Trump says Harvard should lose its tax exempt status, be treated as 'political entity' amid funding dispute

President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that Harvard University should lose its tax-exempt status and be considered a "political entity," a day after his administration pulled $2.2 billion in funding from the Ivy League school. 

"Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’" Trump wrote on TRUTH Social. 

"Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!" the president added. 

TRUMP ADMIN SLASHES OVER $2.2B IN FUNDING TO HARVARD AFTER SCHOOL DEFIES DEMANDS

Protesters gather outside Harvard University to show their disapproval of actions taken under the Trump administration on April 1, 2025. (Brett Phelps/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

The Trump administration on Monday said it was freezing more than $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts to Harvard University after the institution refused to comply with a set of terms set forth by the Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services and the General Services Administration last week. 

Framed as "an expanding list of demands" by Harvard’s leadership, the administration asked the university to make changes to adhere to "merit-based" hiring and admissions practices and reform its recruitment of international students to "prevent admitting students hostile to the American values and institutions inscribed in the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence, including students supportive of terrorism or anti-Semitism." 

Other requested reforms included ensuring "viewpoint diversity in admissions and hiring," changing programs with "egregious records of antisemitism or other bias," and discontinuing diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies and initiatives. 

In an April 11 letter to Harvard leadership, Trump administration officials said that U.S. government "investment is not entitlement" and "depends on Harvard upholding federal civil rights laws, and it only makes sense if Harvard fosters the kind of environment that produces intellectual creativity and scholarly rigor, both of which are antithetical to ideological capture." 

President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 10, 2025, in Washington, D.C.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

In a statement on Monday, Harvard University President Alan Garber said the terms of agreement make "clear that the intention is not to work with us to address antisemitism in a cooperative and constructive manner." 

HARVARD WON'T COMPLY WITH TRUMP ADMIN'S DEMANDS AMID THREATS OF CUTTING FEDERAL FUNDING

"Although some of the demands outlined by the government are aimed at combating antisemitism, the majority represent direct governmental regulation of the intellectual conditions at Harvard," Garber wrote. 

He argued the terms required an "audit" of the student body, faculty and staff "viewpoints" and to reduce the power of certain students, faculty, and administrators "targeted because of their ideological views." 

Protesters gather outside Harvard University on April 1, 2025.  (Brett Phelps/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

"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," Garber wrote. 

Harvard's response was praised by Democrats, including former President Barack Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, while conservatives mocked the Ivy League school's outrage given its $53.2 billion endowment. 

"There is another way: Refuse taxpayer money," Hillsdale College, a private Christian institution in Michigan, posted on X. 

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"Time to defund," Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, wrote on X. "And tax that $50 billion endowment." 

Richard Grenell, a longtime Trump ally who served in multiple administration roles, had a message to Harvard: "Don’t ask for taxpayer money if you don’t want taxpayer strings." 

"You’ve ruined my degree with your far left activism," Grenell wrote. "As a Harvard graduate, I support the Federal government enforcing laws that you violate."