The federal government froze more than $2.2 billion in grants to Harvard University after the school said it won't comply with a list of demands from the Trump administration over alleged violations of civil rights laws.
The White House claims its demands are needed to fight antisemitism on campus, but in a letter the administration sent to Harvard on Friday, it gives a list of demands that goes far beyond that. The administration calls for governance and leadership reforms at the school, changes to hiring and admissions policies and the discontinuation of DEI programs.
Ted Mitchell, the president of the American Council on Education, says the federal government can't dictate how universities operate.
"I think it's appropriate for the federal government to uphold things like civil rights laws," Mitchell said. "We need them to do that. But their job is to say, 'Here's the end we need to pursue,' not to prescribe the means."
Harvard's president Alan Garber responded to the administration in a letter on Monday.
"The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights," Garber wrote. "No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue."
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Lawrence Summers, a former Harvard University president and Director of the National Economic Council under President Obama, said universities can do better, but disagrees with the Trump administration's approach.
"Universities are in need of a great deal of reform, and it's come too slowly," Summers said in an interview with CNN. "But that's not a reason why the government can entirely suspend the law and make up self-serving political demands."
Harvard was among 60 schools on a list of colleges and universities that the Department of Education warned last month that it would investigate for antisemitic discrimination and harassment.
The White House says Harvard has failed to protect Jewish students on campus.
"When it comes to Harvard, the president's position on this is grounded in common sense in the basic principle that Jewish American students or students of any faith should not be illegally harassed and targeted on our nation's college campuses," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday. "We unfortunately saw that illegal discrimination take place on the campus of Harvard."
Garber said Harvard has "made it abundantly clear that we do not take lightly our moral duty to fight antisemitism."
But he says the government is not a cooperating partner in that fight.
"(The government) makes clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner," he wrote. "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."
Harvard is not the administration's only target. It has also paused federal funding for schools including the University of Pennsylvania, Princeton, Cornell and Northwestern University.
Columbia University has been discussing policy changes after the Trump administration threatened to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding to it.
On Monday, Columbia's acting president Claire Shipman said the school is involved in discussions with the Federal Task Force to Combat Antisemitism. But Shipman said the school "would reject any agreement that would require us to relinquish our independence and autonomy as an educational institution."
