 "Harvard University's tax-exempt status to be revoked, says Trump")
US President Donald Trump has said that Harvard University’s tax-exempt status would be revoked.
“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s tax-exempt status. It’s what they deserve!” said Trump on social media.
The Trump administration has been pressuring educational campuses to fall in line with its ideological agenda or face cuts in federal funding or revocation of tax-exemption status.
The tax-exempt status is extremely important for Harvard and other such universities. The status not just ensures that institutions function without tax liabilities but also incentivise donations and endowments more. For Harvard, the stakes are quite high. Last year, Harvard saved at least $465 million because of its tax-exempt status, according to Bloomberg News. Similarly, the university received at least $525 million in donations.
If the tax-exempt status is revoked, then donations to Harvard would not have tax-saving incentives.
Harvard President Alan Garber said that the school “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”, according to CNN.
The Trump administration has been cracking down on campuses in the name of addressing antisemitism, diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) issues, and purported misgovernance. Last month, the Trump administration froze $2.2 billion in federal funds to Harvard and around $60 million in contracts. The freeze was in response to Harvard’s purported failure in addressing antisemitism on the campus, particularly during the anti-Israel protests over the war in the Gaza Strip.
The CNN has reported that the Trump administration has also threatened to stop Harvard’s foreign students’ intake if it does not meet the following demands: eliminating DEI programmes, banning masks at campus protests, enacting merit-based recruitment and admissions changes, turning over foreign students’ discipline records, and reducing the power of teachers and officials who are “more committed to activism than scholarship”.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsEven though Harvard has sued for the restoration of federal funding, a decision is not expected until at least mid-summer.
In the meantime, Harvard has taken some decisions that seek to address some of the concerns of the Trump administration: renaming the DEI office; sharing data with the Department of Homeland Security regarding illegal activity and disciplinary records of international students; publishing two reports on hate crimes, one on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias and another on anti-Muslim, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian bias.
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