Trump administration retaliates by freezing Harvard's funding

In April 2025, the Trump administration initiated a series of punitive actions against Harvard University, reflecting an ongoing dispute with alleged overreach on the part of the school. Following the refusal of Harvard to comply with demands concerning international students, the administration froze more than $2.2 billion in federal grants and suspended $60 million in contracts, escalating tensions further. Harvard labeled the administration's measures as an 'escalating campaign of retaliation', which included demands for extensive information on international students enrolled under F1 visas. As the university resisted these federal demands, a legal conflict ensued, beginning with Harvard filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration for the initial funding freeze. Amidst continued pressure, the university reported dozens of termination notices for various federal grants, spanning multiple departments including the National Institutes of Health. Harvard's legal team maintained that this action violated the institution's rights, claiming the restrictions were unconstitutional and targeted. The situation intensified when the Department of Homeland Security issued a stern warning that failure to comply with information requests could jeopardize Harvard's Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification—a vital program enabling the school to enroll foreign students. As the conflict grew, Harvard amended its lawsuit to cover these additional funding threats, prompting multiple counters from federal agencies. June 2025 saw escalated actions, including a proclamation by Donald Trump that prohibited foreign students from entering the United States to attend Harvard. This proclamation invoked significant backlash, with Harvard asserting that it violated its First Amendment rights. Courts intervened, issuing temporary restraining orders against Trump's measures, but the struggle continued without resolution as the political ramifications of these actions reverberated throughout the academic and legal communities, drawing attention to the intersection of education, policy, and the rights of institutions.