The Trump administration is turning up the heat on Harvard University.
According to a report from CNN, the Trump administration has ordered the Internal Revenue Service to draw up plans to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
The move could potentially cost Harvard billions of dollars a year, threatening its status as one of the world’s leading academic institutions.
Gary Shapley, recently appointed by Trump as acting commissioner of the IRS, holds the legal authority to revoke an organization’s tax-exempt status. Such action is usually taken after the agency concludes that the group has breached federal guidelines that regulate nonprofit entities.
Tax-exempt organizations risk losing that status if they engage in prohibited activities, including certain forms of political involvement.
A final decision is expected in the coming days.
On Tuesday, Trump ordered the the freezing of approximately $2.3 billion in federal funding to the university over its non-compliance with directives on abolishing DEI and race-based admissions as well as its refusal to crack down on campus antisemitism.
Harvard President Alan Garber rejected these demands, citing the university’s supposed commitment to academic freedom and political autonomy.
Gaber said in a statement:
We have informed the administration through our legal counsel that we will not accept their proposed agreement. The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights.
The administration’s prescription goes beyond the power of the federal government. It violates Harvard’s First Amendment rights and exceeds the statutory limits of the government’s authority under Title VI.
And it threatens our values as a private institution devoted to the pursuit, production, and dissemination of knowledge.
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.
Trump Administration Freezes $2.3 Billion in Harvard Funding Amid DEI and Antisemitism Dispute
President Trump’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism denounced the response as reinforcing the “troubling endemic mindset 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,” they continued. “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.”
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