‘Terror-inspired sickness’: Trump threatens Harvard’s tax-exempt status after university defies federal demands | World News
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday lashed out at Harvard, suggesting the university should lose its tax-exempt status for promoting what he called “political, ideological, and terror-inspired sickness,” after the Ivy League school rejected new federal demands tied to campus antisemitism investigations, which it termed as “government regulation”.
‘Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terror inspired/supporting “Sickness?” Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!,’ Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Most universities, including Harvard, are exempt from federal income taxes because they are classified as providing a public good.
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The post came hours after Harvard publicly rejected intensified federal demands from Trump’s multi-agency task force, which the adminration claims are aimed at curbing antisemitism but which educators argue represent a sweeping attack on academic freedom.
“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,” Harvard president Alan Garber said.
In response, the adminration froze $2.2 billion in federal grants and $60 million in contract funding, accusing the university of failing to uphold its civil rights obligations.
“Harvard’s statement today reinforces the troubling entitlement mindset that is endemic in our nation’s most prestigious universities and colleges – that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws,” the agency said in a statement.Story continues below this ad
Former president Barack Obama praised Harvard for setting an example for other higher education institutions to reject federal overreach into its governance practices.
Peer institutions like Columbia and Princeton have accepted conditions that include protest restrictions and curricular reviews.
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