Trump administrator cuts off new research funding to Harvard

Education Secretary Linda McMahon wrote in a bubble letter to the institution that Harvard will not receive any new grants.

“Harvard will no longer be a publicly funded institution, but can operate as a privately funded institution, drawing on its enormous donations and raising funds from wealthy alumni,” McMahon wrote. “You have a start of about $53 billion, mostly due to the fact that you live in the United States of America and its free market system and benefit from the prosperity you teach students to despise.”

McMahon did not specify what grant she referred to in the letter she sent Monday night, but other media reported that the Trump administration is removing Harvard from its new research grant.

The move escalated the Trump administration’s war with Harvard University. The government freezes $2.26 billion of Harvard’s estimated $9 billion in grants and contracts after the university rejects a comprehensive request. Harvard then filed a lawsuit. Trump also threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-free status and its ability to enroll.

The letter did not cite any legal mandates to cut off new funding from Harvard, so it is unclear whether McMahon could follow her threat.

McMahon accused Harvard of failing to comply with federal law and “with any strict academic similarity.” She also raised questions about why universities offer introductory math courses to address the loss of pandemic learning and criticized the decision to abolish standardized testing requirements.

“We ask why Harvard had to teach simple and basic mathematics when it was said to be difficult to get into this “famous university”? When others were rejected with excellent grades and the highest level of math, who could be rejected at such a low standard?” McMahon wrote.

Overall, Harvard “dreamed about the country’s higher education system,” she wrote, referring in part to theft allegations against the former president of the university. For McMahon, this shows “evidence for Harvard’s disastrous management” and “an urgent need for large-scale reforms.”

Trump administration officials told politics To restore the flow of federal funds, Harvard “must negotiate with the government to make the government comply with all federal laws.” (The government has not released any findings or evidence that Harvard does not comply with federal laws, although many charges have been made by officials.)

McMahon wrote that the government’s requirements for its “common sense” reforms, such as performance-based admissions and employment decisions, and “end illegal programs that promote vulgar identity stereotypes.” She added that the changes “will promote the best interests of Harvard.”