WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration plans to terminate the federal government’s remaining contracts with Harvard University, according to a letter sent to federal agencies on Tuesday.
The letter, from the U.S. General Services Administration, directs all federal agencies to review and potentially terminate or reallocate their contracts with Harvard, which an official valued at about $100 million.
Harvard did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The move marked the latest instance of the Republican administration attempting to undermine the financial stability and global standing of the oldest and wealthiest U.S. university after it pushed back on government demands for vast policy changes.
The government has already terminated nearly $3 billion in federal research grants for the Ivy League school and moved last week to revoke its ability to enroll international students. Those roughly 6,800 students make up about 27% of Harvard’s total enrollment.
A federal judge in Boston on Friday temporarily blocked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from revoking foreign student enrollment ahead of a Thursday hearing. During a brief hearing on Tuesday, a U.S. Department of Justice lawyer said the administration is complying with that order and was weighing its options.
Even so, the Trump administration has ordered its missions abroad to stop scheduling new appointments for student and exchange visitor visa applicants.
Several hundred demonstrators, including Harvard students and teachers, gathered at the university on Tuesday to show support for foreign students and protest the Trump funding cuts.
Following graduation events led by Harvard President Alan Garber, one of the protesting students, Jacob Miller, climbed onto a makeshift stage and said the ban on international enrollments had nothing to do with combating antisemitism, which was given as one of the official reasons for the crackdown on foreign students.
“We will not allow our identities to be invoked to destroy Harvard,“ said Miller, who is Jewish. “If there is anything to learn from the Jewish history, it’s that when we push people out of our schools because of their identity, it’s a symptom of a morally bankrupt politics.”
Another protest organizer, Harvard student Rae Trainer, said many international students were afraid to demonstrate because they risk deportations. Some international students recorded statements to be read by classmates who are U.S. citizens.
The GSA’s letter accused the school of engaging in discriminatory admissions practices even after the U.S. Supreme Court, in its 2023 decision ending affirmative action in higher education, rejected Harvard’s use of race as an admissions factor to boost campus diversity.
The letter from Josh Gruenbaum, commissioner of the GSA’s federal acquisition service, also accused Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Harvard of discriminatory hiring practices and of failing to protect Jewish students from harassment.
The GSA sent the letter to federal agencies Tuesday morning, said an administration official familiar with the matter. The letter directs agencies to submit a list of contract cancellations by June 6 and says contracts for critical services would be transitioned to other vendors.
Harvard, which is suing to challenge the administration’s actions, has argued that its rush to punish the school has run afoul of various procedures and violates free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment by trying to assert control over its staff, curriculum and enrollment.
Garber, the Harvard president, said in an NPR interview released on Tuesday that despite campus problems that it needs to address, the administration’s decisions to cancel grant funding were “perplexing.”
“As long as there has been a United States of America, Harvard has thought that its role is to serve the nation,“ he said.
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