.2 billion in multi-year contract value for Harvard University after the University rejected a list of demands from the White House. Last week Harvard received a letter from a federal task force outlining additional policy demands that “will maintain Harvard’s financial relationship with the federal government.”

The proposed changes is to combat anti-semitism on college campuses after a spate of high-profile incidents occurred around the country due to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Since returning into office, President Trump has pushed to reshape top universities by threatening to withhold federal funds that are mostly designed for research purposes.

Harvard became the first major university to deny the request of the Trump’s Administrations demands, claiming the White House is trying to take control of their community. According to a CNN article, Harvard President Alan M. Garber said in a statement, “We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement,” Garber went on to say, “The University will not surrender its independence or its constitutional rights”(Winter and Romine, April 14th). The Trump Administration has threatened many colleges across the U.S. with funding cuts if changes in school’s polices didn’t change.

Amongst the requests in the administration letter are the elimination of Harvards diversity, equity and inclusion programs, banning masks at campus protests, and merit-based hiring and admission reforms to reduce the power held by faculty.

According to a BBC article, “A professor of history at Harvard, David Armitage, told the BBC that the school could afford to resist as the richest university in the US and no price was too high to pay for freedom” (Drenon, April 15th). Ultimately, the Ivy League institution has an endowment, or funds of assets valued at $53 billion.