Harvard College says there’s “no legal basis” to rescind its tax-exempt standing, as President Trump pushes for the IRS to strip the Cambridge campus of its standing after the college rejected an inventory of calls for.
Whereas Trump freezes billions in Harvard grants and threatens its tax-exempt standing, the Ivy League faculty is looking the potential transfer “unlawful” and warning concerning the implications of “such an unprecedented action.”
“There is no legal basis to rescind Harvard’s tax-exempt status,” a Harvard spokesperson mentioned in an announcement.
“The government has long exempted universities from taxes in order to support their educational mission,” the college spokesperson mentioned. “The tax exemption means that more of every dollar can go toward scholarships for students, lifesaving and life-enhancing medical research, and technological advancements that drive economic growth.”
Harvard supplied greater than $749 million in monetary assist in fiscal yr 2024. In the meantime, the college’s annual working bills that yr got here out to $6.4 billion, and its endowment was $53.2 billion.
Almost one-third of funding that helps analysis at Harvard ($489 million in fiscal yr 2023) comes straight from the college — with one other $1 billion in sponsored analysis funding from federal, basis and business sponsors.
“Such an unprecedented action (stripping its tax-exempt status) would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission,” the Harvard spokesperson mentioned.
“It would result in diminished financial aid for students, abandonment of critical medical research programs, and lost opportunities for innovation,” the spokesperson added. “The unlawful use of this instrument more broadly would have grave consequences for the future of higher education in America.”
Harvard on Monday rejected an inventory of calls for from the Trump administration associated to activism on campus, DEI packages, antisemitism, admissions insurance policies, and extra. Later that day, the feds froze greater than $2 billion in grants and contracts to the college.
Along with the tax-exempt standing risk, the Division of Homeland Safety has ordered Harvard to show over “detailed records” of its international pupil visa holders’ “illegal and violent activities” by April 30.
Worldwide college students make up 27% of the campus.
“Harvard bending the knee to antisemitism — driven by its spineless leadership — fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem mentioned in an announcement. “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.”
DHS additionally mentioned it was canceling two Harvard grants that whole $2.7 million.
“Harvard is aware of the Department of Homeland Security’s letter regarding grant cancellations and scrutiny of foreign student visas, which—like the Administration’s announcement of the freeze of $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts, and reports of the revocation of Harvard’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status—follows on the heels of our statement that Harvard will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” the college spokesperson mentioned. “We proceed to face by that assertion. We’ll proceed to adjust to the legislation and anticipate the Administration to do the identical.
“Harvard values the rule of law and expects all members of our community to comply with University policies and applicable legal standards,” the spokesperson added. “If federal action is taken against a member of our community, we expect it will be based on clear evidence, follow established legal procedures, and respect the constitutional rights afforded to all individuals.”
For the Trump administration, Harvard presents the primary main hurdle in its try and drive change at universities that Republicans say have turn out to be hotbeds of liberalism and antisemitism.
Trump’s marketing campaign began at Columbia College, which initially agreed to a number of calls for from the Trump administration however took a extra emboldened tone after Harvard’s defiance. Columbia’s appearing president, Claire Shipman, mentioned in a campus message Monday that a few of the calls for “are not subject to negotiation” and that she learn of Harvard’s rejection with “great interest.”
Trump has focused faculties accused of tolerating antisemitism amid a wave of pro-Palestinian protests on U.S. campuses. Among the authorities’s calls for contact straight on that activism, calling on Harvard to impose harder self-discipline on protesters and to display screen worldwide college students for many who are “hostile to the American values.”
Herald wire providers have been used on this report.
