Harvard University will “not accept” demands made by President Donald Trump’s administration amid threats of funding cuts, according to a statement issued Monday.
“The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” read a post on the university’s X account published Monday. “Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.”
In an email sent to the Harvard community, President Alan M. Garber said the university received “an updated and expanded list of demands” from the Trump administration, warning them to comply if they’d like to “maintain financial relationship with the federal government.”
The 10 demands, which the administration says are aimed at addressing antisemitism on campus, include restricting acceptance of any international students who are “hostile to the American values and institutions.” The administration also wants a third party to audit programs offered at the school that it says “fuel antisemitic harassment or reflect ideological capture.”
The administration also demanded the immediate shuttering of all diversity, equity and inclusion programs and initiatives, including for hiring and admissions, asking the school to exchange them for “merit-based” policies.
Garber called the demands “unprecedented,” denouncing them as an attempt by the federal government “to control the Harvard community” by policing the viewpoints of the students, faculty and staff. The university informed Trump’s administration through legal counsel that it will not accept the terms.
“It makes clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner,” Garber said. “Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the ‘intellectual conditions’ at Harvard.”
In a letter issued to the administration, lawyers for the university say it is “committed to fighting antisemitism and other forms of bigotry in its community,” but that the Trump administration’s demands “invade university freedoms long recognized by the Supreme Court.”
“The government’s terms also circumvent Harvard’s statutory rights by requiring unsupported and disruptive remedies for alleged harms that the government has not proven through mandatory processes established by Congress and required by law,” the letter reads.
The Trump administration has made similar demands of other universities across the country in what it says are efforts to combat antisemitism and other ideological views that they disagree with.
Last month, Columbia University agreed to a list of nine demands from the administration, including banning students from wearing masks at protests, hiring 36 new campus security officers who can arrest students and appointing a new senior vice provost to oversee the department of Middle East, South Asian and African Studies.
The administration had canceled $400 million in federal funding to the school, accusing it of “inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
Yasmin Vossoughian, Antonia Hylton, Lisa Rubin and Yasmeen Persaud contributed.