The Trump administration ramped up its pressure on Harvard University on Tuesday with an unprecedented move: ordering all federal agencies to cancel their contracts with the institution. The financial blow, estimated at $100 million, is a manageable figure for the world’s wealthiest university, which holds an endowment of more than $53 billion. However, it’s part of a broader offensive that could cost Harvard an additional $3 billion in federal funding—on top of the $3.2 billion already frozen—and threatens its tax-exempt status.
The latest escalation comes as lawyers from both sides are set to face off in court in Boston before Judge Allison D. Burrough. Last Friday, the judge temporarily suspended a White House order issued the previous day that barred Harvard from admitting new international students. That order also revoked the F-1 and J-1 visas of currently enrolled foreign students, leaving them in legal limbo: forced to either transfer or risk deportation.
The controversial policy was announced in a letter sent last Thursday by Kristi Noem, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). In response, Harvard sued the federal government. At the center of the legal dispute are approximately 6,800 international students—roughly 27% of the university’s total enrollment.
The order to cut federal contracts also came by letter on Tuesday, this time from the General Services Administration. The document accuses Harvard of “continuing to engage in racial discrimination” in its admissions process and in other areas of campus life, claiming the university favors Black and Hispanic applicants over white and Asian ones.
The letter also condemns what it describes as a growing antisemitic climate on campus, citing Harvard’s “consistent inaction” in the face of harassment and attacks that, according to the administration, have disrupted academic life, deprived students of their educational rights, and “deeply alarmed” the general public. These claims are tied to pro-Palestinian protests that swept across U.S. campuses last academic year, including at Harvard, in response to Israel’s war in Gaza.
Harvard has acknowledged the existence of antisemitic and anti-Muslim incidents and, last month, university president Alan Garber pledged to do more to combat them. Still, the administration’s claim of widespread public alarm appears to be an exaggeration.
The letter also targets another battleground: Harvard Law Review, the university’s prestigious student-run journal. The administration alleges that the publication selects topics and authors based on “woke” ideological motivations—a recurring obsession in conservative circles.
On Monday, Trump added fuel to the fire on his social media platform, questioning why only the United States contributes to Harvard’s funding when, he claimed, “31%” of its students are foreign nationals—a figure that is demonstrably inflated. He went further, proposing to withdraw $3 billion in subsidies from what he called “a very antisemitic Harvard” and redirect the money to business schools across the country. He did not explain how he plans to execute such a transfer, which would likely be blocked by the courts.
According to university data, the five countries that send the most students to Harvard are China, Canada, India, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. Chinese students, in particular, have become a focal point for the administration’s criticism. In a stunning accusation, the DHS claimed last week that Harvard has been “facilitating and participating” in activities coordinated with the Chinese Communist Party, including the alleged training of members of a paramilitary group complicit in the Uyghur genocide.
“That’s a joke—just pretexts,” said Steven Levitsky, a prominent Harvard professor and co-author of the influential book How Democracies Die, in a phone interview last Friday, responding to the allegations.
At the heart of the latest dispute over the exchange program is a DHS request made in April for Harvard to share detailed data on its international students—particularly those involved in “dangerous” or “illegal” activities. In Thursday’s letter, Noem went even further, demanding that the university provide audio and video recordings of these students, captured both on and off campus. If the blanket visa suspension is enforced, it would also affect roughly 100 Israeli students, including some who opposed last year’s campus protests against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
As the clash between the Trump administration and Harvard intensifies, thousands of students remain caught in the middle of a political and cultural battle that has grown far beyond the university’s gates.
