DOE Cuts Off $89MM Harvard Grant amid Stand-Off with Trump

Harvard has lost about $89 million more in federal funding, this time from the Department of Energy (DOE), as the university defies demands from the Trump administration over its purported inaction on anti-Israeli bias on campus.

The DOE action follows the Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism’s freeze of $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in multi-year contracts to Harvard, announced April 14, and was taken in coordination with the termination of $450 million in grants from eight government agencies.

Earlier on March 31 the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services and the General Services Administration jointly announced a review of Harvard contracts and grants from the federal government, threatening to cut off around $9 billion in multi-year commitments.

“DOE understands that Harvard University continues to engage in race discrimination, including in its admission process, and in other areas of student life, such as access to the Law Review at Harvard Law School”, DOE told Harvard president Alan Garber in a letter, partly shared in an online statement Thursday confirming the termination of the grant from DOE’s Office of Science and Advanced Research Projects Agency.

“We are also aware of recent events at Harvard involving antisemitic action that suggest the institution has a disturbing lack of concern for the safety and wellbeing of Jewish students.

“Harvard’s ongoing inaction in the face of repeated and severe harassment and targeting of Jewish students has ground day-to-day campus operations to a halt, deprived Jewish students of learning and research opportunities to which they are entitled, and brought shame upon the University and our nation as a whole”.

DOE cited a study by the university in which it acknowledged some of its schools, as per the words of the study report, “politicized instruction that mainstreamed and normalized what many Jewish and Israeli students experience as antisemitism and anti-Israeli bias”.

“Therefore, based on the available information, DOE has concluded that no modification of the Harvard projects could align the projects with agency priorities and any continued funding of the projects is inconsistent with DOE’s stewardship of American taxpayer funds and would be inconsistent with the DOE’s overall mission and goals”, the statement said.

The DOE said the grant termination results in immediate savings of $7 million to the American taxpayer.

Rigzone emailed the Office of the University President and Harvard Public Affairs and Communications for comment on the DOE’s grant termination.

On May 12, Garber wrote to Education Secretary Linda McMahon saying Harvard has sued “to address the government’s unlawful attempt to control fundamental aspects of our university’s operations”.

“I believe that Harvard must foster an academic environment that encourages freedom of thought and expression, and that we should embrace a multiplicity of viewpoints rather than focusing our attention on narrow orthodoxies”, the Harvard president said.

“Harvard will not surrender its core, legally-protected principles out of fear of unfounded retaliation by the federal government”, Garber declared.

The letter, published on the university website, said Harvard keeps seeking improvements “to uphold the highest standards of academic excellence, combat antisemitism and all forms of discrimination, ensure ethical governance, and continue our efforts to improve all of our activities”.

“Admission to any of Harvard’s schools is based on academic excellence and promise, including measures such as grades and the standardized test scores required for undergraduate applicants”, Garber insisted. “In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions and before admitting the next class, we took additional steps across the university to ensure compliance with the law.

“We continue to refine our efforts to identify and admit students who will contribute to our academic community through their openness and capacity for constructive dialogue and civil discourse. We also seek to identify other aspects of talent and excellence”.

Garber added, “Employment at Harvard is similarly based on merit and achievement … We do not have quotas, whether based on race or ethnicity or any other characteristic. We do not employ ideological litmus tests. We do not use diversity, equity, and inclusion statements in our hiring decisions”.

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