Seizing Harvard’s Federal Funds
Huge cuts: According to a letter that will officially be released later today, from the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) to federal agencies, Harvard University’s remaining federal grants and contracts (worth roughly $100 million) will be cut. This is in addition to the $3.2 billion worth of frozen grants and contracts.
“Examples of contracts that would be affected, according to a federal database, include a $49,858 National Institutes of Health contract to investigate the effects of coffee drinking and a $25,800 Homeland Security Department contract for senior executive training,” reports The New York Times.
“Being a counterparty with the federal government comes with the deep responsibility and commitment to abide by all federal laws and ensure the safeguarding of taxpayer money,” reads the letter. “As fiduciaries to the taxpayer, the government has a duty to ensure that procurement dollars are directed to vendors and contractors who promote and champion principles of nondiscrimination and the national interest.”
“GSA understands that Harvard continues to engage in race discrimination, including in its admissions process and in other areas of student life.…Harvard is suspected of engaging in a pattern or practice of disparate treatment in hiring, promotion, compensation, and other personnel related actions.” Harvard will, of course, push back in court; it’s already filed suit in an attempt to restore $3 billion in federal funds. But the Trump administration keeps antagonizing it, also pushing forward a plan to begin to tax its endowment.
Pulling federal funds from universities will undoubtedly save the taxpayer money, and with endowments like these, was it really important for taxpayers to subsidize these schools in the first place?
Still, the Trump administration hasn’t exactly gone about this in a detached, principled way: It has, at times, decided to fight an ideological battle, such as with investigations into the school’s handling of pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel protests on campus.
Foreign students also a target: The president has also, of late, decided he has a real issue with international students, which comprise nearly 30 percent of Harvard’s student body: “Why isn’t Harvard saying that almost 31% of their students are from FOREIGN LANDS, and yet those countries, some not at all friendly to the United States, pay NOTHING toward their s
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