President Donald Trump threatened Harvard University‘s tax-exempt status, the latest escalation in a battle over its campus policies.
“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?’” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!”
The Trump administration has been warring with Harvard and other universities for weeks, with the president accusing them of failing to crack down on antisemitic behavior following last year’s protests over Israel’s war in Gaza.
Trump announced Monday that he was freezing some $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts with Harvard, following its vow not to comply with his wishes regarding protest activity and other on-campus activism.
It was the seventh such move taken against a top-tier university, according to the Associated Press.
Harvard is among a select group of universities with endowments reaching tens of billions of dollars. Its endowment is $50.7 billion, though the private university is a nonprofit institution.
Losing tax-exempt status would be another financial blow to Harvard, which receives tax-exempt donations from rich alumni. However, it’s unclear if Trump has the power to make that determination on his own.
Almost all colleges and universities in the United States accept federal funding, making them dependent on the government for operations. Trump has sought to use that fact to gain leverage over how they address protest activity and other functions.
However, Harvard’s astronomical endowment could position it to fight back against the Trump administration in ways that would be more difficult for other universities.
The Trump administration wrote to Harvard last Friday, calling for reforms to admissions policies. The school rejected the proposal, earning praise from Democratic heavyweights, including former President Barack Obama.
Obama labeled the Trump administration’s proposal as “unlawful” and an “attempt to stifle academic freedom.”
Harvard President Alan Garber weighed in as well.
“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,” Garber said.
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The showdown will likely continue for at least the next several weeks, if not longer. Two organizations representing the Harvard faculty sued the Trump administration last week over its threats to cut federal funding.
The lawsuit, filed by the American Association of University Professors and the Harvard chapter of the group, seeks an immediate temporary restraining order to block the Trump administration from withholding the money.
