The information was revealed by the Wall Street Journal on April 20, in the context of the unprecedented confrontation between the government and the American academic community.
Not stopping at the "flattening" of 2.2 billion USD in multi-year sponsorship and 60 million USD in contracts announced by the Trump administration early last week, the new decision is proof that Harvard University is no longer "affiliated" as before. Previously, the Trump administration intended to do things more gently at Harvard than at Columbia University, which had to accept a policy change to keep federal funding.
The explosive atmosphere this time stems from Harvard's release of a letter from the government's Anti-Jews Working Group, a move that is believed to have angered the White House.
In the letter, the administration asked Harvard to accept a series of conditions such as allowing federal supervision of enrollment, recruitment, student and lecturer ideology; banning masks from protests; reforming the recruitment process based on achievements and reducing the authority of lecturers who are more oriented towards social activities than academics.
Professor Alan M. Garber, Acting President of Harvard University, frankly rejected the letter in response on September 11: We will not give up academic independence, nor sacrifice our constitutional rights.
Unlike Harvard, Columbia University made a concession last month. Faced with the threat of losing $400 million in funding due to its involvement in protests against the Middle East conflict, Columbia University immediately changed its disciplinary process, tightened protest control and reviewed the entire Middle East curriculum.
The Trump administration believes Harvard will follow in the same direction. But Harvard's strong reaction shows the opposite - this school is ready to enter an "academic front" against too deep intervention from the government.
Not only stopping at funding cuts, the White House is also directing the Tax Department (IRS) to prepare to revoke Harvard's nonprofit status - an unprecedented move for a top university in the US.
On the same day, the government also threatened to limit the admission of international students to Harvard - a heavy blow to the school's vital resources.
