Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday announced the cancellation of more than $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 Wednesday press release that Noem unveiled the discontinuation of two grants from the department to Harvard worth more than $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 Monday.
“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 Monday.
The Trump administration said later Monday that around $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 $800,303, “branded conservatives as far-right dissidents in a shockingly skewed study” and the other, worth $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 late Wednesday, 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 $2.2 billion in grants and $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.”
“We continue to stand by that statement. We will continue to comply with the law and expect the Administration to do the same. Harvard values the rule of law and expects all members of our community to comply with University policies and applicable legal standards,” the spokesperson added.
Updated at 10:25 p.m. EDT
