Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday announced the cancelation of more than $2.7 million in grants to Harvard University amid tensions between the school and the Trump administration.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a Wednesday press release that Noem unveiled the discontinuation of two grants from the department to Harvard worth more than $2.7 million. DHS also noted in the press release that the secretary requested “detailed records on Harvard’s foreign student visa holders’ illegal and violent activities” in a letter.
“Harvard bending the knee to antisemitism — driven by its spineless leadership — fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security,” Noem said in the release.
“With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory. America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars,” she added.
Last week, the Trump administration demanded that Harvard change multiple policies — including those regarding protesting and diversity, equity and inclusion programs — in order to hold on to its federal funding. The school shot down the demands Monday.
“No government — regardless of which party is in power — should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Harvard President Alan Garber said in a Monday message to the university’s community.
The Trump administration said later Monday that around $2.2 billion in multiyear grants was going to be frozen to Harvard in the wake of the school’s rejection of the demands.
DHS said in its press release that one of the grants in its announcement, worth $800,303, “branded conservatives as far-right dissidents in a shockingly skewed study” and the other, worth $1,934,902, “funded Harvard’s public health propaganda.”
“Both undermine America’s values and security,” the DHS press release continued.
The Hill has reached out to Harvard for comment.