Harvard Antisemitism Could Cost It $8.9 Billion, Feds Say

Harvard could lose more than $8.9 billion in government grants and contracts pending a federal investigation into campus antisemitism and civil rights violations.

In a letter notifying the university of the review, representatives of the federal government’s Joint Task Force Combatting Antisemitism wrote:

U.S. taxpayers invest enormously in U.S. colleges and universities, including Harvard University. These funds are an investment and, like any investment, are based on the recipient’s performance, not owed as a matter of custom or right.

To maintain its “financial relationship with the United States government,” the letter continues, Harvard must make critical reforms, including:

Banning masks on campus, which will prevent protesters from covering their faces.
Clarifying and enforcing rules about when, where and how students can protest.
Disciplining students who have committed antisemitic violations of school rules.
Adopting “merit-based” hiring and admissions policies, rather than selecting employees and students of certain races, sexes and ideological perspectives.
Cooperating with law enforcement to protect students’ safety.

The Joint Task Force Combatting Antisemitism (task force) coalesced in early February to enforce “Additional Measures to Combat Antisemitism,” an executive order directing the federal government to “vigorously, using all available and appropriate tools, prosecute, remove or otherwise hold to account perpetrators of unlawful antisemitic harassment and violence.”

In March, the task force canceled more than $400 million grants and contracts with Columbia University, citing its “appalling inaction” against campus antisemitism.

Catastrophic loss of funding proved an effective incentive for Columbia to address its toxic campus climate. Within a month, the school committed, in part, to:

Implement a “strict anti-masking policy” with punishments for violators.
Cooperate with the Department of Homeland Security regarding immigration and visa laws.
Beef up campus security and give them permission to eject hostile or unsafe protesters.
Complete disciplinary proceedings against protesters that participated in pro-Palestine demonstrations and encampments, like last year’s takeover of Hamilton Hall.
Increase thought diversity among staff.

On March 25, reports alleged acting president Katrina Armstrong told faculty Columbia would not stick to some of the commitments it made to task force. In just three days, Columbia’s Board of Trustees replaced her.

The task force applauded Columbia for its swift action in a statement, calling the change an “important step” in continuing negotiations to reestablish Columbia’s “financial relationship with the United States government.”

The threat of forfeiting billions of dollars has had a similarly salutary effect on Harvard. Just days after the task force announced its review, the college suspended the Palestine Solidarity Committee, a group that frequently mounts disruptive campus protests.

“Harvard College placed the Harvard Undergraduate Palestine Solidarity Committee on probation and banned the organization from hosting public events until July on Wednesday,” the Harvard Crimson reported last week, citing the group’s failure to comply with school protesting rules.

But administrative upheaval hasn’t alleviated antisemitism’s deep roots on campuses. In the first week of April alone, Columbia had to contend with three separate protest events, two of which required security to boot people from the property.

Harvard, meanwhile, is fielding frantic calls to “fight back” against the task force’s “threats” and outside organizations continue partnering with student groups to hold antisemitic demonstrations.

I’m reminded of a comment Secretary of Health and Human Services RFK Jr. made when Columbia first lost funding:

Antisemitism — like racism — is a spiritual and moral malady that sickens societies and kills people with lethalities comparable to history’s most deadly plagues. In recent years, censorship and false narratives have transformed our great universities into greenhouse for this deadly and virulent pestilence.

For years, campus faculty and administrators fed the sickness of antisemitism. Now, an astonishing number of students have been infected. Policy adjustments alone can’t cure them.

Radical ideological change is the only permanent solution — and that takes time. In the meantime, Harvard, Columbia and the rest of their ilk will be playing whack-a-mole with the destructive ideology they once embraced.

Additional Articles and Resources

Feds Yank $400 Million from Columbia University Following Continued Antisemitism

Antisemitism at Columbia Alive and Well

New York Drops Charges Against Pro-Hamas Protesters Who Stormed Hamilton Hall

INVESTIGATION: Who funds anti-Israel protests?

Jewish Students Urged to Flee Columbia University Following Antisemitic Protest

Antisemitism — What It Is and Its Connection to the Israel-Hamas War

Israel is Under Attack—Here’s Why Christians Should Support Its Defense

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