Trump admin recommends Harvard be excluded from federal funding
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has recommended that Harvard University be excluded from federal funding to "protect the public interest," according to a Monday announcement.
The office is referring Harvard to the HHS office for suspension and debarment proceedings. It reflects the office's "commitment to safeguard both taxpayer investment and the broader public interest," according to Paula M. Stannard, the OCR Director.
The university has had a recent big win against the Trump administration — a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to reinstate the university's nearly $3 billion in federal funding cuts. But the office's recommendation to exclude the university from federal funding signals that government pressures against the university aren't letting up.
There will be an investigation to determine whether or not to suspend or debar Harvard from receiving federal funding. Suspension is more temporary while debarment could mean Harvard would lose federal funding for multiple years.
Harvard has 20 days to respond to whether it will request a hearing to try to dispute the recommendation, the office said.
The move comes after the federal civil rights office determined at the end of June that Harvard violated Title VI , which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin, over campus antisemitism. As part of that decision, the Trump administration threatened to cut all funding from Harvard if it didn't "institute adequate changes immediately."
The department also referred its antisemitism investigation into Harvard to the Department of Justice, calling its discussions with the institution "fruitless."
The recommendation from the office doesn't come as part of the office's ongoing investigation under Title VI into suspected race-based discrimination at the Harvard Law journal.
Other recent governmental actions include the U.S. Committee on Education and Workforce demanding on Monday that Harvard provide more information as part of its ongoing investigation into campus antisemitism.
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