Harvard University says it will not comply with Trump administration's demands amid funding threats

Harvard University on Monday announced that it will not comply with demands from the Trump administration, even as the administration threatens to withhold federal funding.

The Trump administration has been conducting probes at elite universities over their alleged handling of antisemitism on their campuses. It has already reduced some of its funding for schools like Princeton, where students participated in protests last year.

Harvard President Alan Garber told the university in an email that it has received an updated list of demands from the current administration, which includes reforming its acceptance of international students who are "hostile to the American values and institutions."

"It makes clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner," Garber said. "Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the 'intellectual conditions' at Harvard."

Another demand was allowing the government to audit programs offered at the school "that most fuel antisemitic harassment or reflect ideological capture."

Garber claimed that the demands were "unprecedented" and were a federal overreach because the government was trying to control the school. He added that the university has formally rejected the demands through legal counsel.

"The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights," the university wrote in a post to X. "Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government."

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