Wall Street Journal: Trump administration plans to cut US$1 billion more from Harvard after growing tension

Students, faculty and members of the Harvard University community rally, Thursday, April 17, 2025, in Cambridge, Mass. (AP Photo) (AP)

The Trump administration plans to pull another $1 billion in federal grants and contracts for health research from Harvard University amid an escalating, high-stakes battle between the government and the university over institutional oversight and independence, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Last Monday, the Trump administration announced it would freeze $2.2 billion in multi-year grants and $60 million in multi-year contract value after Harvard said it would not follow policy demands from the administration.

People familiar with the matter said officials were surprised when the university made public a letter from the Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism, the Journal reported Sunday.

CNN has reached out to Harvard and the White House for comment.

“Before Monday, the administration was planning to treat Harvard more leniently than Columbia University, but now officials want to apply even more pressure to the nation’s most prominent university, according to the people,” the Journal reports. “People familiar with Harvard’s response say there was no agreement to keep the letter private, and that its contents – including requirements that Harvard allow federal-government oversight of admissions, hiring and the ideology of students and staff – were a nonstarter.”

Last month, apparently conceding to administration demands, Columbia University made policy changes in a dispute over federal funding, including restrictions on demonstrations, new disciplinary procedures and immediately reviewing its Middle East curriculum, on the heels President Donald Trump’s revocation of $400 million in federal funding over campus protests.

The Journal reported Sunday that according to people close to the matter, the task force thought Harvard would also concede to its demands.