Harvard University will not comply with the Trump administration’s demands to dismantle diversity programs or limit student protests in exchange for continued access to federal research funding.
“The University will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” Harvard president Alan Garber wrote in a campus-wide message on Monday afternoon.
The announcement comes amid a growing standoff between elite academic institutions and the federal government.
Two weeks ago, the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services, along with the General Services Administration, launched a review of approximately $9 billion in federal funding provided to Harvard. Days later, the administration sent the university an initial list of “areas of reform that the government views as necessary for Harvard University’s continued financial relationship with the United States government.”…