‘Unlawful’, Obama slams Trump’s $2.3bn Harvard funding freeze

The US government has frozen the funding of 2.3 billion Dollars to Harvard University after the institution rejected the Trump administration’s demand to dismantle its diversity, equity, and inclusion programmes. The development came after the US Education Department sent a letter on Friday with a list of demands to fight antisemitism on campus, including changes to governance, hiring practices, and admissions procedures. In response, Harvard President Alan Garber accused the administration of overreach and asserted that no government should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and enquiry they can pursue. Former US President Barack Obama has spoken out in support of Harvard University amid the Trump administration's controversial decision to freeze over $2.3 billion in federal funding. The freeze, which includes $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in multi-year contracts, was imposed following accusations that Harvard failed to comply with civil rights directives and fostered a climate of antisemitism and ideological bias.Obama, in a post on X praised Harvard for resisting what he called an "unlawful and ham-handed attempt" to suppress academic freedom.

Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions – rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking concrete steps to make sure all students at Harvard can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and… https://t.co/gAu9UUqgjF

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) April 15, 2025

Trump said Harvard "should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity" if the elite college does not agree to his demands for the college to change how it runs itself, which would include a selection of students and authority for professors. Tax-exempt status is "totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST," he said in the post on Truth Social. In a letter to students and faculty, Harvard president Alan Garber vowed to defy the government and said that the school would not "negotiate over its independence or its constitutional rights." The institution said it will not comply with demands issued by the Trump administration as they are "in contravention of the First Amendment," and "invade university freedoms long recognised by the Supreme Court."