The Trump administration escalated its campaign to strip Harvard University of federal grants and contracts Monday, starting new proceedings that could halt the government’s work with the school.
The Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights announced it would start its “suspension and debarment” process against Harvard, three months after an agency review determined the university’s leaders weren’t doing enough to combat campus antisemitism and harassment of Jewish and Israeli students following the 2023 Hamas attack in Israel. That, the government contends, violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Suspension and debarment would bar Harvard from “doing business with the federal government.” That step could be used to temporarily suspend — then extend for an unknown amount of time — Harvard’s ability to get any governmental funding.
“Debarment lasts for a specified period as a final determination that an entity is not responsible enough to do business with the federal government because of the wrongdoing,” according to Monday’s statement from the Office for Civil Rights.
“Both suspension and debarment have a government-wide effect,” the release added, meaning Harvard’s ability to receive funds from any government agency in the future could be imperiled, depending on how this is resolved.
Earlier this month, U.S. federal judge Allison Burroughs ruled that the administration’s attempt to withhold more than $2.6 billion in research funding from Harvard was illegal, saying antisemitism was “a smokescreen for a targeted, ideologically-motivated assault on this country’s premier universities.”
She ordered the funds to be restored. Harvard has said it’s received some funding reinstatement notices but research projects are held up.
A White House spokesperson said after the ruling the administration would appeal Burroughs’ decision.
Harvard has 20 days to notify HHS “whether it will exercise its right to a hearing” before an administrative law judge to contest the agency’s June 30 finding that the school allowed antisemitism to spread on campus.
A spokesman for Harvard did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. A HHS spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment.
The announcement is the latest in an ongoing standoff between the federal government and the country’s oldest and wealthiest university, which has been a prime target in the Trump administration’s campaign to pressure elite institutions of higher education to enact sweeping changes and pay large fines.
The New York Times first reported Trump’s demand of $500 million from Harvard to restore canceled federal funds and stop its investigations. The Harvard Crimson reported on Monday that Harvard Corporation senior fellow Penny Pritzker acknowledged hearing that figure from Trump officials but said she had “no idea how this is going to play out.”
Harvard has highlighted its efforts to curb campus antisemitism, including starting campus-wide dialogues, issuing new protest guidance and releasing a task force report in late April.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
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