The US Department of Health and Human Services has announced that it is suspending $60 million in federal grants to Harvard University, saying the Ivy League institution has failed to address anti-Semitic harassment and ethnic discrimination on campus. This was reported by Reuters.
In recent weeks, the administration of US President Donald Trump has frozen or terminated federal grants and contracts worth almost $3 billion for the university.
Since taking office in January, the Republican president has sought to use federal research funding to reform the US academic community, which he says is embraced by anti-American, Marxist, and “radical leftist” ideology.
The administration accused Harvard of continuing to take ethnicity into account when reviewing student applications and of discriminating against Jews as a result of the pro-Palestinian student protest movement that rocked American campuses last year.
Columbia University in New York has also been targeted for harassment over alleged anti-Semitism.
Harvard’s administration previously reported that it “cannot cover the full cost” of the frozen grants. Still, it is working with researchers to help them find alternative funding.
The university is also suing the Trump administration for cutting grants.