CNN
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Harvard University received a letter from a federal task force Thursday outlining policy demands tied to nearly $9 billion in federal funding, a university spokesperson told CNN.
“Harvard received the letter from the federal task force this afternoon,” the spokesperson said in an email to CNN.
Among the demands outlined in the letter are the elimination of Harvard’s diversity, equity and inclusion programs and a ban on masks at campus protests, The Harvard Crimson, a student-run newspaper, and other outlets reported.
The demands also include “full cooperation” with the Department of Homeland Security, which enforces immigration policy, and federal regulators to ensure “full compliance,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Crimson.
The letter was received days after 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.
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.
After Harvard received notification of the review on Monday, President Alan Garber said if the funding were revoked, it would “halt life-saving research and imperil important scientific research and innovation.”
“We fully embrace the important goal of combatting antisemitism, one of the most insidious forms of bigotry,” Garber said in a statement to the Harvard community. He also said the school “strengthened our rules and our approach to disciplining those who violate them” over the past 15 months as part of the effort to address antisemitism.
Days before the review’s announcement, nearly 800 Harvard faculty members sent a letter to the Harvard Corporation and Board of Overseers urging the school to resist demands from the Trump administration and publicly condemn its attacks on the nation’s universities.
“Ongoing attacks on American universities threaten bedrock principles of a democratic society, including rights of free expression, association, and inquiry,” the letter reads.
A similar review of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion policies is also underway at Brown University, where the administration could cut more than $500 million in federal funding, a White House official told CNN Thursday.
A spokesperson for Brown University told CNN the university “had no information to substantiate this.”
Columbia University was the first college to see its funding slashed – by $400 million – as part of the president’s threats to cut federal money to colleges accused of tolerating antisemitism amid the Israel-Hamas war that began in October 2023. The school has repeatedly stated it will not tolerate antisemitism.
Columbia then announced sweeping policy changes in late March, making apparent concessions following President Donald Trump’s revocation of federal funding over campus protests.
The Trump administration also paused $175 million in federal funding to the University of Pennsylvania and placed more than $9 billion in contracts and grants under review at Harvard University in March.
