President Donald Trump on Friday mentioned he would strip Harvard College of its tax-exempt standing, as a battle between his administration and the Ivy League faculty continues.
The White Home has threatened to tug funding from Ivy League faculties over alleged anti-Semitism at campuses and for selling range, fairness, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, amongst different measures. Harvard filed a lawsuit in opposition to the Trump administration over funding that was blocked.
Trump previewed eradicating the college’s tax-exempt standing in feedback final month.
“Tax-exempt standing, I imply, that’s a privilege. It’s actually a privilege. And it’s been abused. By much more than Harvard, too,” he advised reporters within the Oval Workplace, whereas additionally mentioning Princeton College and Columbia College, additionally Ivy League faculties.
“It’s one thing that these faculties actually must be very, very cautious with.”
In mid-April, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard and $60 million in contracts to Harvard College, after the varsity mentioned it could defy the Trump administration’s calls for to restrict activism on campus.
Harvard President Alan Garber mentioned on the time that his faculty wouldn’t adhere to the federal government’s calls for.
However earlier this week, Harvard pledged reforms in response to a pair of inside experiences on anti-Semitism and anti-Arab prejudice on the Ivy League campus following final yr’s anti-Israel protests amid an ongoing warfare between Israeli forces and the Hamas terrorist group that began in October 2023.
“We are going to redouble our efforts to make sure that the College is a spot the place concepts are welcomed, entertained and contested within the spirit of in search of reality,” Garber wrote.
The president has additionally steered that his administration might goal different teams’ tax-exempt standing, not simply universities. In final month’s Oval Workplace trade with reporters, Trump particularly named the Residents for Accountability and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a progressive nonprofit group.
“It’s purported to be a charitable group,” Trump mentioned concerning CREW. “The one charity that they had goes after Donald Trump. So we’re that. We’re a variety of issues.”
The Related Press contributed to this report.