Harvard University announced Wednesday it will begin allocating its own funds to support research efforts after the Trump administration cut more than $2 billion from from the school over its alleged allowance of antisemitism on campus and use of race-based practices.
The university said it would “dedicate $250 million of central funding” towards research and continue searching for funding sources other than the federal government. Harvard recently declined to comply with the Trump administration’s demands to settle their dispute, resulting in additional funds lost and flagging the school as ineligible to qualify for future federal grants.
“Although we cannot absorb the entire cost of the suspended or canceled federal funds, we will mobilize financial resources to support critical research activity for a transitional period as we continue to work with our researchers to identify alternative funding sources,” Harvard’s message reads.
Harvard President Alan Garber is also taking a voluntary 25% pay cut to offset the financial restraints of the Ivy League school. Harvard does not disclose Garber’s salary, though it has been estimated to be above $1 million based on previous presidents’ salaries.
In March, Harvard also issued a “temporary pause” on all hiring amid uncertainties in funding and announced in April it would not be issuing merit-based raises for faculty and staff in the 2025-2026 fiscal year. Nearly 100 senior faculty members pledged 10% of their salaries to help fight back against the Trump administration.
The university’s $53 billion endowment remains untapped.
“Harvard will receive no pity from the Trump Administration or the 77 million Americans who voted in support of President Trump’s commitment to ending antisemitism and protecting the civil rights of all American students,” Harrison Fields, special assistant to the president and principal deputy press secretary, told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Harvard and the Department of Education did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
The university stated in April it would “not surrender” to the Trump administrations demands to combat antisemitism on campus, which included requirements such as adjusting and better enforcing disciplinary processes, improving screening of international students for “hostile” views and auditing “programs with egregious records of antisemitism.” After being met with immediate consequences, Garber sent a letter to Secretary of Education Linda McMahon Monday asking for the ability to address those issues without federal oversight.
Following Harvard’s request, the Trump administration revoked additional grants from the school the following day, totaling approximately $450 million.
In early April, the university preemptively ran to Wall Street to borrow $750 million after receiving notification that nearly $9 billion in federal grants were at risk of revocation.
The school first found itself on the federal government’s radar after a September 2024 congressional investigation revealed “Harvard failed” to enforce meaningful punishment on nearly 70 students who were involved in a multi-day pro-Hamas encampment during the previous spring semester. Demonstrators at the school also disrupted classes and occupied a campus building.
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