After Colombia Crackdown, Donald Trump Threatens Harvard With $9 Billion Grant Loss Over Alleged 'Antisemitism'. Details

(MENAFN- Live Mint) Following its crackdown on Colombia University for similar reasons, Donald Trump 's government has now warned fellow Ivy League institution, Harvard University, of $9 billion in grants loss for alleged“antisemitism” on campus, according to a Reuters report.

The United States Departments of Education, Health and Human Services and the US General Services Administration in a written statement on March 31, said that they were reviewing at least $255.6 million worth contracts between Harvard and its affiliates; besides $8.7 billion worth of multi-year grant committments, the report added.

Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said,“Harvard's failure to protect students on campus from antisemitic discrimination - all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry - has put its reputation in serious jeopardy. Harvard can right these wrongs and restore itself to a campus dedicated to academic excellence and truth-seeking, where all students feel safe on its campus.”

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The total grants and contracts at stake are worth $9 billion, with the Trump administration's reason for the pressure being action against alleged antisemitism on the Harvard campus.

The report noted that this comes as the Trump administration seeks to pressure the policies of American universities, and supporters are cheering the“long-needed” check on what they call“far-left extremism” on US college campuses. Meanwhile, critics have raised the alarm over draconian over-reach that impact the right to speech and academic freedoms, the report said.

In a written statement, Harvard President Alan Garber said that“if this funding is stopped, it will halt life-saving research and imperil important scientific research and innovation.”

He did add that antisemitism is“present on our campus” and that he himself has experienced it, and the university is enacting reforms but still has“much work to do”. Garber also said that Harvard will work with the government's antisemitism task force on addressing the matter.

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