U.S. Government Cancels US$2.7 M To Harvard

The United States Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced last 16 April the cancellation of more than US$ 2.7 million in grants to Harvard University amid tensions between the school and the Trump administration.

The Department of Homeland Security said in a press release that Noem unveiled the discontinuation of two grants from the department to Harvard worth more than US$ 2.7 million. The department also noted in the press release that Noem requested "detailed records on Harvard’s foreign student visa holders’ illegal and violent activities" in a letter.

"Harvard bending the knee to antisemitism — driven by its spineless leadership — fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security," Noem said in the release.

"With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory. America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars," she added.

Last week, the Trump administration demanded Harvard change multiple policies — including those regarding protesting and diversity, equity and inclusion programs — in order to retain its federal funding. The school shot down the demands.

"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," Harvard President Alan Garber said in a message to the university’s community last 14 April.

The Trump administration said later that around US$ 2.2 billion in multiyear grants was going to be frozen to Harvard in the wake of the school’s rejection of the demands.

Noem’s department said in its press release that one of the grants, worth US$ 800,303, "branded conservatives as far-right dissidents in a shockingly skewed study" and the other, worth US$ 1,934,902, "funded Harvard’s public health propaganda."

"Both undermine America’s values and security," the press release continued.

In a statement emailed to The Hill, a Harvard spokesperson said the school was "aware of the Department of Homeland Security’s letter regarding grant cancellations and scrutiny of foreign student visas, which—like the Administration’s announcement of the freeze of US$ 2.2 billion in grants and US$ 60 million in contracts, and reports of the revocation of Harvard’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status—follows on the heels of our statement that Harvard will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights."