Just say no After Harvard says no to feds, $2.2 billion of research funding put on hold The university also turned its homepage into a tribute to research. John Timmer – Apr 14, 2025 6:39 pm | 171 Credit: US Schools Credit: US Schools Story text Size Small Standard Large Width * Standard Wide Links Standard Orange * Subscribers only   Learn more The Trump administration has been using federal research funding as a cudgel. The government has blocked billions of dollars in research funds and threatened to put a hold on even more in order to compel universities to adopt what it presents as essential reforms. In the case of Columbia University, that includes changes in the leadership of individual academic departments. On Friday, the government sent a list of demands that it presented as necessary to "maintain Harvard’s financial relationship with the federal government." On Monday, Harvard responded that accepting these demands would "allow itself to be taken over by the federal government." The university also changed its home page into an extensive tribute to the research that would be eliminated if the funds were withheld. In response, the Trump administration later put $2.2 billion of Harvard's research funding on hold. Diversity, but only the right kind Harvard posted the letter it received from federal officials, listing their demands. Some of it is what you expect, given the Trump administration's interests. The admissions and hiring departments would be required to drop all diversity efforts, with data on faculty and students to be handed over to the federal government for auditing. As at other institutions, there are also some demands presented as efforts against antisemitism, such as the defunding of pro-Palestinian groups. More generally, it demands that university officials "prevent admitting students hostile to the American values and institutions." There are also a bunch of basic culture war items, such as a demand for a mask ban, and a ban on "de-platforming" speakers on campus. In addition, the government wants the university to screen all faculty hires for plagiarism issues, which is what caused Harvard's former president to resign after she gave testimony to Congress. Any violation of these updated conduct codes by a non-citizen would require an immediate report to the Department of Homeland Security and State Department, presumably so they can prepare to deport them. However, the most striking aspect of the letter is the complete shift in tone about diversity. After having presented Harvard's existing diversity efforts as the antithesis of a merit-based approach, it suddenly demands that the university enforce what it terms viewpoint diversity. It never defines what this term means—perhaps alchemy in the chemistry department? But the implications are that it amounts to affirmative action for conservatives. Harvard is directed to "audit the student body, faculty, staff, and leadership for viewpoint diversity, such that each department, field, or teaching unit must be individually viewpoint diverse." Any department that fails the audit would be required to start hiring new faculty until it can pass the undefined standards demanded by the feds. Again, all this is being presented as necessary for Harvard to continue receiving research funds. Harvard says nope! The university has decided these demands force it to fight, and it's attacking on two fronts. The first is public-facing; Harvard has turned its homepage into a tribute to its researchers and the work they pursue. Although it starts with a huge banner article as shown here, links to 30 individual articles on research fill the entire page. I have a fairly high-resolution screen, and it took hitting page down nine times to finally reach the bottom, where a handful of links to the rest of the university finally appear. The message is clear: The research that's under threat matters, and humanity will be worse off if its funding is cut. Harvard University's homepage on April 14, 2025. Credit: Harvard Separately, Harvard's legal response, which it made public today, is basically: nope. After detailing the steps the university has already taken to address antisemitism, it gets to the crux of the issue: "your letter disregards Harvard’s efforts and instead presents demands that, in contravention of the First Amendment, invade university freedoms long recognized by the Supreme Court." The harms these demands are meant to address, the letter alleges, haven't actually been demonstrated through processes that are required by law. It continues by essentially calling the government's demands the equivalent of a hostile takeover: The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government. Accordingly, Harvard will not accept the government’s terms as an agreement in principle. Let's be clear: There is a good chance that Harvard is risking a catastrophic loss of funding, resulting in entire research programs being shut down, layoffs, and grad students with no way to pursue their thesis projects. It could well be a crisis that requires generations of new faculty hires to recover from. At the same time, the university also saw one of its peers, Columbia University, accede to a somewhat more limited set of demands, and have its funding put on hold anyway. Given that, the decision to prepare to gain public support and fight it out in court doesn't seem unreasonable. This story has been updated to reflect the actions of the federal government. John Timmer Senior Science Editor John Timmer Senior Science Editor John is Ars Technica's science editor. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. When physically separated from his keyboard, he tends to seek out a bicycle, or a scenic location for communing with his hiking boots. 171 Comments