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Three federal agencies are reviewing nearly $9 billion in contracts and grants between the government and Harvard University over the school’s response to antisemitism. The departments of Education; Health and Human Services; and the US General Services Administration announced Monday they are reviewing $8.7 billion in grants and more than $255 million worth of contracts between Harvard, its affiliates and the federal government, according to a news release.
“Harvard has served as a symbol of the American Dream for generations – the pinnacle aspiration for students all over the world to work hard and earn admission to the storied institution,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement. “Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from anti-Semitic 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.
” CNN has reached out to Harvard for comment. The review is the latest effort of a federal task force to combat antisemitism on college campuses after a spate of high-profile incidents around the country in response to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. Last week, Columbia University announced policy changes in response to the Trump administration’s revocation of $400 million in federal funding following campus protests.
“Columbia’s compliance with the Task Force’s preconditions is only the first step in rehabilitating its relationship with the government, and more importantly, its students and faculty,” the ED, HHS and GSA said in a release at the time. They called Columbia’s moves a “positive first step.” Also last week, an interim dean dismissed the director of Harvard’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies as well as his deputy over the “lack of balance” in programming about Palestine, according to the American Association of University Professors’ Harvard chapter.
“Given the wide range of programming (the Center for Middle Eastern Studies) has conducted over the past three years, it is troubling that the university would dismiss a center’s leadership because they hosted two recent events that have been criticized as lacking ‘balance,’” AAUP said in a statement. Earlier this month, the Anti-Defamation League released an updated report card assessing how US colleges combat antisemitism and protect Jewish students. Harvard University received a C, moving up two grades from an F the year before.
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