LEILA FADEL, HOST:
Last night, the Trump administration froze more than $2.2 billion in contracts and multiyear grants for Harvard University.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This move came hours after Harvard said it will not comply with the administration's demands that it drastically change its hiring, admissions and other policies in exchange for federal money.
FADEL: NPR's Jonaki Mehta has been following this. Hi, Jonaki.
JONAKI MEHTA, BYLINE: Hi, Leila.
FADEL: OK. So what does the Trump administration want Harvard to change, exactly?
MEHTA: Yeah. There are a range of demands. They include ordering the university to screen international students for what they call supporting terrorism or antisemitism, eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and making sure their hiring and admission practices are solely based on merit rather than race-based preference, for example.
FADEL: Now, Harvard is refusing to comply, which is very different than what we saw at Columbia, which did comply with a list of demands from the administration to keep its funding. Tell us why.
MEHTA: Yeah, that's right. On Monday, Harvard's president, Alan Garber, wrote a letter to students and staff that said, quote, "no government, regardless of which party's 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." He also went on to say that even though some of the demands outlined by the government were aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority were trying to regulate what he called intellectual conditions at Harvard and threatening free speech.
And then just hours after that response, the Trump administration froze that $2.2 billion and said, quote, "Harvard's statement today reinforces a troubling entitlement mindset that's endemic in our nation's most prestigious universities and colleges - that federal investment does not come with the responsibility to uphold civil rights laws."
FADEL: Has Harvard said anything in response to the funding freeze?
MEHTA: Yeah. So minutes after the announcement about the freeze, a spokesperson from Harvard pointed me to one specific part of the president's letter, which said, for the government to retreat from these partnerships now risks not only the health and well-being of millions of individuals but also the economic security and vitality of our nation.
FADEL: OK. So in what way, Jonaki? Just break down what this $2.2-plus billion that's already frozen does and this other 6.7 or so billion that's on the line. What are they used for?
MEHTA: Yeah. So Harvard actually updated the homepage of its website to reflect how federal dollars support research they do. They list research on treatments for several forms of cancer, heart disease, organs and transplantation. And they say federal funding is the university's largest source of support for what Harvard calls cutting-edge, groundbreaking research.
FADEL: Now, it's not just Harvard. The Trump administration has sent similar threats to dozens of universities. How are leaders of those institutions responding?
MEHTA: Yeah. The administration has threatened billions of dollars of funding for other universities, some of whom say they will cooperate with the government's demands - you pointed to Columbia, but that has created a lot of anxiety for college leaders who are in this unprecedented bind - change their policies or lose money for important research. My colleague, Elissa Nadworny, recently spoke to some of those leaders. Here's Andrew Martin, the chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis.
ANDREW MARTIN: We're in a moment with great uncertainty about what the future of the relationship between the federal government and American institutions of higher education look like. Uncertainty is challenging.
MEHTA: And a lot of these leaders said that's made it really hard, not just to focus on budgets but also on students, faculty and education itself.
FADEL: NPR education reporter Jonaki Mehta. Thanks, Jonaki.
MEHTA: Thank you, Leila. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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