Does Harvard deserve war with Trump, or is government overstepping? Campus reacts to funding battle

After Harvard University president Alan Garber stated this week that the school would not comply with the Trump administration’s demands regarding addressing antisemitism, over $2 billion in multi-year grants and contracts were slashed by the administration.

In his letter of response to the Trump administration, Garber said the federal government has threatened its partnerships with several universities, including Harvard, over accusations of antisemitism on their campuses. He also noted that the Trump administration issued an updated and expanded list of demands, saying if the school plans to maintain a financial relationship with the federal government, it must comply.

Fox News Digital spoke with students and faculty at the university about what they thought about the standoff between the university and the government, antisemitism on campus, if they were worried about loss of funding and if Harvard should receive taxpayer money in addition to its $53 billion endowment. 

"In my personal opinion, it's that Harvard kind of deserves everything that's happened, everything that is coming to it," said Carter Stewart, Emeritus Board Member of Harvard’s Republican Club and a senior majoring in "Classics."

Stewart also shared that, from his viewpoint, the school was staking out a position as a "bastion of liberalism" and that it didn’t feel right to do that with taxpayer money. 

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"I think Harvard is faced with a choice, and it seems like they're making the wrong choice, which is to double down on these crazy ideas that most Americans don't agree with and to pay the price for that. So, I think it's a good thing that Harvard's being forced to put its money where its mouth is," Carter said.

The Harvard Republican also shared a response on social media regarding the university’s decision.

"We are hopeful that a resolution can be reached and that Harvard will return to the American principles that formed the great men of this nation," the post stated. In previous years, the campus club has alternated between no support, conditional support, and full support when it comes to President Donald Trump. 

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Ryan Enos, a Harvard professor of government, said he was glad that his employer opposed the government’s demands. 

"You shouldn't have the government coming in and telling a private institution what it can do in its internal affairs like that," he said.

Enos also commented on antisemitism on campus, stating that while he hasn’t seen antisemitism directly, he believes there’s a difference between anti-Jewish sentiment and protesting a war. 

"People have a right to protest whatever they want," Enos said. "I think we need to be really careful not to conflate those two things, because otherwise we have a danger of doing things like shutting down free speech."

Brendan, a Kennedy School graduate student, agreed with Enos about First Amendment rights. 

"I find that criticism of Israel is not antisemitic, and we should be protecting free speech, and I think that's important right now. I'm glad Harvard's standing up for free speech," Brendan said.

Harvard received an "F" grade in 2024 from the Anti-Defamation League in its Campus Antisemitism Report Card due to what it deemed inadequate administrative responses and a hostile campus climate for Jewish students. ​Harvard moved to a "C" grade in 2025, after settling two lawsuits and providing additional protections for Jewish students.

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Trump’s Joint Task Force to Combat Antisemitism responded to Garber's statement of noncompliance, saying, "The disruption of learning that has plagued campuses in recent years is unacceptable. The harassment of Jewish students is intolerable." 

Aside from the $2.2 billion from the federal government, Harvard has the largest endowment among U.S. universities, sitting at $53.2 billion in 2024. The endowment funds come from philanthropic gifts, investments, trusts and other sources.

"I, of course, can understand why people would say, ‘why should taxpayer funding go to something that already has $53 billion?’" Enos told Fox News Digital. "This is a question about the freedom of institutions and free speech in the United States, and so we could put aside that dollar amount and I would ultimately be fine with that as long as Harvard remains a place that is free like all institutions should be in the United States to decide what they can do for themselves."

Students Carter and Brendan had differing thoughts on whether taxpayers should be funding Harvard. Brendan would prefer taxpayer funds going to Alzheimer's research, rather than "defense or to arming Israel," and Carter didn’t believe Americans should foot the bill. 

"I think if Harvard was doing the right kinds of things, if Harvard was actually supporting sort of a robust patriotic education that served Americans, then yes, I think federal funding would make sense," Carter said. 

Still, without government funding, Harvard is limited in its ability to use donor funds at its disposal, as most donations come with restrictions on how funds can be used. 

Carter also noted that he wasn’t concerned if the school lost federal funding, citing events like "Sex Week" as a waste of the university’s money. 

"I mean, every single year they [Harvard] spend money doing something called ‘Sex Week,’ where we all learn how to do - I mean there's events offered for crazy sex practices, and that's something that the university has time and money to put on. I think that if Harvard really cares about whatever particular piece of research currently funded by the federal government, they'll be able to find the money in their budget to support it," he said.

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In previous years, the university used private sponsor funds for events like Harvard’s "Sex Week," which was a series about sexual health and included educating students on events like "Backdoor Basics: Anal 101."

Enos, however, was concerned about the loss of federal funding, pointing to scientific research and the military. 

Billions of dollars of research grants to Harvard have resulted in the creation of new drugs and therapies. One example of this is Harvard-affiliated researchers helping with the early development of the COVID-19 vaccines. 

"I am worried about the funding disappearing," Enos said. "That funding goes towards things like research for deadly diseases. It goes towards scientific discoveries we're trying to make that make us competitive as a country, competitive on the world stage, things that fund our military, things that fund our hospitals, all those things."

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In response to Harvard’s non-compliance with the administration, Trump took to social media on Tuesday, threatening the university’s tax-exempt status. He wrote it was contingent on "acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!"