President Trump has instructed federal agencies to terminate all remaining contracts with Harvard University, the latest in his ongoing effort to punish the nation’s oldest and wealthiest university.
A letter from the General Services Administration alleges Harvard continues to engage in "race discrimination, including in its admissions process and in other areas of student life.” It also accuses the school of “antisemitic practices,” alluding to pro-Palestinian protests.
“Harvard’s ongoing inaction in the face of repeated and severe harassment and targeting of its students has at times grounded day-to-day campus operations to a halt, deprived Jewish students of learning and research opportunities to which they are entitled, and profoundly alarmed the general public,” the letter states.
This comes after the Trump administration froze billions of dollars in research funding earmarked for Harvard. It's also seeking to prevent the school from accepting foreign students.
Over the weekend, Trump said he’s considering giving $3 billion of Harvard’s grant money to trade schools.
Harvard is suing over the frozen funds.
Harvard President Alan Garber called Trump’s actions “perplexing.”
“The measures that they have taken to address these that don’t even hit the same people that they believe are causing the problems,” Garber said on NPR, which also sued the administration on Tuesday over funding cuts.
“Why cut off research funding?” he added. “Sure, it hurts Harvard, but it hurts the country because after all, the research funding is not a gift.”
MORE CULTURE WARS…
The president is threatening to revoke federal funding from California over a transgender high school track and field athlete who qualified for the state finals over the weekend.
The president instructed local authorities to block 16-year-old AB Hernandez, a junior at Jurupa Valley High School in Southern California, from participating in the finals. Hernandez won the girls long jump and triple jump events at the California Interscholastic Federation’s Southern Section Masters to qualify for the state championship.
“THIS IS NOT FAIR, AND TOTALLY DEMEANING TO WOMEN AND GIRLS,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Please be hereby advised that large scale Federal Funding will be held back, maybe permanently, if the Executive Order on this subject matter is not adhered to.”
Trump signed an executive order earlier this year stating that “it is the policy of the United States to oppose male competitive participation in women’s sports.” The order threatens to “rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.”
Trump said he’d be speaking to California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) about it this week.
ELSEWHERE…
Trump pardoned a former Virginia sheriff who had been convicted of bribery, alleging that he was a victim of a “weaponized” Justice Department under the Biden administration.
Scott Jenkins was convicted in December of accepting more than $70,000 in bribes in exchange for appointing local businessmen as auxiliary deputy sheriffs in the office. He had been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Plus: The New York Times reports that a different Trump pardon came one month after the man’s mother attended a fundraiser for the president.
Paul Walczak received a pardon from Trump after pleading guilty to several tax crimes and being sentenced to 18 months in prison. Walczak’s mother, Elizabeth Fago, attended a Mar-a-Lago fundraising dinner with a $1 million cost per person. Walczak was pardoned three weeks later.
