Amid ongoing tensions between Harvard University and the Trump administration, US President Donald Trump hinted on Wednesday that his administration might halt future grants to the institution.
“And it looks like we are not going to be giving them any more grants, right Linda?” Trump remarked, addressing US Education Secretary Linda McMahon.
“A grant is at our discretion and they are really not behaving well. So it’s too bad,” Trump said.
On April 21, Harvard filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration after receiving letters demanding broad changes to its governance, leadership and admissions policies.
The administration also called for an audit of campus diversity views and the discontinuation of certain student clubs. It has argued that universities had failed to address antisemitism during campus protests against Israel’s actions in Gaza last year.
Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not bend to the demands.
Harvard presents the Trump administration’s first major hurdle in its attempt to force change at universities that Republicans say have become hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism.
Harvard’s suit called the funding freeze “arbitrary and capricious,” saying it violated its First Amendment rights and the statutory provisions of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
(With inputs from Associated Press and Reuters)
Also Read: Texas town set to become Elon Musk’s Starbase amid legal, public pushback
