Harvard FAS Is Developing a Contingency Plan for Drastic Federal Funding Cuts

Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Hopi E. Hoekstra said Tuesday that the FAS is developing a contingency plan for the looming possibility that the Trump administration hits Harvard with steep federal funding cuts.

Hoekstra, whose comments opened a packed meeting of the faculty on Tuesday, said the FAS would conduct a 30-day impact assessment and establish guidance for principal investigators tailored to the specific attacks from Washington if and when it receives funding cuts.

“Working in close partnership with the academic divisions and SEAS, we will implement a shared approach. It will start with an initial period of assessment of the specific impacts of any action on our grant-funded research,” she said.

Hoekstra’s remarks came one day after the Trump administration announced a review of $8 billion in federal grants and $254 million in contracts to the University.

The announcement sparked fears that Harvard could be the next target in President Donald Trump’s pressure campaign against higher education. In March, the federal government pulled more than $400 million in federal funding from Columbia University. The school ultimately bowed to several demands from the White House — including centralizing disciplinary policies and several regional studies departments under greater administrative control.

Just hours after the White House announced the review of Harvard’s funding, University President Alan M. Garber ’76 promised to “engage” with the Trump administration in an email to Harvard affiliates. Garber did not specify what Harvard would discuss with federal agencies or whether any demands had already been made.

On Tuesday, Hoekstra said she had not seen the letter detailing the government’s review of Harvard’s federal funding and did not know what the federal government’s review of Harvard’s federal funding would exactly entail. But she said the University had not seen any additional grants frozen or canceled, beyond those impacted by stop work orders already sent by federal agencies.

“For now, our grant funding is still in place and grant activities should continue as normal. Should that change, we will plan to communicate our approach to the FAS community and to work directly with impacted PIs on the steps they will need to take,” Hoesktra said.

She asked faculty to wait as the University works to better understand the details of the government’s review.

“I know this news is extraordinarily disconcerting and that it’s hard to process,” Hoekstra said. “There is some important work that we, and only we, can do right now: maintain the continuity of our teaching and research mission.”

—Staff writer William C. Mao can be reached at william.mao@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @williamcmao.

—Staff writer Veronica H. Paulus can be reached at veronica.paulus@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @VeronicaHPaulus.