Timeline: Harvard vs Trump
The protests and lawsuits that led to Trump's demands, and Harvard's refusal to accept them as the IRS considers whether to end the school's tax-exempt status
It was no surprise Monday when the Trump administration quickly froze more than $2 billion in grants and a $60 million contract for Harvard after the school refused to accept a list of demands as a condition of receiving federal funding.
But it couldn’t end there. After all, it’s well established that President Trump doesn’t like to be told no. Sure enough, he came through Tuesday morning.
It only took a day for the first reports that the IRS plans to follow through with Trump’s threat.
CNN relies on “two sources familiar with the matter,” and says a final decision is “expected soon.”
The New York Times relies on three sources who say the IRS is “weighing whether to revoke Harvard’s tax exemption,” and two of those sources say that “IRS officials have told colleagues” that the Treasury Department asked the agency to consider doing it.
Harvard has been classified as a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization since tax reform legislation was passed in 1969. As a nonprofit, the school has been exempt from taxes for most of its history under previous tax legislation or local exemptions, although Harvard does make voluntary payments to local governments in lieu of property taxes.
It wasn’t until 1986 that educational institutions were specifically exempt from IRS code. Here’s the justification for that from the Association of American Universities:
The educational purposes of universities and colleges – teaching, research, and public service – have been recognized in federal law as critical to the well-being of our democratic society. Higher education institutions are in turn exempted from income tax so they can make the most of their revenues.
Needless to say, a lot has happened at Harvard since Oct. 7, 2023, that has been the antithesis of that high-minded reasoning, incidents like this from Oct. 18, 2023:
It’s not exactly a closing argument that a college deserves tax-exempt status when the school tells students that using the wrong pronouns is abusive, but its president isn’t so sure when it comes to calling for the genocide of Jews just a few days after students interrupted classes to chant “Globalize the Intifada.”
It’s also not a good look for a school that received — according to a lawsuit — at least $1.3 million in federal money from 2022 - 2023 even though it has an endowment of $50.7 billion.
Harvard has made changes since the fall of 2023 to prove its antisemitic credentials. One example: last May the school gave academic sanctions to 35 pro-Palestinian protesters.
But the White House says Harvard hasn’t gone far enough. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says Trump “wants to see Harvard apologize, and Harvard should apologize for the egregious antisemitism that took place on their college campus against Jewish American students.”
Here’s a timeline of other events on the path to this standoff between Harvard and Trump:
Jan. 10, 2024
Six students file a lawsuit against Harvard for its “antisemitism cancer.” The lawsuit says Harvard hires professors who support anti-Jewish violence and ignores Jewish students’ pleas for protection:
Those professors teach and advocate through a binary oppressor-oppressed lens, through which Jews, one of history’s most persecuted peoples, are typically designated “oppressor,” and therefore unworthy of support or sympathy. Harvard permits students and faculty to advocate, without consequence, the murder of Jews and the destruction of Israel, the only Jewish country in the world. Meanwhile, Harvard requires students to take a training class that warns that they will be disciplined if they engage in sizeism, fatphobia, racism, transphobia, or other disfavored behavior.
The lawsuit gives examples of anti-semitism at Harvard going back several years and says the school’s “deliberate indifference to, and indeed enabling of, antisemitism on its campus constitutes an egregious violation” of the Civil Rights Act.
January 29, 2024
The Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) files a federal complaint against Harvard with the Office of Civil Rights on behalf of Muslim and Palestinian students.
“We have been chased, spat at, stalked, and hounded by doxxing trucks on campus, and even at our families’ homes,” says a student in a press release announcing the complaint.
The MLFA also has a complaint that’s similar to what’s in the lawsuit filed by Jewish students: “Instead of providing protection or resources, Harvard responded to the students’ requests for help with closed doors,” the MLFA says.
May 18, 2024
Two Harvard graduate students are charged with misdemeanor counts of assault and battery and violating the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act over the Oct. 18, 2023, incident in which they and others surrounded an Israeli student filming protesters. Students repeatedly yell “Shame” as they surround him. The Civil Rights Act charge has since been dismissed, but the assault and battery charges remain.
May 22, 2024
Another lawsuit is filed against Harvard over antisemitism. The lawsuit is filed on behalf of five students by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and Jewish Americans for Fairness in Education. From the lawsuit:
Jews are fair game. Students and faculty can harass and discriminate against Jews, and they can do so openly and with impunity. Harvard will go out of its way to protect antisemitic protestors and conspiracy-theorists.
The Israeli student who was surrounded by pro-Palestinian protesters on Oct. 18, 2023, is among the plaintiffs.
“The assailants grabbed him, and one hit him in the neck with his forearm, before forcing [him] out of Harvard’s quad,” the lawsuit says.
The video of the assault is shocking. But more remarkable perhaps is that Harvard has not taken any action to date to redress both the physical assault and the clear violations of its Anti-Bullying and Anti-Discrimination Policies. Instead, it cited an ongoing criminal investigation into [the} assailants and claimed that it is “standard practice” to await the criminal process—yet another contrived excuse.
Oct. 8, 2024
Shortly after a vigil commemorating the first anniversary of the October 7 terrorist attacks, a vandal smashes the windows of Harvard’s University Hall and pours fake blood on the statue of John Harvard. A video of the vandalism is posted to Instagram with the following caption: “We are committed to bringing the war home and answering the call to open up a new front here in the belly of the beast.”
January 17, 2025
Harvard settles the Office of Civil Rights complaint filed by Muslim students. A letter from OCR attorneys says:
OCR is concerned that the University’s Non-Discrimination Policy appears to impede its ability to meet its obligations pursuant to Title VI to provide a prompt and effective response to incidents of shared ancestry harassment that create a hostile environment about which it knew or should have known.
The OCR finds that “the Policy may preclude or dismiss complaints of a discriminatory hostile environment in violation of its obligations under Title VI” of the Civil Rights Act.
The letter says Harvard agrees to implement a resolution agreement.
January 21, 2025
Harvard settles both lawsuits accusing it of antisemitism, although the lead plaintiff in the one case, Alexander “Shabbos” Kestenbaum, refuses to settle.
Harvard agrees to:
Adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and include examples aligned with the Office of Civil Rights in the Department of Education.
Post online a Frequently Asked Questions document that clarifies both Jewish and Israeli identity are covered by Harvard’s non-discrimination and anti-bullying policies.
Reaffirm at least annually that anti-Semitism will not be tolerated.
January 27, 2025
Acting Budget Director Matthew Vaeth directs federal agencies to temporarily freeze all federal grants and loans to ensure they comply with recent executive orders, including one that targets DEI programs.
The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.
Harvard President Alan Garber says some federal research will have to stop. He adds:
In these challenging times, our efforts will be guided by our values and commitments: supporting academic excellence and the pursuit of knowledge; championing open inquiry, constructive dialogue, and academic freedom; building a community in which people of all backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences come together to learn, grow, and thrive; and embracing the rights and responsibilities that membership in such a community demands.
The following day, a federal judge issues a ruling that temporarily blocks the funding freeze, and issues a preliminary injunction the following month.
March 31, 2025
The Trump Administration announces that its Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism will review $9 billion in federal grants and contracts with Harvard.
Secretary of Education Linda McMahon says in a prepared statement:
Harvard’s failure to protect students on campus from anti-Semitic discrimination — all while promoting divisive ideologies over free inquiry - has put its reputation in serious jeopardy. Harvard can right these wrongs and restore itself to a campus dedicated to academic excellence and truth-seeking, where all students feel safe on its campus.
Garber addresses the review in an email titled “Our Resolve” to "members of the Harvard Community.”
“If this funding is stopped, it will halt life-saving research and imperil important scientific research and innovation,” Garber writes.
The government has informed us that they are considering this action because they are concerned that the University has not fulfilled its obligations to curb and combat antisemitic harassment. We fully embrace the important goal of combatting antisemitism, one of the most insidious forms of bigotry. Urgent action and deep resolve are needed to address this serious problem that is growing across America and around the world. It is present on our campus. I have experienced antisemitism directly, even while serving as president, and I know how damaging it can be to a student who has come to learn and make friends at a college or university.
April 11, 2025
The Trump Administration sends a letter to Garber that says Harvard must uphold civil rights and foster “the kind of environment that produces intellectual creativity and scholarly rigor” if it's to continue receiving federal money:
Harvard has in recent years failed to live up to both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment.
The letter sets conditions for federal funding to continue. The full list of demands is in the letter above. They include:
Governance reforms that reduce the power held by students and non-tenured faculty, and reduce the power of any professor or administrator “more committed to activism than scholarship.”
Implementation of merit-based hiring policies and cease basing any hiring, promotion, or salary based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
Implement merit-based admissions policies and end “all preferences” based on race, color, and national origin. In addition, “all admissions data shall be shared with the federal government and subjected to a comprehensive audit by the federal government.”
Implement a system for screening international students to “prevent admitting
students hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, including students supportive of terrorism or anti-Semitism.” This demand calls for Harvard to immediately report to federal authorities any foreign student who commits a conduct violation.
Ensure viewpoint diversity:
Every department or field found to lack viewpoint diversity must be reformed by hiring a critical mass of new faculty within that department or field who will provide viewpoint diversity; every teaching unit found to lack viewpoint diversity must be reformed by admitting a critical mass of students who will provide viewpoint diversity.
Audit of programs and departments “that most fuel antisemitic harassment or reflect ideological capture.”
The letter names departments that would be subject to the audit: the Divinity School, Graduate School of Education, School of Public Health, Medical School, Religion and Public Life Program, FXB Center for Health & Human Rights, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Carr Center for Human Rights at the Harvard Kennedy School, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, and the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic.
The [audit] shall include information as to individual faculty members who discriminated against Jewish or Israeli students or incited students to violate Harvard's rules following October 7, and the University and federal government will cooperate to determine appropriate sanctions for those faculty members within the bounds of academic freedom and the First Amendment.
April 14, 2025
Harvard responds to the Trump administration through a letter from its attorneys. It notes changes the school has made in the past 15 months and says the government has made demands that “in contravention of the First Amendment, invade university freedoms long recognized by the Supreme Court.”
No less objectionable is the condition, first made explicit in the letter of March 31 , 2025, that Harvard accede to these terms or risk the loss of billions of dollars in federal funding critical to vital research and innovation that has saved and improved lives and allowed Harvard to play a central role in making our country's scientific, medical, and other research communities the standard-bearers for the world. These demands extend not only to Harvard but to separately incorporated and independently operated medical and research hospitals engaging in life-saving work on behalf of their patients. The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government. Accordingly, Harvard will not accept the government's terms as an agreement in principle.
The Trump Administration’s Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism responds by announcing a freeze on $2.2 billion in grants and a $60 million contract.
Harvard’s statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges – that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws.
May 5, 2025
In a letter to Garber, McMahon writes that Harvard “should no longer seek GRANTS from the federal government, since none will be provided.”
She says that Harvard is “engaging in a systemic pattern of violating federal law” instead of using public money “to advance the education of its students.”
Harvard University has made a mockery of this country’s higher education system. It has invited foreign students, who engage in violent behavior and show contempt for the United States of America, to its campus. In every way, Harvard has failed to abide by its legal obligations, its ethical and fiduciary duties, its transparency responsibilities, and any semblance of academic rigor. It had scrapped standardized testing requirements and a normalized grading system. This year Harvard was forced to adopt an embarrassing “remedial math” program for undergraduates. Why is it, we ask, that Harvard has to teach simple and basic mathematics, when it is supposedly so hard to get into this “acclaimed university”? Who is getting in under such a low standard when others, with fabulous grades and a great understanding of the highest levels of mathematics, are being rejected?
The letter also accuses Harvard of not abiding by the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling that struck down race-conscious admissions policies
McMahon says that the university can drawn upon its vast endowment and network of wealthy alumni for future funding.
May 12, 2025
Garber responds to McMahon with a letter of his own. He notes changes that Harvard has made, and a “shared interest” with McMahon to ensure American universities are “global leaders in innovative and life-saving research that benefits all Americans, boosts the national economy, and serves the country’s interests.”
Harvard’s efforts to achieve these goals are undermined and threatened by the federal government’s overreach into the constitutional freedoms of private universities and its continuing disregard of Harvard’s compliance with the law. It ignores the many meaningful steps we have taken and will continue to take to live up to our principles and improve the lives of people across the country and throughout the world. That is why we have gone to court to address the government’s unlawful attempt to control fundamental aspects of our university’s operations. Consistent with the law and with our own values, we continue to pursue needed reforms, doing so in consultation with our stakeholders and always in compliance with the law. But Harvard will not surrender its core, legally-protected principles out of fear of unfounded retaliation by the federal government.
Garber also says Harvard has an “unwavering commitment” to eliminating antisemitism and bigotry on campus.
May 22, 2025
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem informs Harvard it can no longer enroll international students. She made the announcement on X, saying she’s ordered DHS to terminate Harvard’s certification from the Student and Exchange Visitor Program.
Harvard spokesman Jason Newton tells the New York Times that the action is “unlawful.”
We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard’s ability to host our international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the university — and this nation — immeasurably. We are working quickly to provide guidance and support to members of our community. This retaliatory action threatens serious harm to the Harvard community and our country, and undermines Harvard’s academic and research mission.
International students make up 27% of Harvard’s enrollment.
May 23, 2025
U.S. District Court Judge Allison Burroughs grants Harvard a temporary restraining order to prohibit the foreign student ban from taking effect until a hearing is held.
May 28, 2025
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons sends a followup letter to Harvard that says DHS has “serious concerns” that the school has “coordinated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and other foreign entities adverse to national security.”
The evidence DHS lists in the letter:
Harvard University Received $151 Million From Foreign Governments Since January 2020 - making up more than 13 percent of the total $1.1 billion received from foreign donors over the same period.
Harvard University hosted and trained members of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (XPCC), a CCP paramilitary group complicit in the Uyghur genocide, even after its 2020 designation on the U.S. Treasury's Specially Designated Nationals List, with engagements continuing as recently as 2024.
Harvard University researchers collaborated with China-based academics on projects funded by an Iranian government agent and partnered with Chinese universities tied to military advancements, including aerospace and optics research, using U.S. Department of Defense funds.
Harvard University partnered with individuals linked to China's defense-industrial base, including conducting robotics research with military applications.
Lyons also lists examples of what he says are Harvard’s failure to maintain an environment free from violence and antisemitism.
The “effective immediately” language in Noem’s letter the previous week is absent. Instead, Lyons says the letter “advises” Harvard of the Student and Exchange Visitor Program’s “intent to withdraw” the school from SEVP’s certification program. Harvard has 30 days to respond.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Claudine Gay still makes a million per year at Harvard. They continue violating federal law with stealth DEI and affirmative action. Time for the $50 billion endowment to pay taxes and cover more of the operating costs of the woke jihad madrassa.
Meanwhile, Columbia has appointed a former CNN propagandist as its new president: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/claire-shipman-columbia-president
It never dawned on the left that the Civil Rights Act, which Obama used to push the Great Awokening on the institutions could be used by a Republican to undo the Great Awokening.