• Threatens to strip the university of tax-exempt status
• Ivy-league institution hit with a $2.2bn freeze in federal funding

CAMBRIDGE: President Donald Trump escalated his war against elite US universities on Tuesday with a threat to strip Harvard’s tax-exempt status if the country’s most famous educational establishment refuses to submit to wide-ranging government oversight.

Harvard stands out for defying Trump, in contrast to several other universities and a string of powerful law firms that have folded under intense pressure from the White House in its crackdown on American institutions.

The threat of a major tax bill comes after Harvard already lost $2.2 billion in federal funding on Monday.

Trump said non-profit Harvard “should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity” if it does not submit to his demands for the college to change the way it runs itself, including selection of students and authority for professors.

Tax-exempt status is “totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST,” he added in the post on his Truth Social network.

Trump and his White House team have justified their pressure campaign on universities as a reaction to what they say is uncontrolled anti-Semitism and support for the Palestinian group Hamas.

Their allegations are based on controversy at protests against Israel’s war in Gaza that swept across campuses last year.

Columbia University in New York — an epicenter of the protests — stood down last month and agreed to oversight of its Middle Eastern department after being threatened with a loss of $400 million in federal funds.

The White House has strong-armed dozens of universities and colleges with threats to remove federal funding over their policies meant to encourage racial diversity among students and staff.

The White House has cited similarly ideological goals in its unprecedented crackdown on law firms, pressuring them to volunteer hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of legal work to support issues that Trump supports.

Harvard defiant

Harvard, the oldest and wealthiest university in the United States, is now the most prominent institution to resist Trump’s ever-growing bid for control.

The Trump administration is demanding that a wide range of Harvard departments come under outside supervision for potential anti-Semitism. It also seeks to require “viewpoint diversity” in student admissions and choice of professors.

Harvard President Alan Garber said the school would not “negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights”. “Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government,” he wrote.

The standoff likely sets up a long-running, high-profile fight.

Hard-line presidential advisors like Stephen Miller depict universities as bastions of anti-conservative forces that need to be brought to heel — a message that resonates strongly with Trump’s hard-right anti-elite base.

For Trump’s opponents, the Harvard refusal to bend marks a chance to draw a line in the sand against an authoritarian takeover.

“Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions — rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom,” former president Barack Obama wrote on X. “Let’s hope other institutions follow suit.”

The Harvard newspaper, The Crimson, applauded Garber’s defiance, saying “Harvard sent its clearest, most courageous message to date: Our values aren’t for sale.”

However, The Crimson warned, “Harvard cannot stand alone. Harvard faced a difficult choice: Lose billions in federal funding or sacrifice its centuries-old soul. It chose right. Now here’s hoping our peers follow suit.”

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2025