In a new move to escalate pressure on Harvard University, the Trump administration is urging the school to turn over records on funds it received from foreign sources going back 10 years. U.S. universities receive billions of dollars in grants, contracts or donations from foreign sources and are required to report biannually to the government.
In a letter to Harvard University President Alan Garber on Thursday, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of General Counsel wrote that the disclosures Harvard made between 2014 and 2019 were “incomplete and inaccurate.”
Federal law requires universities to report donations worth more than $250,000 from foreign sources.
Harvard said in a written statement that it has submitted such reports for decades "as part of its ongoing compliance with the law. As required, Harvard's reports include information related to donations and contracts worth more than $250,000 per year from foreign sources. This includes contracts to provide executive education and other training as well as academic publications."
Harvard University is in the middle of a high-profile conflict with the Trump administration. The Trump administration has previously called for structural changes at the school, including requiring a review of the views of administrative staff, faculty and students. On Monday, Harvard rejected the requests, which Garber called an unlawful attack on the school's independence.
In response, the federal government froze $2.26 billion in funding. Harvard University has said it has made good-faith efforts to quell anti-Semitism on campus and implemented structural changes to prevent a resurgence of anti-Semitism.
In a letter to Harvard, the Trump administration requested a long list of information from the school, including the identities of all known parties involved in every foreign-source donation, grant and contract at Harvard, as well as all emails, text messages and contracts between Harvard and foreign governments or individuals. The Trump administration also wants to obtain information, such as email usernames, about any foreign students expelled from Harvard since 2016.