According to a report by The Wall Street Journal on April 20 local time, sources familiar with the matter said that one week after the escalation of disputes between both sides, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump was very angry at Harvard University and planned to cut another $1 billion in funding.
The Trump administration sent a letter to Harvard University on April 11, proposing "rectification" requirements. Harvard publicly released the letter and stated its refusal. The aforementioned sources said that the officials of the U.S. government were surprised by Harvard's move to release this letter, which they considered as the "secret starting point for negotiation".
However, Harvard denied any confidentiality agreement.
On October 14, 2023, in Massachusetts, USA, Palestinian supporters gathered at Harvard University to show support for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Visual China
Sources familiar with the matter pointed out that Trump administration officials believed that the requirement letter sent to Harvard on April 11 was the secret starting point for negotiation. They felt surprised when Harvard made it public.
According to sources familiar with the matter, before Harvard made it public, the U.S. government had planned to be more lenient towards the school than Columbia University, but now the officials want to exert greater pressure on Harvard.
Sources familiar with the matter said that the Trump administration planned to cut $1 billion from the university's health research funds.
People familiar with Harvard's response said there was no agreement on confidentiality regarding the letter's contents, and its demands, including requiring Harvard to allow federal government supervision over admissions, recruitment, and students' and employees' ideology, were unacceptable.
It is reported that the letters sent to Harvard and other schools came from a new task force called the "Special Task Force Against Anti-Semitism".
The report pointed out that Harvard's act of making the letter public has made it a representative of opposition against the Trump administration, providing a drastically different script compared to Columbia University. The latter quickly agreed to the government's demands, attempting to regain $400 million in federal funds. Sources familiar with the task force said they originally expected Harvard to yield as well.
But in fact, the hostility deepened. Just after Harvard released the letter and refused the "rectification" requirements, the White House froze the $2.2 billion multi-year grant provided to Harvard University and threatened to tax Harvard as a political entity and revoke its tax-exempt status.
Sources familiar with the matter said that in late March, Harvard had contacted the Trump administration in an attempt to avoid confrontation. Harvard had spent several months combating anti-Semitism on campus and implementing structural reforms to prevent it from recurring. Harvard believed this aligned with the overall requirements proposed in the letter from the special task force on April 3, but subsequently, Harvard was asked for more details.
People related to Harvard pointed out that the subsequent requirements proposed in the letter on April 11 were more intrusive than what they could accept. The letter was not marked as confidential, but members of the special task force said they had clearly indicated weeks earlier that they hoped the discussion would remain confidential. Harvard denied any confidentiality agreement.
Sources familiar with the matter said that Trump administration officials now suspect that Harvard University never intended to negotiate and always planned to resist.
People familiar with the task force said that a series of government demands were mistakenly issued one day ahead of schedule, but their content was not incorrect. A spokesperson for the White House said that the U.S. government supported the requirements in the letter.
Previously reported by The New York Times, a U.S. government official said that the letter was sent in error and was "unauthorized" before being sent.
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