The Trump administration will no longer provide federal research grants to Harvard University, with U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon informing Harvard in a letter, which was posted to X, that grants would be halted after a "comprehensive review" of roughly $9 billion in federal grants and contracts.
McMahon slammed the university for enrolling foreign-born students, for lowering its math standards and for "hateful discrimination."
"Harvard University has made a mockery of this country's higher education system," McMahon wrote in the letter. "It has invited foreign students, who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the United States of America, to its campus. In every way, Harvard has failed to abide by its legal obligations, its ethical and fiduciary duties, its transparency responsibilities, and any semblance of academic rigor."
Harvard University's research grants are frequently directed toward healthcare research. Funding comes from various sources, including federal grants like those from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and internal funding sources like the HBI ALS Seed Grant Program, which support research across a range of medical fields, including cancer immunotherapy, tuberculosis treatment and pandemic preparedness.
McMahon claimed that Harvard has failed to abide by a Supreme Court ruling ending racial preferencing, saying the university is engaging in "ugly racism" in its undergraduate and graduate schools.
Universities, she said, "should not be incubators of discrimination that encourage resentment and instill grievance and racism into our wonderful young Americans.
"Harvard should no longer seek GRANTS from the federal government, since none will be provided," wrote McMahon. "Harvard will cease to be a publicly funded institution, and can instead operate as a privately funded institution, drawing on its colossal endowment, and raising money from its large base of wealthy alumni."
The university responded, saying the administration "[doubled] down on demands that would impose unprecedented and improper control over Harvard University and would have chilling implications for higher education."
Harvard also implied that the action was retaliatory, made by the government in response to a lawsuit the university filed in April against several federal agencies, including the Department of Education and the Department of Health and Human Services.
That lawsuit seeks to stop other federal funding freezes, including $2.2 billion in multiyear grants, as well as research grants and contract payments from the National Institutes of Health.
"Harvard will continue to comply with the law, promote and encourage respect for viewpoint diversity, and combat antisemitism in our community," the university wrote. "Harvard will also continue to defend against illegal government overreach aimed at stifling research and innovation that make Americans safer and more secure."
THE LARGER TREND
Responding to the earlier funding freezes, Harvard wrote that the consequences would be "severe and long-lasting."
"Research that the government has put in jeopardy includes efforts to improve the prospects of children who survive cancer, to understand at the molecular level how cancer spreads throughout the body, to predict the spread of infectious disease outbreaks, and to ease the pain of soldiers wounded on the battlefield," Harvard said. "As opportunities to reduce the risk of multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease are on the horizon, the government is slamming on the brakes. The victims will be future patients and their loved ones who will suffer the heartbreak of illnesses that might have been prevented or treated more effectively."
Jeff Lagasse is editor of Healthcare Finance News.
Email: jlagasse@himss.org
Healthcare Finance News is a HIMSS Media publication.