Harvard University does not intend to change its DEI efforts to align with the Trump Administration.
As AFROTECH™ previously told you, President Donald Trump issued a two-week deadline that requires schools and university to no longer consider “racial preferences” in admissions, financial aid, or hiring. Educational institutions that fail to comply risk losing federal funding. This aligns with the administration’s goal to dismantle diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts, which has played out with the closing and ending of “all DEIA initiatives, offices and programs” within the federal government.
“Colleges and universities are going to find themselves between a rock and a hard place,” Angel B. Pérez, CEO of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, said to AP News at the time. “They know that what they’re doing is not illegal, but they are worried that if they do not comply, not having federal funding will decimate them.”
Harvard University Responds
In a letter to Harvard President Dr. Alan Garber and Harvard Corporation Senior Fellow Penny Pritzker, the U.S. Department of Education requested on Friday, April 12, 2025, that the university decrease the influence of faculty, staff, and students who are “more committed to activism than scholarship,” according to Reuters. It also requested for an external panel to audit faculty, staff, and students to ensure there is alignment around “viewpoint diversity,” believing the university has “failed to live up to both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment.”
Additionally, White House Spokesperson Harrison Fields said Trump is “working to Make Higher Education Great Again by ending unchecked antisemitism and ensuring federal taxpayer dollars do not fund Harvard’s support of dangerous racial discrimination or racially motivated violence.” In January 2025, the university said it would increase protections around Jewish students in two settlements following a string of pro-Palestinian protests over the course of a year.
It appears Harvard University has made the decision not to comply with Trump’s orders, putting $9 billion in federal funding in jeopardy, according to CNBC. This was confirmed in a letter written by King & Spalding — the law firm representing Harvard University — that was signed on April 14, 2025.
“Over the past 15 months, Harvard has undertaken substantial policy and programmatic measures,” the university’s penned letter read. “It has made changes to its campus use policies; adopted new accountability procedures; imposed meaningful discipline for those who violate university policies; enhanced programs designed to address bias and promote ideological diversity and civil discourse; hired staff to support these programs and support students; changed partnerships; dedicated resources to combat hate and bias; and enhanced safety and security measures. As a result, Harvard is in a very different place today from where it was a year ago. These efforts, and additional measures the university will be taking against antisemitism, not only are the right thing to do but also are critical to strengthening Harvard’s community as a place in which everyone can thrive.”
It continued, “The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government. Accordingly, Harvard will not accept the government’s terms as an agreement in principle. Harvard remains open to dialogue about what the university has done, and is planning to do, to improve the experience of every member of its community. But Harvard is not prepared to agree to demands that go beyond the lawful authority of this or any administration.”
Trump Administration Freezes Funding
In response to the pushback, the Trump administration will now freeze $2.3 billion in federal funding to the university, Reuters reports. Harvard University did acknowledge that it would work to combat antisemitism while also stating “these ends will not be achieved by assertions of power, unmoored from the law, to control teaching and learning at Harvard and to dictate how we operate.”
