The Trump administration is escalating its fight with Harvard University, directing federal agencies to cancel remaining contracts with the school, estimated to total about $100 million.
The move, detailed in a letter to agencies from the U.S. General Services Administration, is the latest in a series of actions aimed at the university, which President Donald Trump and his administration accuse of failing to protect Jewish students against antisemitism on campus, engaging in discriminatory practices and demonstrating a lack of commitment to national values and priorities. The administration demanded a series of concessions from the school and, when Harvard refused, the government froze some $3 billion in grants and contracts. The president has also threatened to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status and his administration has tried to block the university from enrolling international students, which reportedly make up nearly a third of its student body.
The university filed a lawsuit last month to halt Trump’s funding freeze and filed another last week seeking to preserve its ability to enroll international students. In that case, Harvard says the administration is violating the First Amendment, the Due Process Clause, and the Administrative Procedure Act. A judge last week granted a temporary order reinstating Harvard’s right to enroll international students. A hearing in the case is scheduled for Thursday.
The GSA letter, first obtained by The New York Times, directs agencies to report on their contract cancellations by June 6 and encourages officials to “seek alternative vendors” for future services.
“Examples of contracts that would be affected, according to a federal database, include a $49,858 National Institutes of Health contract to investigate the effects of coffee drinking and a $25,800 Homeland Security Department contract for senior executive training,” the Times reports.
In a Sunday morning post on social media, Trump said he is considering taking $3 billion in grant money from Harvard and giving it to trade schools across the country. He did not provide any details or explanation about what grants might be involved or how the funding could be redirected.
NPR sues Trump over funding cut: In another fight over Trump funding cuts, National Public Radio and three of its local member stations sued the president and other administration officials on Tuesday, arguing that his May 1 executive order cutting federal funding to NPR and PBS violates the constitutional separation of powers by intruding on Congress’s power over spending. They also say that Trum’s order violates their First Amendment freedoms of speech and of the press.
NPR CEO Katherine Maher said in a statement that Trump’s order was clearly aimed at punishing the organization for content and programming that the president dislikes: “By basing its directives on the substance of NPR's programming, the Executive Order seeks to force NPR to adapt its journalistic standards and editorial choices to the preferences of the government if it is to continue to receive federal funding.”