A direct attack, with names, figures, and serious accusations. Donald Trump is once again pointing the finger at Harvard, the most prestigious and wealthiest university in the United States, announcing his intention to strip the institution of as much as $3 billion in public funding and redirect it to vocational schools across the country. The message, posted on social media during Memorial Day, does not appear to refer to new budget cuts, but rather to a reallocation of funds that had already been frozen or revoked by the administration with respect to the university and its research partners.
The GOP leader, writing on his platform Truth Social, stated he was considering taking “THREE BILLION DOLLARS from a very antisemitic Harvard” and giving it to trade schools located throughout the nation. No concrete details were provided about how this plan would work.
To this message, Trump added another blow: he accused the institution of being slow to respond to the administration’s requests concerning lists of foreign students he claimed was necessary to determine how many of them were “radicalized” and potentially dangerous to national security. The strategy appears aimed at applying both media and political pressure on the campus, which Trump has long accused of tolerating antisemitism and promoting liberal ideologies.
Harvard has so far chosen not to publicly comment on the president’s statements. Meanwhile, the university has initiated a legal battle in federal court in Boston to secure the reinstatement of the frozen grants and contracts, which amount to the exact sum mentioned. In a separate legal proceeding, the university is also challenging the administration’s attempt to revoke its right to admit international students.
It remains unclear what Trump means by “foreign student lists,” given that the federal government, which issues visas, already holds information on approximately 6,800 international students enrolled. The administration’s requests also include disciplinary records and video footage of student protests, with which the university has only partially complied.
Much of the frozen funding concerns scientific medical research, including projects by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, on tuberculosis and multiple sclerosis These studies could hardly be carried out by vocational schools, whose focus lies in practical and technical skills ranging from mechanics to cosmetology.
Trump had already floated a similar idea during his 2023 campaign, proposing to tax and fine the vast endowments of private universities to fund a project called the “American Academy” a free, online educational platform accessible to all American citizens. In the promotional video, he promised high-quality educational content across all subjects, “without woke ideology or religious extremism.”
