Harvard won't accept ‘unprecedented' demands; federal task force freezes $2.2B

Harvard University's president announced Monday it wouldn't accept demands made by the Trump administration for continued federal funding, and shortly afterward an Education Department task force announced it was freezing more than $2 billion in funding for the prestigious school.

Harvard President Alan Garber had said the demands violate the storied school's rights, including under the First Amendment, while the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism said the university was evincing a popular mindset among top institutions of higher learning "that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws."

The task force announced that $2.2 billion in grants over multiple years were being frozen, along with contracts worth $60 million; the specifics weren't announced.

The Trump administration had issued demands of Harvard earlier this month, saying they had to be met to continue receiving nearly $9 billion in grants and contracts. The money was being threatened during an investigation into allegations of campus antisemitism.

"We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement. The University will not negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights," Garber said in a letter to the community.

Garber said the administration shared an updated list of demands on Friday, including audits of viewpoints on the campus community and the reduction of power of some parts of the campus over their views.

"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 in the letter to the community.

A White House spokesman issued a response on Monday reiterating that any institution of higher education that violates Title VI law isn't eligible for federal funding; Garber had said the demands exceed "the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI."

"President Trump is working to Make Higher Education Great Again by ending unchecked anti-Semitism and ensuring federal taxpayer dollars do not fund Harvard’s support of dangerous racial discrimination or racially motivated violence. Harvard or any institution that wishes to violate Title VI is, by law, not eligible for federal funding," Trump spokesman Harrison Fields told NBC News in a statement.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey praised Harvard's decision in a statement Monday night.

"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," Maura Healey said. "We all agree that antisemitism has no place in America and that it should be fought in the workplace, classrooms and everywhere. Complying with the Trump Administration's dangerous demands would have made us all less safe and less free."

This weekend, a rally was held in Harvard Yard in which demonstrators urged Harvard's administrators to stand up to the Trump administration.

Read the letters from the government and Harvard:

Read the Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism's full statement:

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.

The Joint Task Force to combat anti-Semitism is announcing a freeze on $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60M in multi-year contract value to Harvard University.