Trump to end US$100-million federal contracts with Harvard University

Business Times

27-05-2025

[WASHINGTON] US President Donald Trump's administration is moving to cancel all remaining federal contracts with Harvard University, marking the latest escalation of its battle against the oldest and richest US school.
Federal Acquisition Service Commissioner Josh Gruenbaum, in a letter seen by Bloomberg News, is directing federal agencies to review their contracts, terminate those that they deem not critical and transition to other vendors if necessary. The contracts are worth an estimated US$100 million, according to a person with knowlege of the matter, who asked not to named discussing the administration's moves.
'The US General Services Administration (GSA) is assisting all federal agencies in a review for termination or transition of their federal government contracts with Harvard University and affiliates,' the letter says. 'This review aligns with the Administration's directive that all federal contracted services steadfastly uphold and advance agency strategic priorities.'
The letter, first reported by the New York Times, asks agencies to report on their 'actions or intended actions with respect to each referenced contract' by Jun 6.
Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Trump administration has already moved to freeze funding and block Harvard's ability to enrol international students in an intensifying battle over what the president has cast as a failure by the university and other academic institutions to crack down on antisemitism, and part of a broader campaign against diversity efforts and left-wing bias.
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Administration officials are pressuring schools including Columbia, Cornell, Northwestern and other elite universities to institute broad policy changes, raising concerns over academic freedom, free speech and government interference.
Harvard has been front and centre in the White House's campaign, with the administration suspending more than US$2.6 billion in federal research money and saying the school will not be able to receive new funding. Trump has also repeatedly called for Harvard to lose its tax-exempt status, which would have significant financial implications, even with the school's US$53 billion endowment.
The government has sought a series of changes as a condition of continuing its financial relationship with the university. It has demanded the university remake its governance, transform admissions and faculty hiring – which the administration has called discriminatory – as well as stop admitting international students who officials say are hostile to American values.
The letter alleges that Harvard has continued to 'engage in race discrimination, including in its admissions process and in other areas of student life' and says that the government is 'aware of recent events at Harvard University involving anti-Semitic action that suggest the institution has a disturbing lack of concern for the safety and wellbeing of Jewish students.'
Gruenbaum referred to alleged discrimination at the Harvard Law Review. A federal task force recently called out the Review's award of a US$65,000 fellowship to a protester who faced criminal charges for assaulting a Jewish student on campus, a decision that the government claims was 'reviewed and approved' by a faculty committee.
Harvard president Alan Garber, who's Jewish, has apologised for Harvard's handling of antisemitism on campus and acknowledged that he has experienced prejudice himself at the school. But he has also said the extent of the government's demands show that 'the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism.' The university has sued the US government over the cuts to funding as well as the block on enrolling international students. The university last week won a temporary court order blocking the government from enforcing the foreign student ban.
'We needed to move quickly because the consequences of revocation of visas for our international students were dire,' Garber told the Harvard Gazette. There will be a court hearing this week where Harvard will seek to extend the restraining order, he said.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has argued that Harvard's responses to the government's requests to provide information about misconduct by foreign students were insufficient.
To regain its programme certification, Harvard was given 72 hours to provide six categories of information about foreign students over the past five years, including disciplinary records and video of those engaged in protests. Harvard still hasn't turned over the requested information.
Trump on Monday also threatened to also divert billions in grant dollars away from the university.
'I am considering taking Three billion US dollars of Grant Money away from a very antisemitic Harvard, and giving it to TRADE SCHOOLS all across our land,' Trump said in a post on social media. 'What a great investment that would be for the USA, and so badly needed!!!' BLOOMBERG