HHS Freezes $60 Million in Federal Grants to Harvard in Third Round of Trump Cuts

The United States Department of Health and Human Services cut an additional $60 million in multi-year grants to Harvard over allegations of campus antisemitism and racial discrimination on Monday — the Trump administration’s third funding cut to Harvard in the last two months.

The cut, which was announced by the agency on X late Monday evening and applies only to HHS-sponsored grants, comes in addition to the $450 million cut announced last week and the $2.2 billion cut announced last month by eight federal agencies.

In a post on X announcing the cut, the HHS took aim at Harvard’s “continued failure to address anti-Semitic harassment and race discrimination.”

“HHS is taking decisive action to uphold civil rights in higher education,” the agency wrote.

A Harvard spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment to confirm whether the University received the letter. Harvard has sued the Trump administration over the first two funding cuts, alleging they overstepped the bounds of agency authority, violated the First Amendment, and retaliated against Harvard for defending its institutional independence.

The Monday cut is the latest salvo that the administration has launched against Harvard. After Harvard President Alan M. Garber ’76 issued a stern rebuke of the Trump administration’s demands in April, the White House responded with threats to strip Harvard’s tax-exempt status, slash research funding, and impose punitive visa restrictions on international students. And Secretary of Education Linda McMahon announced earlier this month that Harvard would no longer be eligible to receive federal grants.

Since the first funding cut, which focused squarely on campus antisemitism, the $450 million and $60 million cuts have also expanded the scope of the criticism to emphasize claims of racial discrimination as well. A letter announcing the $450 million cut cited allegations that Harvard and the Harvard Law Review discriminated against white people on campus.

The Trump administration has consistently advocated for “merit-based” hiring and admissions — seemingly a demand for Harvard to scrub any consideration of race from its procedures — and launched an investigation into Harvard’s hiring practices that cited increased racial diversity among faculty as a cause for suspicion.

HHS’ $60 million cut also comes just four days after Garber announced Harvard’s central administration would distribute cash from a $250 million fund for research projects affected by stop-work orders issued by the Trump administration. In a message to Harvard affiliates announcing the pool of funds, Garber acknowledged that Harvard could not “absorb the entire cost” of the funding cuts.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

—Staff writer Dhruv T. Patel can be reached at dhruv.patel@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @dhruvtkpatel.

—Staff writer Grace E. Yoon can be reached at grace.yoon@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @graceunkyoon.