Treasury Dept urges IRS to rescind Harvard's tax-exempt status as DHS pulls $2 million in grants

The Treasury Department on Wednesday urged the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to pull Harvard University's tax-exempt status, as the Trump administration feuds with the Ivy League school over its handling of antisemitism on campus.

President Donald Trump recommended the IRS rescind the school's tax-exempt status on Tuesday, after it declined to comply with changes requested by the government. The administration has already frozen $2.2 billion in federal grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard over the feud. 

“Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’” Trump wrote Tuesday in a post on Truth Social. “Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!”

The IRS is the only agency authorized to grant or rescind tax-exempt status. The designation is typically given to non-profits, social welfare and religious groups, and some educational institutions if they fit certain criteria. But organizations given the status are not allowed to engage in political activity. 

Sources have told the Washington Post that acting IRS chief counsel Andrew De Mello has received the request, but he has not made a decision on whether to implement it. 

The recommendation comes the same day that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced her department was canceling $2.7 million in grants to the school, and asked for “detailed records on Harvard’s foreign student visa holders’ illegal and violent activities."

“Harvard bending the knee to antisemitism — driven by its spineless leadership — fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security,” Noem said in a news release. 

“With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory," she continued. "America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars."

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.