Education

Trump Threatens to Redirect $3 Billion in Harvard Grants to Trade Schools

MAY 26 2025·Updated MAY 27 2025

Story

Above: A view of the Harvard University campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 24, 2025. Image credit: Ziyu Julian Zhu/Contributor/Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images

The Facts

President Donald Trump announced Monday on Truth Social that he is considering taking $3 billion in grant money away from Harvard University and redistributing it to trade schools across the United States, calling such a move a "great investment."
Washingtonexaminer
CBS News
Politico
The Trump administration has already frozen approximately $3 billion in federal grants to Harvard in recent weeks, with most of the funding originally appropriated by Congress for biomedical research through agencies including the National Institutes of Health, Department of Energy, and Department of Defense.
Bloomberg.com
Reuters
CNBC
The Department of Homeland Security revoked Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification last week, effectively blocking the university from enrolling international students, who comprise 27% of its total enrollment of nearly 6,800 foreign students.
Reuters
CNBC
The Hill
A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration's foreign student enrollment ban on Friday after Harvard filed a lawsuit alleging violations of the First Amendment, due process clause, and Administrative Procedure Act.
CNBC
The Hill
Washingtonexaminer
The administration's actions stem from demands that Harvard address antisemitism concerns, eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, change hiring and admissions practices, and provide lists of foreign students, which Harvard has refused to comply with since April.
Newsweek
USA Today
CBS News
Harvard has filed multiple federal lawsuits against the Trump administration, arguing that the funding cuts and policy demands are unconstitutional attacks on academic freedom and free speech rights, while the university maintains its hiring and admissions practices comply with federal law.
Newsweek
Reuters
CNBC

Sources Split

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The Spin

Pro-Trump narrative

Harvard has become a breeding ground for antisemitism and radical leftist ideology that threatens American values and national security. The university has repeatedly failed to protect Jewish students from harassment while hiring professors who indoctrinate students with dangerous anti-American sentiments. When the government demands basic accountability measures like transparency about foreign students and efforts to combat campus antisemitism, Harvard arrogantly refuses to comply and hides behind legal technicalities.

Breitbart

Daily Caller

Anti-Trump narrative

The Trump administration is launching an unprecedented assault on academic freedom and constitutional rights by weaponizing federal funding to force universities into political compliance. These actions represent an overreach that violates the First Amendment and due process protections, as the government attempts to dictate curriculum, faculty hiring, and student admissions. Harvard's refusal to surrender its academic independence is a principled stand against illegal government interference.

The Harvard Crimson