HQ Team
April 15, 2025: Harvard University has rejected demands from US President Donald Trump’s administration that threaten $9 billion in research funding.
Harvard officials said the changes pushed by the US government exceed its lawful authority and infringe on both the University’s independence and its constitutional rights.
“The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Harvard President Alan Garber wrote in a message to the community.
“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.”
April 11 letter
Garber’s message was a response to a letter sent on April 11 by the Trump administration outlining demands that Harvard would have to satisfy to maintain its funding relationship with the federal government.
These demands include “audits” of academic programs and departments, along with the viewpoints of students, faculty, and staff, and changes to the University’s governance structure and hiring practices.
The $9 billion under review by the government includes $256 million in research support for Harvard plus $8.7 billion in future commitments to the University and several renowned hospitals, among them Mass General, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and Boston Children’s.
On April 14, the Trump administration announced that it was moving to freeze $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard.
Gaza war
The Trump administration has been critical of Harvard’s handling of student protests related to the Gaza war.
It has accused the University of failing to adequately protect Jewish students on campus from antisemitic discrimination and harassment, in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Garber said that Harvard remained committed to fighting antisemitism, including through a series of campus measures implemented over the past 15 months.
The University’s objectives in fighting antisemitism will “not be achieved by assertions of power, unmoored from the law, to control teaching and learning at Harvard and to dictate how we operate,” Garber said.
Columbia, Northwestern
“The work of addressing our shortcomings, fulfilling our commitments, and embodying our values is ours to define and undertake as a community.”
Harvard is just one of dozens of schools targeted by the Trump administration in recent weeks.
Last month, the Department of Education sent letters to 60 universities, including Columbia, Northwestern, the University of Michigan, and Tufts, threatening enforcement actions for noncompliance with anti-discrimination provisions in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The administration has taken the additional step of freezing research funding at several institutions.
National Institutes of Health
In March, a report from the nonprofit United for Medical Research showed that every dollar of research funded by the National Institutes of Health — the nation’s largest funder of biomedical research — generates $2.56 in economic activity.
In 2024 alone, the NIH awarded $36.9 billion in research grants, generating $94.5 billion in economic activity and supporting 408,000 jobs, according to the report.
The federal government has awarded grants and contracts to Harvard and other universities to help pay for work that, along with investments by the universities themselves, has led to groundbreaking innovations across a wide range of medical, engineering, and scientific fields.
Economic security risk
“These partnerships are among the most productive and beneficial in American history. New frontiers beckon us with the prospect of life-changing advances—from treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and diabetes, to breakthroughs in artificial intelligence, quantum science and engineering, and numerous other areas of possibility,” Garber wrote.
“For the government to retreat from these partnerships now risks not only the health and well-being of millions of individuals but also the economic security and vitality of our nation.”
