Harvard University professors are donating a portion of their salaries to the Ivy League after it lost federal funding.
As AFROTECH™ previously told you, Harvard received two letters from federal agencies instructing it to discontinue its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) commitments. The letters stated that failure to comply could result in the loss of about $9 billion in federal funding.
According to Reuters, some of the conditions included reducing the influence of faculty, staff, and students who are “more committed to activism than scholarship.” Additionally, the letters requested an external panel to audit these groups for alignment with “viewpoint diversity,” arguing that the university has “failed to live up to both the intellectual and civil rights conditions that justify federal investment.” The letters also flagged concerns about unchallenged antisemitism.
While Harvard University did agree to address concerns about antisemitism on campus, it also stated, “These ends will not be achieved by assertions of power, unmoored from the law, to control teaching and learning at Harvard and to dictate how we operate.”
Harvard decided to uphold its DEI commitments, and as a result, it is under a $2.2 billion freeze in federal funding. The university has also moved forward with a lawsuit regarding the freeze, per CNN.
“The gravy train of federal assistance to institutions like Harvard, which enrich their grossly overpaid bureaucrats with tax dollars from struggling American families, is coming to an end,” the Trump administration said in response to the lawsuit, according to CBS News.
President Donald Trump, who views the university as “a disgrace” has taken it a step further, stating he intends to strip Harvard of its tax-exempt status, per The Hill. His administration had already reached out to the IRS requesting that its status be revoked.
“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve,” Trump said on Truth Social.
In support of the university, 84 Harvard professors (as of the time of this writing) stated in a pledge that they will donate 10% of their salaries back to the school in the wake of its battle with the Trump administration.
“We are heartened by the University’s rejection of the Trump administration’s unlawful demands,” faculty members said in their pledge. “We also recognize that the University now faces severe financial damage for its defense of academic freedom.”
The pledge also stated:
“This signals our commitment as faculty members to use means at our disposal to protect the university and, especially, staff and students who do not have the same protections.”
