Protests Against Israeli War on Gaza Lead Trump to Target Universities: How Harvard Stood Up

Amid the ongoing confrontation with U.S. universities that allowed their students to protest the Israeli crimes in Gaza, the administration of former President Donald Trump ramped up its campaign against prestigious academic institutions like Harvard, seeking to curtail their privileges and strip them of long-held benefits.

Trump threatened to withhold federal funding, a threat he followed through on, and aimed to deny these institutions the right to admit foreign students and deport them. 

As a result, Harvard became a central target in his broader crusade against elite American universities.

Some universities, such as Columbia, eventually caved to Trump's demands and threats, with the institution’s former Egyptian president, Nemat Shafik, even calling in police to remove students staging a sit-in in the university's campus tents. However, others resisted and defied the former president's pressure.

Several of these universities even took legal action against Trump, accusing him of interfering with their independence and violating the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression.

 They argued that his attempts to silence student voices under the guise of combating "anti-Semitism" were a deliberate move to suppress protests and allow the Gaza genocide to unfold without objection.

In March 2025, the U.S. Department of Education announced it was investigating 60 colleges and universities over allegations of anti-Semitic discrimination.

The department sent letters to these institutions, warning them of "potential enforcement actions if institutions do not fulfill their obligations under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act to protect Jewish students on campus."

This was followed by the suspension of federal funding for those who refused to comply with Trump's demands, including prestigious institutions like Harvard.

Support for Palestine protests, which began at Columbia University, spread to over 50 U.S. higher education institutions since 2024, during the presidency of Joe Biden. 

The protests led to the arrest of more than 3,100 individuals, mostly students and faculty members.

After Donald Trump's administration took over, the U.S. State Department revoked over 1,200 student visas, the majority of which were for non-white students, as part of policies targeting foreign nationals—particularly those who voiced support for Palestinian freedom.

Trump's Conditions

Harvard is one of the most prestigious American universities and a leading member of the Ivy League, an association of elite academic institutions in the United States. 

For years, it has topped the Shanghai rankings of global universities, produced 162 Nobel laureates, and hosts 30,000 students. 

Therefore, when it, along with other universities, faced punitive measures from the U.S. administration—including the freezing of federal grants—after refusing to comply with government demands, the move was a shocking development.

The Trump administration sent Harvard a five-page document outlining new demands that would reshape the university's system, imposing control over student admissions, hiring practices, faculty appointments, and campus life. 

This move sparked a major crisis. The U.S. administration also insisted that Harvard conduct a review of "diversity of viewpoints," effectively restricting freedom of expression on campus.

The Trump administration also demanded that Harvard "shut down" any programs related to diversity, equity, and inclusion immediately, and bring in an external body to scrutinize "departments and programs that fuel anti-Semitic harassment or reflect ideological dominance." 

Perhaps the most unusual demand was for Harvard to submit ongoing reports on its compliance with these conditions until the end of 2028, effectively the conclusion of Trump's presidency.

On April 17, the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement warning that if Harvard refused to comply with Trump's demand for government oversight over student admissions, hiring practices, and political orientation, it would lose the privilege of accepting international students—who make up 27.2% of its enrollment. 

In response to Harvard’s defiance, Trump accused the university of employing radical leftists and fools, seeking to discredit it by accusing the institution of spreading hatred and foolishness.

Trump threatened to bar the university from accepting international students in the future unless it agreed to a comprehensive review of its policies on admissions, hiring, and political orientation. 

He then officially requested the IRS to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status, while federal grants amounting to $2.2 billion were frozen, according to CNN and The Washington Post on April 16, 2025.

Harvard Resists

Harvard officials were scrambling to decipher what exactly the Trump administration wanted from them to "combat anti-Semitism," even attempting to highlight the university's Holocaust remembrance activities in a bid to appease the U.S. president.

They also pointed to Jewish students' participation in protests over the Israeli war in Gaza, hoping to demonstrate that there was no persecution or anti-Semitism at play, only freedom of expression.

But the Trump administration continued to issue more bizarre and vague demands, such as intervening in the educational process and student selection, and even compelling the university to ban the wearing of masks—worn by students during Gaza protests to evade security surveillance and arrest.

When Harvard sought clarification on the somewhat ambiguous list of proposals released by the administration, it received a discouraging response from the White House on April 18, 2025.

The message came from three federal officials who wrote to say that "Harvard has in recent years failed to live up to both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment."

These officials, from the Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and the General Services Administration, informed university president Alan Garber that they wanted him to cooperate in bringing the institution back on track.

"It came after leaders at Harvard, during intense discussions over the weekend, determined that what the government was proposing represented a profound threat to the 388-year-old university’s independence and mission," according to The New York Times.

"The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” the university lawyers wrote, “Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government.”

Harvard’s political science professor, Stephen Levitsky, interpreted the message from President Garber, addressing students "on autocracy and democracy," he said according to The New York Times, "It looks like Harvard has decided it’s time to fight."  

“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’s president, Alan M. Garber, wrote in an open letter on Monday.

The Cost of Silence and Confrontation

In a letter addressed to students and faculty, Alan Garber pointed out that the cost of refusal and its financial losses were far less significant than compromising the educational process by allowing the government to dictate what the university teaches its students.

Following this statement, the Trump administration swiftly responded by freezing over $2.2 billion in federal funding.

Nearly $7 billion more remain at risk, including funds allocated to Harvard's affiliated hospitals.

However, this does not mean that Harvard initially sought confrontation. According to American newspapers, its administration made efforts to appease Trump, displaying a remarkable degree of concession.

"In March, Columbia acceded to a roster of Trump administration demands in a quest to restore $400 million in federal grants and contracts," as reported by The New York Times.

As the federal government intensified pressure on Columbia and its elite counterparts, Harvard responded by firing two leaders of its Middle Eastern Studies Center.

Harvard also suspended its partnership with a Palestinian university and subsequently agreed to initiate a partnership with an Israeli one.

These concessions encouraged the Trump administration to explore the possibility of issuing an executive order that would empower a federal judge to monitor any agreements with the university, granting the White House influence—potentially for years—over its management, a scenario that Harvard sought to avoid.

According to The New York Times, "Harvard had adopted a conspicuously low and accommodating profile." 

The newspaper pointed to Harvard's silence regarding the support of students who were detained by immigration authorities, such as Mahmoud Khalil, Mohsen Mahdawi, and Kseniia Petrova, the research scientist held in immigration detention.

However, it clarified that the situation escalated when "Trump officials blame mistake for setting off confrontation with Harvard” and “an official on the administration’s antisemitism task force told the university that a letter of demands had been sent without authorization."

Refusal of Trump’s Conditions

Despite some universities, including Columbia, yielding to Trump's threats over fears of losing government support, the majority, led by Harvard, have chosen to confront the U.S. president's attacks and challenge his sanctions in court.

Harvard University has filed a lawsuit against Trump, demanding the halt of his decision to freeze $2.2 billion in federal funding allocated to the institution, marking a new escalation in the ongoing clash between the two parties.

In its lawsuit filed before a federal court in Massachusetts on April 21, 2025, Harvard argued that the case centers on "the government was using its tremendous power over research dollars to try to control what a private university was doing in terms of matters that are generally considered part of academic freedom."

According to The Crimson, "Harvard accused the administration of unlawfully freezing billions in research funding to pressure the University into restructuring its governance, academic programs, and hiring practices. It argued that the freeze violates the First Amendment by “imposing viewpoint-based conditions on Harvard’s funding."

"The tradeoff put to Harvard and other universities is clear: Allow the Government to micromanage your academic institution or jeopardize the institution’s ability to pursue medical breakthroughs, scientific discoveries, and innovative solutions," Harvard’s lawyers wrote in the Monday filing.

Harvard emphasized that the government had failed to provide any rational justification linking this research to the alleged concerns about "anti-Semitism," particularly since the protests were directed against Israeli crimes in Gaza, not Jewish students. Moreover, the protests included Jewish individuals opposing Israeli occupation policies.

The Trump administration justified withholding federal funding from several major American universities, claiming a rise in anti-Semitism during student protests against "Israel’s" crimes in Gaza.

In its lawsuit against Trump, Harvard sought to prove that its targeting was unjust by highlighting the extensive measures it had taken to suppress pro-Palestinian protests.

In its lawsuit, Harvard boasted of being one of the few universities to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of anti-Semitism, according to Current Affairs on April 16, 2025.

Additionally, dozens of American universities condemned the Trump administration's "political interference" in academic affairs in a statement released on April 22, 2025, expressing their support for Harvard in its standoff over the freezing of its federal funding.

More than 100 American universities and colleges, including the prestigious Princeton and Brown, issued a joint letter condemning President Trump’s political interference in the education system.

Hundreds of signatories, including university presidents and association officials, declared in the joint statement, "We speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education."

The statement was signed by the presidents of five Ivy League universities—Brown, Cornell, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale—members of the prestigious Ivy League, which includes eight of the country's most renowned institutions.

‘Education is at Risk’ 

The writer Nathan J. Robinson, in an article for Current Affairs on April 16, 2025, argues that the issue for some universities is "the cowardice of elites," stressing that "The privileged have an obligation to take risks in order to prevent the establishment of a dictatorship."

"Columbia, for instance, simply complied when Trump issued a spate of (totally unacceptable) demands, including taking control of the Middle Eastern studies department away from the faculty. Some were surprised that Columbia didn’t fight Trump’s demands harder."

"It had a pretty strong legal case that Trump’s actions were unconstitutional, but the university chose not to take on Trump in court."

"But the decision is more explicable when we understand how the corporatization of the university has meant that values like intellectual independence are subordinated to prestige and money-making," Robinson added.

Columbia University agreed to implement reforms so profound that some saw it as a capitulation to the Trump administration, though it insisted that it would reject any agreement "require[s] us to relinquish our independence and autonomy."

Due to the Trump administration's hostile stance towards universities, with its focus on financial support and restricting foreign student admissions—an important source of revenue—American higher education now faces a significant threat.

Professors and analysts have warned in American newspapers that the financial risks facing universities, including prestigious institutions like Harvard, are immense and will have far-reaching consequences for education and America's future.

They argued that the Trump administration is determined to roll back the relationship between the government and universities, a partnership that has flourished across the United States since World War II, but warned that this would come at a significant cost to the country.

American reports suggest that Harvard possesses immense financial and political power through its endowment funds, enabling it to engage in a standoff with Washington for the duration of Trump's presidency, which lasts for another four years.

However, despite being the wealthiest university in the world, with an endowment of approximately $53 billion, a permanent freeze in federal funding would have a detrimental impact on its laboratories, departments, and even classrooms.

American professors and media outlets argue that Harvard's vast endowment would allow it to withstand four lean years under Trump's administration. 

Nevertheless, a permanent freeze would still negatively impact its laboratories, departments, and classrooms.

The greatest loss, which American academic and research circles are increasingly warning about, lies in the deprivation of the U.S. economy of the billions of dollars pumped in by international students—an amount estimated at $43 billion in just one year.

In addition to depriving the U.S. of the benefits of these emigrant minds in its renaissance, a priceless asset in its own right, a report from University World News revealed on March 18, 2025, that "interest in studying in the United States by international graduate students plummeted by more than 40% since the first week of January 2025."

The educational platform highlighted that this sharp decline in interest in studying in the United States will deprive the American economy of tens of billions of dollars, according to data from Study Portals, a global education portal based in the Netherlands.

It pointed out that the rising rates of visa rejections or cancellations by the Trump administration will not only cost the U.S. billions in direct GDP, but also result in the loss of a significant influx of talent, which has historically played a crucial role in entrepreneurship and corporate leadership.

The Shore Light website predicted that "the U.S. could lose another 3% of its share by 2030." 

This suggests that Trump's policies will only exacerbate America's loss of foreign students, along with the financial support they bring to the U.S. economy, and the intellectual capital that has historically helped maintain America’s global dominance.